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Meanwhile, taking a couple of beers daily for decades doesn't make anyone raise a brow, you can even find people that says it's good for your heart, according t

Meanwhile, taking a couple of beers daily for decades doesn't make anyone raise a brow, you can even find people that says it's good for your heart, according to some doubtful study from the 90's. In some of those studies you might be referring (e.g. DOI: 10.2174/1874473711306010008) say that MDMA users score worse in memory, but better in depression and anxiety, and equal on cognitive or mood. Of course what makes the headlines is that MDMA is bad for memory, no mention to the positive effects. And of course, the narrative would be that if you take MDMA a couple of times per year, soon you won't even remember your own name.

Aurornis 1y ago
> Meanwhile, taking a couple of beers daily for decades doesn't make anyone raise a brow There are a lot of people bought into the idea that ~1 drink a day is beneficial due to the flawed studies like you pointed out. But most people who keep up with things know better. My primary care doctor gives a reminder that drinking is not healthy despite what some old headlines claimed (even though I rarely drink). Even the podcasters seem to have caught on, with many emphasizing that no amount of alcohol is beneficial and even 1 drink per night consumed consistently over time has damaging effects. There is a lot of backlash when podcasters get too close to these subjects. I remember when Huberman touched on the topic of marijuana and Reddit was up in arms. Huberman isn’t great at scientific accuracy (to say the least) but he was directionally correct. Many people didn’t want to hear it, though. People like to think their drug of choice is the safe one. They cherry pick a few studies that agree and choose to dismiss anything that doesn’t.
- sireat 1y ago
  Sure alcohol is not healthy. Unfortunately, neither is oxygen. Now you will say that we need oxygen and can survive without alcohol. But then again, we do not have a Faustian bargain of choosing to abstain of all the fun things in life and living for 200 years. The elephant in the room is that no matter how healthy a life style you live, we presently have no way to reverse a rapid decline in quality of life around 85-90 culminating in complete collapse ages 100-110. And those are absolute best case scenarios! My illusion of being in control of your destiny was shuttered when Jack LaLanne - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_LaLanne https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_LaLanne died at 95. You can have a great quality of life until mid 80s by leading a moderately healthy lifestyle provided you do not get cancer. After that we are a loss on how to prolong our lives. I would almost welcome if Larry Ellison would prove us wrong in 10-15 years at least there would be theoretical hope. We'll see about Peter Thiel as well, but I will not be alive to see his experiments.
  - verisimi 1y ago
    I personally do not find the idea of endless life in this world appealing at all. I don't even get the desire to live to 100+, nevermind 200. I tend to think that the 'longevity desire' is prompted within oneself when one is not living according to whatever-it-is one thinks one should really do. The rat race is compelling sure, one needs money etc, but that is not the entire purpose of life. Perhaps some seeking/introspection is needed to make life meaningful.
    - jajko 1y ago
      Happy people are generally OK with going anytime, grateful for every moment and experience and only want to have closest ones taken care of. Unhappy ones, especially when its something deep and hard or impossible to tackle, want more and more, like they could somehow fix things in future or cover them up enough to finally arrive at that point they'll never arrive anyway. Project it to some extremes and its easy to see why sociopathic dictators and billionaires (which most if not all of them are) would love to see significant life prolongation, of course only theirs. One of the biggest threats to near future mankind as it is IMHO, imagine 300 years of rule of pos like puttin' for example.
  - Retric 1y ago
    There’s a huge difference between living to a healthy 85 and having major cognitive / physical issues at 65 and symptoms well before then. Yes you’re guaranteed to have significant physical decline by 85, but the baseline isn’t static you can still be more physically capable than an un athletic 30 year old. So we’re talking roughly an extra 30%!
    - shlant 1y ago
      it is concerning how many people do not understand the VAST difference in quality of life and physical/mental ability over the age of 50 between someone who takes decent care of themselves and someone who doesn't. So many times I've heard people, in the face of making healthier choices, respond with "why would I want to live longer anyways, I'm going to be old and decrepit!". Very sad perspective.
- bdangubic 1y ago
  no X, no beer - you get to live to be 100 :) except you know, boring as shit :)
- VoodooJuJu 1y ago
  [dead]
investa 1y ago
Raises my eye brow, even before watching Huberman. A week of drinking everyday makes you feel shit.
Centigonal 1y ago
There is also evidence linking some common pharmaceuticals to long term deficits in memory and cognition. Diphenhydramine (Benadryl/OTC Sleep Aids) use is associated with an increased risk of dementia [1], while benzodiazepines like Xanax and Ativan are strongly associated with long term cognitive deficits [2]. Taking many drugs is a cost-benefit analysis, and it's important to be informed about the possible consequences before diving in. [1] https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/common-anticholinergic-drugs-like-benadryl-linked-to-increased-dementia-risk-20150128812 https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/common-anticholinergic-d... [2] https://academic.oup.com/acn/article-abstract/33/7/901/4734935 https://academic.oup.com/acn/article-abstract/33/7/901/47349...
distances 1y ago
> Meanwhile, taking a couple of beers daily for decades doesn't make anyone raise a brow That totally raises eyebrows I'd say. I like beer as much as the next person, but nobody I know pretends that daily beers would be fine, healthy, or even acceptable. The only person that I know of who likely drinks ~daily self-identifies as an alcoholic.
- otherme123 1y ago
  I avoid alcohol like the plague. I'm spaniard, and I can assure you that there are a lot of people that takes one glass of wine with each meal (something that qualifies you as an alcoholic in medical terms). In the summer, beer is king, and I would say half the population takes at least a bottle (33 cl / 12 fl.oz.) daily, as a substitute for water (luckily, zero-alcohol beer is also on the rise). Wouldn't be unheard that you drink wine or beer at lunch and then go to work until 6pm. Alcohol consumption is totally normalized here. In fact, the only socially valid reason to not drink at a party or celebration is that you are driving later. That's my experience at least.
  - carlmr 1y ago
    >Alcohol consumption is totally normalized here. In fact, the only socially valid reason to not drink at a party or celebration is that you are driving later. That's my experience at least. It's a bit sad, but it's a reason I pick the car sometimes. To have an excuse for not drinking.
  - distances 1y ago
    True that this surely is very much culture dependent. I'm also from Europe but a bit higher up, and grew up in a party drinking culture. It wasn't an issue if you were drunk twice a week as long as those were the designated party days, Friday and Saturday, and Sunday was reserved for the unavoidable hangover. Alcohol with food wasn't too common so drinking alone on other days heavily hinted towards losing control.
- chrisdhal 1y ago
  I think this may be generational. I'm GenX and growing up it was no big deal for my parent's generation (yes, the boomers) to have a drink a night. Even among people of my generation now it wouldn't be uncommon. Probably less than before, but I don't think anybody would think twice about a beer or a drink per day would be any big deal.

Aurornis 1y ago

> Meanwhile, taking a couple of beers daily for decades doesn't make anyone raise a brow There are a lot of people bought into the idea that ~1 drink a day is beneficial due to the flawed studies like you pointed out. But most people who keep up with things know better. My primary care doctor gives a reminder that drinking is not healthy despite what some old headlines claimed (even though I rarely drink). Even the podcasters seem to have caught on, with many emphasizing that no amount of alcohol is beneficial and even 1 drink per night consumed consistently over time has damaging effects. There is a lot of backlash when podcasters get too close to these subjects. I remember when Huberman touched on the topic of marijuana and Reddit was up in arms. Huberman isn’t great at scientific accuracy (to say the least) but he was directionally correct. Many people didn’t want to hear it, though. People like to think their drug of choice is the safe one. They cherry pick a few studies that agree and choose to dismiss anything that doesn’t.

sireat 1y ago
Sure alcohol is not healthy. Unfortunately, neither is oxygen. Now you will say that we need oxygen and can survive without alcohol. But then again, we do not have a Faustian bargain of choosing to abstain of all the fun things in life and living for 200 years. The elephant in the room is that no matter how healthy a life style you live, we presently have no way to reverse a rapid decline in quality of life around 85-90 culminating in complete collapse ages 100-110. And those are absolute best case scenarios! My illusion of being in control of your destiny was shuttered when Jack LaLanne - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_LaLanne https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_LaLanne died at 95. You can have a great quality of life until mid 80s by leading a moderately healthy lifestyle provided you do not get cancer. After that we are a loss on how to prolong our lives. I would almost welcome if Larry Ellison would prove us wrong in 10-15 years at least there would be theoretical hope. We'll see about Peter Thiel as well, but I will not be alive to see his experiments.
- verisimi 1y ago
  I personally do not find the idea of endless life in this world appealing at all. I don't even get the desire to live to 100+, nevermind 200. I tend to think that the 'longevity desire' is prompted within oneself when one is not living according to whatever-it-is one thinks one should really do. The rat race is compelling sure, one needs money etc, but that is not the entire purpose of life. Perhaps some seeking/introspection is needed to make life meaningful.
  - jajko 1y ago
    Happy people are generally OK with going anytime, grateful for every moment and experience and only want to have closest ones taken care of. Unhappy ones, especially when its something deep and hard or impossible to tackle, want more and more, like they could somehow fix things in future or cover them up enough to finally arrive at that point they'll never arrive anyway. Project it to some extremes and its easy to see why sociopathic dictators and billionaires (which most if not all of them are) would love to see significant life prolongation, of course only theirs. One of the biggest threats to near future mankind as it is IMHO, imagine 300 years of rule of pos like puttin' for example.
- Retric 1y ago
  There’s a huge difference between living to a healthy 85 and having major cognitive / physical issues at 65 and symptoms well before then. Yes you’re guaranteed to have significant physical decline by 85, but the baseline isn’t static you can still be more physically capable than an un athletic 30 year old. So we’re talking roughly an extra 30%!
  - shlant 1y ago
    it is concerning how many people do not understand the VAST difference in quality of life and physical/mental ability over the age of 50 between someone who takes decent care of themselves and someone who doesn't. So many times I've heard people, in the face of making healthier choices, respond with "why would I want to live longer anyways, I'm going to be old and decrepit!". Very sad perspective.
bdangubic 1y ago
no X, no beer - you get to live to be 100 :) except you know, boring as shit :)
VoodooJuJu 1y ago
[dead]

investa 1y ago

Raises my eye brow, even before watching Huberman. A week of drinking everyday makes you feel shit.

Centigonal 1y ago

There is also evidence linking some common pharmaceuticals to long term deficits in memory and cognition. Diphenhydramine (Benadryl/OTC Sleep Aids) use is associated with an increased risk of dementia [1], while benzodiazepines like Xanax and Ativan are strongly associated with long term cognitive deficits [2]. Taking many drugs is a cost-benefit analysis, and it's important to be informed about the possible consequences before diving in. [1] https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/common-anticholinergic-drugs-like-benadryl-linked-to-increased-dementia-risk-20150128812 https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/common-anticholinergic-d... [2] https://academic.oup.com/acn/article-abstract/33/7/901/4734935 https://academic.oup.com/acn/article-abstract/33/7/901/47349...

distances 1y ago

> Meanwhile, taking a couple of beers daily for decades doesn't make anyone raise a brow That totally raises eyebrows I'd say. I like beer as much as the next person, but nobody I know pretends that daily beers would be fine, healthy, or even acceptable. The only person that I know of who likely drinks ~daily self-identifies as an alcoholic.

otherme123 1y ago
I avoid alcohol like the plague. I'm spaniard, and I can assure you that there are a lot of people that takes one glass of wine with each meal (something that qualifies you as an alcoholic in medical terms). In the summer, beer is king, and I would say half the population takes at least a bottle (33 cl / 12 fl.oz.) daily, as a substitute for water (luckily, zero-alcohol beer is also on the rise). Wouldn't be unheard that you drink wine or beer at lunch and then go to work until 6pm. Alcohol consumption is totally normalized here. In fact, the only socially valid reason to not drink at a party or celebration is that you are driving later. That's my experience at least.
- carlmr 1y ago
  >Alcohol consumption is totally normalized here. In fact, the only socially valid reason to not drink at a party or celebration is that you are driving later. That's my experience at least. It's a bit sad, but it's a reason I pick the car sometimes. To have an excuse for not drinking.
- distances 1y ago
  True that this surely is very much culture dependent. I'm also from Europe but a bit higher up, and grew up in a party drinking culture. It wasn't an issue if you were drunk twice a week as long as those were the designated party days, Friday and Saturday, and Sunday was reserved for the unavoidable hangover. Alcohol with food wasn't too common so drinking alone on other days heavily hinted towards losing control.
chrisdhal 1y ago
I think this may be generational. I'm GenX and growing up it was no big deal for my parent's generation (yes, the boomers) to have a drink a night. Even among people of my generation now it wouldn't be uncommon. Probably less than before, but I don't think anybody would think twice about a beer or a drink per day would be any big deal.