Can a Moderate Drinking Habit Be Good for You?

Alcohol have two sides, and it can be both your friend and enemy. And everyone have their own view. And finding people who sees alcohol as the enemy is not hard to find as they screams the loudest. But I, as an alcohol enthusiast, are here with you and sees alcohol as the friend.

The keyword here is moderate. And a moderate drinker can see some health and social benefits.

And the people who screams alcohol is bad and only causes one to fall over and loss of memory can keep quiet. Those are the people who:

1 - Can't control their consumption.

2 - Have a family history of people that fits under nr. 1.

3 - People on social media that only reads about people that fits under nr. 1 and 2.

These are people that don't know when to say when or don't dare to try. So these are the people that don't understand moderate drinking. Therefor are their argument invalid.

If you fits under one of these kind of drinkers, you my friend is a moderate drinker.

• The Sipper - You can make one drink last for an entire evening.
• The Sports Fan - The football isn't complete without one beer.
• The Social Drinker at Dinner - Dinner out with colleagues is a lot easier with wine.
• The Escape Artist - One whisky here and there just to escape responsibuility every once in a while.
• The Wine Enthusiast - The right bottle with the right kind of food.
• The Nightcapper - A drink at the evening to reflect on the day.
• The Buddy - With friends over for igniting the grill or working on projects, a beer is sure fine.

If any of these appeal to you, you probably drink one to 14 drinks in a week, and rarely more than four in a single day. And it is nothing wrong with that, unless you feel it's wrong. It's never bad to drink less.

I would identify myself as a nightcapper and devour 5-10 drinks in a week. 1-2 drink every workday evening to relax, and none in the weekend as I'm up late at car-meets (never mix alcohol and driving). And I see no problem with that.

Alcohol are like a sharp kitchen-knife. You may as well use a cutlery knife to chop up your vegetables and manage just fine. But you should try to use a big-boys-knife at least once. And if you don't like it, you can always return to cutlery. But don't try to control the one that likes kitchen-knifes just because they are sharp as hell. Those people can control a knife and knows that if they can't, they can mess themselves up really bad. And there are those that misuse kitchen-knifes and just cause harm. Those should get help.

And if you are one of those that can control (a kitchen-knife) alcohol, you could see the health benefits of:

• Decrease in blood-clot formation
• Decreased risk of stroke
• Decreased risk of myocardial infarction
• Decreased risk of heart attack
• Decreased risk of Alzheimer's
• Decreased risk of dementia

But understand that you sleep gets worse.

Source

Alcohol, also known as social lubricant, makes bonding in social groups with less friction plausible. A study led by the researchers of University of Pittsburgh revealed that here. But if you are here reading this article, you wasn't born yesterday and had plenty of time to have som beers with your peers.

The social benefits of alcohol is that you spend more time talking to other people and increase the feelings you feel. Every smile gets more genuine and stronger. And you gets more confident and can talk directly from your mind. Therefor make greater bonds. And alcohol will also make you less judgmental and reduces your display of negative emotions. A moderate drinker wants to have fun while drinking, so they don't look for troubles or problems.

Many people drinks to reduce their stress level. If it works for you, great. But understand that it shouldn't.

You might feel that you stress goes down. But what's actually happens are that you postpone the feel of the stress. When you sobers up, you get your stress back. And if you don't control yourself, you can start a vicious cycle. Stress makes you crave alcohol more, but makes you feel intoxicated less. So it's easy to lose touch.

I am a very stressed person, but I have my cortisol (stress hormone) under control. But sometimes I lose that battle. And when that happens, I only need one light beer to flush it down. And I know that by heart, so I don't need to drink more than that to not feel the stress. And when the morning comes, I am prepared to get stressed out. So I tries to not be.

If you get a stress outburst during the day, it may paralyze you. So seeking the bottle is tempting. But if you learn the bare minimum limit of alcohol you need, take just what you need. That way you are able to think clear and find a better way next day to be your very best.

If becoming a moderate drinker means stepping down, yes, you should. But if it means stepping up, no, you are fine as you are.

If you are the one that parties hard every night and find yourself every morning on the bathroom floor soaked in your own vomits. You destroy your relationships with the fire water and becomes alone. Your pay goes directly to the liquor-store for you to eventually get evicted. Or you mess up work just because you shows up drunk. You should definitely quit drinking. Probably altogether and becoming a moderate drinker after a year clean.

But if you spend your days sober as a priest. You enjoy one glass of champagne only at weddings, without exceptions. Or you choose to intoxicate yourself with drugs to avoid alcohol. Then you should keep that alcohol consumption level (and quit with the drugs too). The benefits are not worth it for you. And you probably have learned to manage a good life without alcohol anyways.