Many of us toast to essential life occasions, enjoy happy hours with co-workers or friends, or unwind with a few drinks after a long, stressful day, with alcohol playing a prominent part in many cultures.
Of course, health professionals have long warned against binge drinking, defined as ingesting five or more drinks for males and four or more drinks for women in less than two hours. Suppose you’ve ever overindulged in your favourite drinks. In that case, you know how bad you feel the next day, and persistent alcohol addiction can negatively influence your mental and physical health.
However, studies show that drinking alcohol in moderation might be helpful to your health in unexpected ways.
Here are some of the most intriguing benefits of drinking in moderation, as long as you do so safely and correctly.
1. It can help prevent the common cold
Though excessive alcohol consumption might aggravate cold symptoms by dehydrating you and perhaps interfering with cold medications, it appears that moderate drinking can assist you in avoiding getting a cold in the first place.
In a 1993 study conducted by the psychology department at Carnegie Mellon University, researchers discovered moderate alcohol consumption decreased common cold cases among non-smokers. According to the New York Times, Spanish researchers found in 2002 that drinking eight to fourteen glasses of wine a week (particularly red wine) reduced the risk of developing a cold by 60%, with the scientists citing the antioxidants inherent in wine.
Additionally, a moderate amount of whisky can improve your body’s ability to regulate glucose and insulin. However, to get such benefits adequately, you need to consume quality alcohol that is lab tested and deemed suitable for consumption. Dimple pinch, a highly mild blended whiskey with a few centuries worth of roots in Scotland, can help you control your body’s blood sugar levels, lowering your risk of developing diabetes.
Significantly, wine is high in antioxidants, which help your body prepare to fight free radicals by helping your body to absorb restorative. This vital ingredient helps keep your immune system in top shape.
Whether they have healthy or lousy drinking habits, smokers should expect to catch a cold more readily and frequently than non-smokers.
2. It Can Improve Your Libido
Contrary to popular opinion, emerging evidence suggests that moderate drinking may protect against erectile dysfunction in the same way that red wine may help heart disease. In a 2009 study published in the Journal of Sexual Medicine, researchers discovered that alcohol drinkers had a 25% to 30% lower risk of erectile dysfunction.
Kew-Kim Chew, an epidemiologist at the University of Western Australia, led the study, which included 1,770 Australian men. Chew cautioned in his research that he and his team are not urging men to drink and that further research is needed to link impotence and alcohol consumption.
3. Live a longer life
Excessive drinking can cause illness and disease, such as cancer, brain damage, and liver damage, and it can even shorten your life. As per some studies, moderate drinking may help you live longer.
Over 12 years, researchers studied a small group of Spanish participants. They discovered that those who drank “modest amounts of wine spread out over the week” but avoided binge drinking had a 25% lower mortality risk.
Another 2017 study monitored around 333,000 adults who drank alcohol and discovered that those who drank in moderation had a 21% lower mortality risk than those who never drank.
Similarly, a 2018 study published in the journal PLOS Medicine discovered that moderate drinkers might be less likely to die young than those who avoid alcohol entirely.
4. It Can Decrease the Chances of Developing Dementia
According to a study that included over 365,000 participants and was published in the journal Neuropsychiatric Disease and Treatment, moderate drinkers were 23 percent less likely to develop cognitive impairment, Alzheimer’s disease, and other types of dementia.
“Small amounts of alcohol may boost brain cell fitness. Moderate alcohol doses stress cells, toughening them up for future severe pressures that may cause dementia.” The study’s co-author, Edward J. Neafsey, Ph.D., told Science Daily, “We don’t recommend that nondrinkers start drinking,” Neafsey said. “However, moderate drinking can be beneficial if done carefully.”
5. It might prevent kidney stones
According to researchers at the University of East Anglia in Norwich, England, limiting your daily alcohol consumption to two drinks may cut your risk of gallstones by one-third.
According to a news release, “researchers noted that their findings illustrate the benefits of moderate alcohol consumption but stress that excessive alcohol consumption might cause health concerns.”
A 2017 study by academics at Qingdao University’s School of Public Health in Qingdao, China, concluded that “alcohol use is connected with dramatically decreased risk of gallstone disease.”
As for how this occurs, moderate alcohol use aids in the generation of bile, which prevents gallstones from fully developing.
Bottomline
Suppose you can have a healthy relationship with alcohol and avoid using it to cope with stress, worry, or depression. In that case, you may be able to strike a healthy balance between moderate drinking and your mental health. Significantly, consult your doctor to verify that alcohol is a safe and responsible part of your lifestyle.
