How bad can it really be for you?
Like many, I was aware that my alcohol consumption had been creeping up since the beginning of Covid. So I took the Dry January challenge and besides a couple of dinners out I stayed “dry” most of the month. What I discovered was I slept better, more energy, and was less foggy in the morning.
During January I also became aware that in an article published in the New York Times, “Even a Little Alcohol Can Harm Your Health” that even at very low levels alcohol can be harmful. This new study challenged my commonly held assumption that one or two glasses of red wine was actually good for you.
Turns out alcohol is not a “health food” after all. Digging a little further I found more confirmation that even a little alcohol is toxic for your brain. Daniel Amen, a world expert in PET scans and brain imaging, has shown pretty compelling evidence that even 2-4 drinks a day can clearly damage your brain. And people who drink as little as 1-7 drinks a week have smaller brains than non-drinkers.
Dr Amen, 6 ways alcohol impacts the brain:
- Shrinks the Brain
- Reduces Blood Flow to the Brain
- Shrivels Memory Centers
- Reduces the number of New Brain Cells
- Increases Risk of Dementia
- Prematurely Ages the Brain
How can something that tastes so good and feel so good be so toxic for you? Ugh! So as I re-evaluate my drinking I can’t help but wonder if in the future the consumption of alcohol will follow a similar trajectory that smoking has. Please join me in re-evaluating and let me know what your post Dry January is going to look like.
Resources:
5 Ways Alcohol Fools Your Brain