More than one million people per year are admitted to hospitals due to alcohol-related injuries and illnesses.
Are you looking for a healthy brain plan? Our answer is to drink smart and drink responsibly!
IS OVER DRINKING WORTH IT?
Below is a list of different ways that people can suffer when drinking irresponsibly. This isn’t a full comprehensive list, but it consists of only a handful of the problems and risks that can arise:
- Pain in the gut (heartburn, irritable bowel, etc.)
- Heart disease (alcohol allows too much cholesterol to be pumped into cell walls, hardening them)
- Diabetes
- Depression
- Early Alzheimer’s
- Osteoporosis (excessive alcohol drinking increases acidity, which contributes to bone loss)
- Broken marriages
- Abusing their spouse and children
- Losing their eyesight
- Losing their libido
- Losing their life.
SEVEN RULES OF DRINKING RESPONSIBLY
First, let’s emphasize that alcohol-free living is the best for your brain, but if you still want to drink, try these tools for responsible drinking.
1. REMIND YOURSELF THAT DRINKING IS NOT WORTH IT
Keep in the rational center of your brain: DRINKING IS NOT WORTH IT. If you don’t want to eliminate your desire to drink, at least decrease it. Why, your brain being out of balance when you drink your frontal lobe can’t think straight, and you feel you want more. The connections in your brain are shrinking and weaken your memory; with time you lose it. You also get a fat belly, a lousy liver, and your intestine and brain leak, you might have heartburn and gut pain!
2. SIP SLOWLY WITH MEALS
What wins the “dumbest drinking” award? Drinking on an empty stomach.
These so-called “happy hours” when a person downs a cocktail before dinner, is the worst time to drink!
Eat more, absorb slower, why? Food slows the absorption of alcohol in the bloodstream and reduces the too-high, too-fast spikes in blood sugar.
Pair slow sipping with high-fiber and high-fat foods such as salads with olive oil and avocado, to slow down the absorption of alcohol.
Eat more, absorb less, why? The longer alcohol remains in the stomach, the more it is detoxified before it enters the small intestine. Food holds alcohol in the stomach longer, giving your body’s natural detox system more time to work.
3. CHOOSE THE LEAST UNHEALTHY ALCOHOL
What you choose to drink can make a big difference in the potential for health-harming effects.
Wine is usually easier on the gut and brain than hard liquor. Remember hard liquor is hard on the brain – both your gut-brain and your head-brain.
Beer can be an unhealthier choice than both wine and hard liquor because of its higher in carbs, which leads to a beer belly. Fruity cocktails are also likely to put on belly fat. Remember, the bigger the belly the “smaller” the thinking brain.
Of course, the level of tolerance to alcohol can vary widely in different people. Are you bothered by one drink? Drink smaller amounts and more slowly. Are you genetically a “fast flusher” you may be able to tolerate more alcohol with less harmful effect but if you are a low flusher, you don’t have the enzymes to break down alcohol quickly, drink smaller amounts more slowly.
4. BEWARE OF THE CREEP EFFECT.
To curb the temptation of drinking “one more glass,” pour your “safe amount”, says one 5-ounce glass, then put the bottle away. Easy, do it!
THE QUESTION IS, HOW MUCH ALCOHOL IS SAFE TO DRINK?
Again, this varies from one person to another depending on the metabolism (and gender), and depends on three other key factors:
- The concentration of the alcohol
- How fast you drink it. Slow sipping slows absorption into your bloodstream.
- With what food you pair it. Healthy fatty foods like cheese, guacamole, or bread dipped in olive oil help to slow alcohol absorption.
In general, researchers who study alcohol recommend keeping your alcohol intake to no more than one drink a night. One drink means either a 12-ounce bottle of beer, a 5-ounce glass of wine, or a 1.5-ounce shot of 80-proof hard liquor (all have the same alcohol content).
5. TAKE BREAKS
Take an occasional multi-week vacation from drinking. You’ll miss it less than you think. If you find you miss it horribly, it might indicate you have a dependence or addiction, and you may want to consider a trip to your friendly neighborhood Alcoholics Anonymous meeting. And keep alcohol out of sight.
Parental guidance. Teens’ brains are particularly vulnerable to the effects of alcohol and addiction, and adolescents who binge drink may permanently damage their brains. Two in five adolescents who begin drinking by age fourteen will become addicted to alcohol. Teach your teen how to drink responsibly, do not overreact, and have a rigid attitude toward any drinking because this can backfire: Studies show this may actually increase a child’s desire to drink. College students are often tempted to experiment with their home “forbidden list” once they are on their own.
6. AS YOU AGE MORE, DRINK LESS.
Our alcohol-garbage-disposal system dials down as we get older, and our gut becomes more sensitive to alcohol’s effects. Too often the older we get, the more pills we take that compete with the body’s alcohol-detox machinery.
After the age of fifty, more men and women should drink less. Seniors – especially those over sixty-five – should cut their drinking in half.
Special note. Alcohol is not female-friendly.
Women have less of the enzymes responsible for breaking down alcohol, and alcohol dehydrogenase, so more of what goes into the mouth gets into the bloodstream.
I’d like men to take note that you “age out” of your protective edge after fifty when your production of alcohol dehydrogenase decreases.
Who should not drink?
Because of changes in how you metabolize alcohol, do not drink if you:
. are pregnant (or trying to get pregnant).
. have cholesterol problems.
. suffer from depression and/or anxiety.
. are prone to anger and irrational thinking and behavior.
. already have Alzheimer’s or mild cognitive impairment.
. already have domestic problems.
7. KNOW WHEN TO SEEK HELP.
Like other diseases, alcohol disease is best cured by prevention.
The key is to prevent tissue damage before you feel it or blood tests show it.
The problem is, that many drinkers refuse to consider drinking as a “disease”, which prevents them from seeking help. And drinkers don’t, or can’t recognize they have “a problem” because drinking affects the brain’s rational center. They deny they have a problem and therefore refuse to change their behavior or get medical help, as they would with any other disease. In the meantime, their brain, liver, and other organs are getting sicker!
MOTIVATE YOUR LOVED ONE TO DIAL DOWN DRINKING
Be realistic, they have lost control, and their desire to drink overpowers their “willpower” not to.
Make it a family affair. Try to push the button that will motivate the drinker to get outside help. Do it in a sincere, loving, nonjudgmental way, and convey from your heart the seriousness of the problem. Don’t be wimpy.
Identify a motivational trigger. Children, grandchildren, or any family member can often become a great motivational trigger.
Recover into something positive.
HOW DO YOU TELL WHEN DRINKING REGRESSES FROM SMART USE TO ABUSE?
Stage 1. I drink smart. I drink responsibly. I enjoy the taste of an occasional glass of wine paired with a favorite dinner treat.
Stage 2. I must have my daily drink. If you cannot willingly go a few days or a week without a drink, you are in the dangerous stage of alcohol dependency.
Stage 3. Alcohol disease. If you can not drink, are suffering falls and/or blackouts, and/or are doing scary, risky things while under the influence, you have alcohol disease and you are likely to be suffering from varying degrees of multi-organ damage.
One of the best investments you can give yourself and your family is to keep your brain healthy. Drinking responsibly will help.
Neurofeedback tailored sessions to your own brain will help you keep your brain healthy, help you recover from addiction, depression, and anxiety, and improve your memory, and quality of sleep. Visit our website and listen to video testimonials. Do not hesitate to give us a complimentary call which you can book on our website.
We are here to help!
Spring is here! InnerOptimal’s team wishes you a Happy, Healthy Spring!
If you feel “at risk” we would recommend you thoroughly read the whole section on alcohol of these two M.D. W. Sears, and V.M. Fortanasce “The Healthy Brain Book”.
