He must have seen headlines in the media more than once: "Scientists have proven that a daily glass of wine prolongs life. " This is not worth believing for several reasons.
First, scientists do not "prove" anything. Under certain circumstances, hypotheses are tested and, with some probability, correct conclusions are drawn.
For example, a special study could look at how alcohol is linked to the deaths of white European men. Even if, as a result, a glass of wine is found to have a longer life expectancy, it is not a fact that this relationship is causal.
Perhaps some third factor is "wrong" in everything - for example, at the income level: rich European men can afford a daily glass of wine and quality food and good medicine. Or confuse cause and effect: it is not alcohol that improves health, but those who are relatively healthyFinally, in such a study, we know nothing about women, people of other races and nationalities, and there are still many factors that have not been reported, so there is no way to extend the findings of one study to all people.
The second point is that even if you analyze all the studies, it turns out that there is no correlation between a low dose of alcohol and better health. There is a scientific method like meta-analysis - scientists gather all the relevant research on a given topic, summarize and draw conclusions. In a meta-analysis, the errors of individual scientific works are smoothed out, and their conclusions are more or less applicable to the lives of all of us. Thus, meta-analyzes show no difference in the health of those who drink little and not at all.
So alcohol in small doses - up to 10 grams of ethanol a day (about a glass of wine, beer or a glass of vodka) is unlikely to somehow improve your well-being, but it won’t get much worse either.
Wait, but alcohol and a healthy lifestyle are not compatible!
I will say more - modern life is generally not very compatible with a healthy lifestyle. If you live in a city and drive a car, you will no longer lead a healthy lifestyle.
For example, a car has so many carcinogens in the air - we never dreamed of vodka! Driving on a busy highway is much more deadly than 20 grams of pure alcohol. And if you smoke, no matter what you drink.
That doesn’t mean you drink as much as you want, because everything is lost anyway.
"Beer" alcoholism is worse than "vodka" There is no "beer", "vodka", "pynonoir" and other types of alcoholism. There is only one type - dependence on ethanol.
From the point of view of this addiction, it does not matter at all what form alcohol enters the body. The other thing is that over time, the alcoholic’s need for ethanol increases. You get to the point that a person is no longer able to drink as much beer or wine to reach a "state" - because their stomach size is limited. Therefore, most alcoholics eventually switch to vodka - ideal for them in terms of price / quality / effect.
Let’s say switching to vodka indicates that the addiction has gone far enough. Few start with spirits right away - usually using "light alcohol" such as beer and wine first. But just as there are no "light drugs", there are no "light alcohols" - any drink can be addictive - and there’s not far from vodka.
If you do drink, don’t mix drinks!
Again, the body doesn’t care which drink it got the ethanol from. The severity of the poisoning (and subsequent hangover) depends only on how much pure alcohol you consume. Stir, don’t stir - if you overdo it, it will be bad in the morning anyway.
There are, of course, shades - some drinks contain "aggravating" substances, the same methanol. It is most commonly found in products, especially homemade products whose raw material served as a fruit berry, rich in pectin - pears, apples, cherries, to a lesser extent - in grapes. Now, if you mix vodka and calvados, you will feel the effects of ethanol and methanol in the morning as well. After pretty much the same after cognac and beer - the hangover will simply be "brighter in color" with "notes" of the toxic substances typical of both drinks. So if it’s possible, it’s better not to mix. Just in case.
You can warm up in the cold by drinking 100 grams
You can't. On the contrary, it can freeze even more, even to death.
Under the influence of alcohol, the blood vessels in the skin dilate, through which heat is released. If you came into the room from the cold and drank a little, it can help you warm up faster: the blood vessels dilate, but the heat stays with you because it’s warm around you too. But when you drink alcohol on the street, the heat flowing through the expanded pots quickly leaves your body - and freezes even more.
Because of this "special effect" of alcohol, drunk people freeze to death on the street, even at + 20⁰C: the temperature of the air and soil is lower than body temperature, the body very quickly gives too much heat and overcooling - to death.
Alcohol is a good sleeping pill
Alcohol actually suppresses brain activity, which can cause drowsiness and rapid falling asleep. But such a dream is likely to be short and barren.
The effect of alcohol is similar to the effect of each sleeping pill. He falls asleep quickly, but the sleep phases are interrupted and he can wake up in the middle of the night - and not fall asleep again until morning.
"Alcoholic" sleep is not physiological, incomplete, does not bring normal rest. So it is not recommended to use alcoholic beverages as a sleeping pill and it is usually not advisable to drink right before bedtime.