Study Finds Hiccup in Moderate Drinking Benefits
My cousin shared this article from NBC's TODAY on Facebook. Interesting....
By A. Pawlowski
Many women drink alcohol to relax, feel good and take the edge off life, but new evidence suggests skipping that daily glass of wine is a better way to boost their mental health.
Women who quit alcohol improved their mental well-being, researchers reported in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal). The study comes as many Americans are trying out an alcohol-free life as part of the “sober-curious” movement.
“Our findings suggest caution in recommendations that moderate drinking could improve health-related quality of life,” Herbert Pang, one of the study co-authors and an assistant professor at the School of Public Health at The University of Hong Kong, told TODAY.
“The risks and benefits of moderate drinking are not clear.”
Instead, quitting drinking may be a better way to go when it comes to feeling calm and peaceful, added co-author Michael Ni in a statement....
“When people get sober, they a lot of times will feel calmer, their anxiety diminishes and there’s less irritability. They just say, ‘Wow, that’s a better place to be,’” said Dr. James C. Garbutt, a psychiatry professor at the Bowles Center for Alcohol Studies at the University of North Carolina, who was not involved in the study.
He has observed the beneficial effect in both men and women.
Alcohol does relieve anxiety at first, but it also helps activate systems in the brain that make anxiety worse later, leading to a cycle of, “I need more alcohol to relieve my anxiety, which makes my anxiety worse, so I need more to relieve it,” Garbutt added.
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