Dosing Alcohol

One of my most favorite professors from Medical School always used to say, “Everything has a correct dose.  Even too much water will kill you.”  My favorite professor from Missouri University of Science and Technology (University of Missouri-Rolla) used to say “the solution to pollution is dilution”.    He would remind us that arsenic is an element found in nature and therefore “natural” and found in your bodies.  A little clearly won’t hurt you.  Living amongst University students this week reminds me of the importance of learning about alcohol dosing.  In Italy there really isn’t a word for “drunk”, the closest translation is “hasn’t had enough to eat”.  In Italy eating and alcohol go hand in hand.  However being drunk is considered poor manners.  Learning to stop well before you are drunk is part of being a refined adult. Being drunken places a person at risk for many bad events, car wrecks, falls, and other decisions that will haunt you after the hangover has left.

Despite all alcohol’s possible bad effects, it is easy to forget that a little alcohol has true benefits.   It seems to improve a person’s cholesterol, reduce their risk of heart disease and risk of diabetes.  The dose is critical.  One for a woman is enough.  Two for a man is enough.   The higher doses have more complications.  Some medicines should never be mixed with alcohol.

People frequently drink to relax; too much however causes more anxiety and stress.  People may drink to help them sleep, but higher doses causes sleep problems.   Higher alcohol doses raise a person’s blood pressure a little may lower your blood pressure.

Alcohol is found in nature, it is in all our bodies in tiny amounts.  Too much will kill you, a little may help you if you are otherwise healthy.  If you don’t know how to drink one or two and then stop, then you shouldn’t drink.  You won’t get the benefits from the correct dose, only the problems from the wrong dose.