Otis Chandler's Reviews > Drink?: The New Science of Alcohol and Health

Overall, very useful and helpful book that made me think harder about my habits around alcohol. My major takeaways that I'm enacting:

1. Two days in a row of drinking is extremely bad for you as your body doesn't have time to recover and you don't sleep well, it's a downward spiral. Avoid this if at all possible, and go light the second day if you decide to drink.
2. Binge drinking, or getting "wasted" is very bad for you, much better to limit how much you do this.
3. Occasional breaks from alcohol of 2-4 are very, very good for you as they establish the habit of not drinking, and tend to lower your drinking after you do drink again. It can take a few weeks to remove all effects of alcohol from your system and let your liver fully recover.
4. Have a glass of water for every glass of alcohol, and a big one before bed.

Other interesting tidbits:

Alcohol is a huge dopamine stimulant, which is in part why it feels so good, and why we might crave it when stressed.

"No other drug both enhances GABA, serotonin, and dopamine and at the same time blocks glutamate and noradrenaline. Alcohol truly produces a cocktail of neurotransmitter effects."

I didn't realize that in the old days, beer and wine had much less alcohol in them than they do today (3-4% vs 5-8% today for beer). In middle ages I think it was even less, which is why people could drink it so often.

A lot of people have the believe that a small amount of alcohol is good for your health. This is particularly prevalent in France, where people believe a glass of wine a day is good for you. But the science so far has been clear: "A 2018 review in The Lancet, one of the leading medical journals, was called—pretty definitively—"No Level of Alcohol Consumption Improves Health." Their conclusion was that, on balance, any protection would be more than canceled out by the negative effects. "

Though this was interesting on the French surveys: "The real reason for the French Paradox is likely not wine, but the mainly Mediterranean diet the French were consuming, which was rich in olive oil and contained more fish and chicken than red meat, as well as lots of fruits and vegetables, wholegrains, and legumes."

Drinking while driving is a huge cause of death. In the US we have a .08% limit, which is actually not even that safe. Many countries in Europe have .05%, and many in Scandinavia have .02% (basically sober).

A good way to drink consciously is to count your drinks and plan them for the week. If you know you will be drinking 2 nights in a given week, and then plan to have no more than 4 drinks on each of those nights, you are more likely to not exceed/overdrink.

Don't drink to drown your sorrows. I love this quote: "I drank to drown my sorrows, but the damned things learned how to swim. Frida Kahlo"