For centuries, alcohol has been almost as much a part of daily life as food and relationships. That said, it’s also had a reputation for just as long for being a problem when abused and inhibitions are lost due to impaired judgment.
Biologically and health-wise, alcohol isn’t all bad though. There are some well-studied benefits to drinking alcohol regularly but with noted moderation as well, triggering various tools such as an app for tracking drinks.
On the other hand, conservative positions like that from the Centers for Disease Control dissuade drinking in any amount. A lot depends on the particular person’s condition. Let’s take a look at some of the health benefits of drinking in moderation.
- Increased Longevity
Yes, drinking can actually help toward living longer. Abusive drinking obviously is harmful to one’s health, poisoning the liver, a critical organ for survival. However, moderate drinking of alcohol on a regular basis helps reduce stress, improves relaxation and may have a positive impact on heart health.
For the most part, the research that looked at the results focused on regular wine drinking a few times a week, one or two glasses at best, spread out over seven days at a time. It did not involve drinking copious amounts of beer or drinking hard liquor. The measurements found a 25 percent improvement in the longevity of subjects studied versus average folks as a comparison.
- Heart Failure Resistance
Again, binge drinking is practically poisoning the body. However, where moderate drinking was followed consistently, those practitioners effectively realized a reduction in the contributing factors to heart attacks, primarily blocked arteries and constricted veins.
- Lower Blood Clot Risk
With some research what was found was that the body adjusted to the mild amounts of alcohol, resulting in fewer clot risks, wider vascular channels and lower risk of stroke. The group that benefited the most from the practice were folks who were middle-age.
- Better Sleep
There’s no question that if one can relax and let go of stress, they sleep better at night, as well as deeper. And being able to reach REM state in sleep is ideal for body repair, recovery, fending off illness in general and resisting the damages of chronic pressure during the day.
- Fending Off Type 2 Diabetes
There are two types of diabetes. One occurs in childhood and those with it spend a lifetime of managing their condition. The other, Type 2, comes with age and poor dietary practices, as well as weight issues. Both involve blood sugar level imbalances that affect how the body functions. Moderate drinking has been found to reduce Type 2 Diabetes development by up to a third. It’s a huge shift in a positive direction considering that normal Type 2 onset is expected to grow by another 37 percent within the next 8 to 10 years.
- Moderate Alcohol Use Can Help Men in the Bedroom
Probably one of the more eye-catching topics, moderate drinking has been found in some recent studies to be a contributor to increased fertility in men versus those who did not drink in restraint or binge.
While the research study group was small, only a few over 300, the results were interesting enough to trigger more research on the matter to confirm the results.
- Beat the Cold, One Drink at a Time
The common cold gets everyone. No matter where you go, eventually, usually during the cold season, you get sick with the sniffles. However, as it turns out, studies in the 1990s were able to find a correlation between those who drank moderately and far less vulnerability to the common cold. The folks involved simply didn’t get sick that much with the sniffles. They also didn’t smoke either.
Again, wine was the primary benefitting element in the mix; other drink types were not considered. The particular element of wine was again attributed to its rich content of antioxidants.
- Moderate Drinking May Help Keep Your Sanity Over Time
Dementia is, unfortunately, a common problem with age. It creeps in slowly, in a subtle fashion that is barely noticeable from day to day. However, to active observers or those separated for regular involvement, eventually dementia becomes apparent. However, some recent studies have also signaled a potential benefit of moderate drinking and staving off loss of cognitive ability in one’s senior years if it’s not already present when starting.
Conclusion
Whether using an app for tracking drinks or just making it a daily habit, moderate drinking of wine in particular has advantages. And there’s a lot of folks living longer who are proving the case worldwide.
