Alcohol: Scourge of humanity or misunderstood medicine?

The most common driving related death involves alcohol. On top of that, chronic binge drinking, also known as alcoholism, can cause brain damage, liver disease, and many other ailments. Over half of all domestic violence cases involve an alcoholic or someone under the influence. It impairs your judgement, motor skills, and even control of your faculties when consumed excessively. 

That's a pretty bleak outlook on this substance, but it's not the whole truth about it.

Alcohol is a semi-neurotoxic substance, meaning moderate amounts of alcohol aren't toxic or detrimental to your health. Responsibly consuming alcohol reserves you enough reasoning ability to know you're impaired, and that you shouldn't start beating your spouse for no reason. 

Alcohol is used to 'drink your worries away', but it isn't necessarily a bad thing. Alcohol is known for its' ability to break what is known in psychology as the stress cycle. The stress cycle is a daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly cycle of stressors that you experience like getting up for work, dealing with a grueling week before being able to see the next installation of a TV show, paying bills, and dealing with the dreaded holiday season(Which is more stressful for your wallet than anything). 

This stress cycle is relentless, and its' effects tend to accumulate: High blood pressure, irritability, depression, loss of/ increase in appetite, weight gain, insomnia, drowsiness... We're only on the tip of the iceberg on how dangerous stress is. Responsible drinking, however, has been proven to not only negate the effects of the stress cycle for the most part, but increase your lifespan. That's right, responsible drinkers' lifespans are nearly double that of someone who abstains completely, those who abstain actually live shorter lives than binge drinkers, too!

Alcohol has had a hold in history as well. For thousands of years, alcohol was recognized for its' antibiotic properties. If you got sick, you were prescribed red wine, fresh wounds would be treated with a splash of hard liqour, and whiskey was the closest thing to an anesthetic we had a few hundred years ago. 

Today, the only alcoholic beverage recognized by the general public as good is red wine. Red wine has been recognized as a cure-all, containing compounds able to fight off cancer, heart disease, aging, various illnesses, and naturally occurring toxins.



With all this in mind, should we be fighting alcohol, or embracing its' positive qualities?

Well, in my family's history...alcohol has led to nothing but pain,misery,and hurt. So no, I would not embrace it either way.

I'm not a big fan of alcohol either, but I wouldn't completely discourage it.
I think it is fine for one to drink as long as they do not go as far as to get drunk. Someone I know has anxiety and depression and none of the other ways have worked to ease them and the only way she hasn't tried yet is drinking which was actually encouraged in one of her books.

I personally find alcohol to be beneficial. Drunkenness aside, the distinct flavors and mechanisms of alcoholic beverages and foods provide a range of flavors that you can't find anywhere else. Liquor is just as good in various cocktails as it is in sauces and seasonings.


Alcohol has a bad reputation because recreational drinking is an age old tradition. More refined practices are still overlooked.

Doesn't it kill your brain cells,though

Stress kills brain cells faster than moderate alcohol consumption. If anything, for someone with a high stress life, alcohol acts as a neuroprotectant. It slows brain activity and limits cognitive awareness, essentially limiting your ability to focus on stressors. This allows your neurons to 'catch their breath' so the synapses don't break as quickly. That's why abstainers have a lower life expectancy, because stress, subconscious and conscious, accumulates and overworks your brain, disrupting communication between your heart and brain(High blood pressure), and making it difficult to focus. 

Stress kills. Drinking and driving kills. Responsible consumption saves and extends lives.

Saying that all stress kills, is inaccurate. There is positive stress, that actually motivates you (eustress). And then there is negative stress, which is not good.

I think it is people's inabilities that kill. It is the inability to handle stress. It is the inability to put down the bottle before you drink too much.

Taeron wrote:Saying that all stress kills, is inaccurate. There is positive stress, that actually motivates you (eustress). And then there is negative stress, which is not good.

Both stresses illicit the same response. Eustress and distress are both useful responses in and of themselves, but too much of either one can still be deadly, motivational or not.

AdrianKings wrote:I think it is people's inabilities that kill. It is the inability to handle stress. It is the inability to put down the bottle before you drink too much.

Interesting, but what about partying teenagers?

I stay home and get on the internet whereas everyone else goes to parties and gets drunk.

For parting teenagers, it would be their inability to control themselves and their own stupidity. It isn't like they weren't warned their whole life not to get drunk and how dangerous it can be. They can party all they want, as long as they aren't stupid about it

Well sometimes people will slip drugs/alcohol into their drinks, and that's not even their fault. Except maybe for partying at their own risk.

Drinks don't often get drugged, really. Stay away from the blue Kool - Aid though. It's windex

ever heard of roofies or ecstasy...

They exaggerate it. It doesn't happen as often as advertised. People wouldn't take it seriously otherwise, thouhh. If you're concerned about that, keep your drink in hand and have a vacuum seal lid handy if you're really paranoid. The most dangerous thing to do is drink alone though, never step foot in a bar without at least three friends with you.

I'm never stepping in a party or bar...

You will, Taeron.

You really don't know me,then.

You really don't know how likely it is then, Taeron. Parties are healthy things to attend, and thus, as social animals, we are naturally drawn towards them. In fact, all but one of the parties I attended in my lifetime were dry parties, and that was just new year's party with champagne.

I'm also not a "social animal."
I do not, and will not, go where I know drugs and alcohol will be.
Once I realize one of the two of those things (or both) happens to be at the party I'm at, I'll leave as soon as I have a ride.

All humans are. Lack of social interaction causes severe neurodegeneration.

I really don't care. I'm not a partier.

I thought the same thing before I started attending them. You see your friends and meet new ones. Not all parties are extravagant ones with hundreds of people, they're most often thrown to accommodate small cliques of people, to have fun and talk. 

Social things are just generally more exciting, and hormone activity(dopamine and a few others, not related to procreation) during gatherings promotes healthy bodily function.

If I DO attend a party, it's for youth group.

We'll see. :3