I frequently hear that “a glass or two of wine a day is actually good for you”. Well, let’s hold that thought for a minute and instead talk about the negative effects on your health and then you can decide if the ‘possible’ benefits really outweigh the negatives. Your body and the way it works is nothing if not a miracle. We have an unspoken ‘tit for tat’ relationship with it - in other words, ‘you take good care of me and I’ll take good care of you’. So, let’s explore if drinking alcohol is one of the ways we can take good care of our bodies.

There’s the heart - kind of an important part of the body. Drinking alcohol has zero positive effects on the heart - in fact, drinking can decrease cardiac efficiency and tamper with the electrophysiology of the heart, which can lead to catastrophic results.

There’s the vascular system - the veins, vessels and arteries that are responsible for blood (which carries oxygen) delivery throughout the body. Alcohol consumption increases blood pressure and therefore increases your risk for stroke - especially with binge drinking.

Your brain - another vitally important part of the body - gains absolutely nothing beneficial from drinking. You are less in control of emotions, decisions, neuromotor function (including balance and coordinated movements), and an array of other highly important neurological functions. Messing with the brain isn’t the best decision.

Your liver - drinking can cause liver damage, resulting in alcoholic hepatitis, hepatic encephalopathy, cirrhosis, fatty liver, and ascites - to name just a few.

Your kidneys - your kidneys lose the ability to efficiently filter out the blood, putting you at risk for increased renal hypertension and kidney failure, ultimately causing your blood to become toxic.

Your pancreas - pancreatitis (inflammation of the pancreas) is an incredibly painful medical condition and it can actually kill you.

Let’s circle back now to decide if drinking alcohol is a way to take care of our bodies. I’m going to make an educated response here and for me....I say “NO!”

PS - Today’s ACT is all about Alcohol and Anger. We’re a few weeks into this experiment and I’m curious if you have felt any anger and/or irritability? We’re going to talk about the belief that alcohol prevents me from getting angry or keeps me from losing my cool. This belief was likely formed in previous attempts to stop drinking, where you may have felt rage or short-tempered with quitting. Unfortunately, it might have been enough to derail your efforts and send you back down the road you were trying to exit. We’ll dig into how to deconstruct this belief and help you understand that alcohol actually makes us irritable and angry rather than it helping us keep our cool.