Many people show off their “tolerance” for alcohol like a badge of honor. The phrases “I can drink you under the table” or “that first bottle of wine was just the appetizer” are said with great pride. But we should probably know just exactly what it is we’re bragging about before we get TOO excited about this “achievement.”

I want to explain how tolerance is built. Your body has the very important job of keeping you balanced - in other words, it’s always working to maintain homeostasis (the fancy word for keeping all things balanced). When you drink alcohol, dopamine (a pleasure chemical) is triggered at an abnormally high level. In an effort to regain balance, your body counteracts by releasing dynorphin (a sedative chemical). The body has done its job, right? But now that we are “losing our buzz” thanks to dynorphin, we order another drink and the vicious cycle continues, ultimately dragging us down below our baseline mood where we started.

When we make drinking a habit, our body becomes conditioned to this habit and starts to release these mood-altering chemicals before we have taken our first sip. Now it takes more alcohol to achieve the buzz we chase because we are starting out below the baseline. If you aren’t yet convinced that this is a big deal, hold tight. I want to finish. Because we are stimulating our brains with something unnatural, not only does it, over time, take away our ability to get a buzz off one drink, but it takes away our ability to get pleasure out of other activities we used to enjoy - like game night with your kids or dinner with your spouse. We have now conditioned our minds to believe that we have to be drinking to enjoy everyday activities. You can’t pick and choose what the booze numbs - from the bad cases to the cuddles with your dog - it’s all going to feel fuzzy without that drink.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to let ANYTHING - least of all alcohol - have that kind of control over my mind and body.