Can Moderate Alcohol Consumption Reduce the Risk of Dementia?

A study made by Dutch researchers indicates that light-to-moderate alcohol consumption may reduce the risk of dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease.

Some salient points of the study were:

• People who consumed one to three alcoholic drinks per day were 42% less likely to develop any form of dementia than people who did not drink alcohol at all.

• All types of alcohol - beer, wine, liquor, fortified wine (i.e., sherry, port) - produced a similar reduction in risk.

But hold on!! Don't pour that shot til you read on. While moderate alcohol consumption has been found to have cardiovascular and other health benefits, including lowering dementia risk, it may on the other hand cause or complicate other negative health conditions such as liver disease and high triglyceride levels. So best talk to your health care provider to determine the best course of action for your particular situation before you touch that glass to your lips.

If you’d like to read the report of the study as published in The Lancet,

go here.

If you need help cutting down your drinking or changing your drinking patterns,
click here.

How to Cure a Hangover

You've been trying so hard to drink sensibly but you messed up. You had the famous “one too many” last night. Or perhaps two, three, or four too many. And now here you are, mouth all dry and cottony , tongue like sandpaper, head pounding, stomach queasy, and feeling like you've been run over by a truck. If it'll make you feel any better, know that even the most seasoned moderate drinker may have an occasional lapse and suffer that dreaded consequence of drinking alcohol: the hangover.

Well, this is no time to go into the whys and the wherefores of why you're suffering today. What you need now is some relief from this awful pain and unease. What to do?

Well, one of the reasons you're feeling soooooo sick is because you're dehydrated. Alcohol is a great diuretic. It makes the body lose water. So even while you were doing all that drinking last night, you were drying up. So first thing you need to do is hydrate yourself. DRINK WATER. Drink at least a glass of water every hour until you feel better.

Drinking juices would help too as these would raise your sugar levels, something you want to do at this stage. Orange juice, grapefruit juice, any juice with VITAMIN C would help your body to cope with what it's presently going through. Gatorade, Powerade or any of those drinks that help balance your electrolytes will work minor wonders.

If you can handle it, have some BREAKFAST. This will help to settle your stomach and to balance your sugar level as well. Avoid coffee, though, or any carbonated drinks as these are diuretics and will work contrary to what you're trying to achieve, which is normalcy. Ahhh! Whoever thought NORMAL could sound so good?

If you have some VITAMIN B on hand, take some. This will replenish some of the water-soluble vitamins you've depleted from your system.

Then go back to SLEEP. Rest is what you need at this point. The adage “time cures all wounds” may not be entirely accurate, but in this case it is. You may not believe it right now but in TIME, your hangover will be relieved.



If you need help cutting down your drinking or changing your drinking patterns,
click here.