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Giacomo Gambineri
)has been dimming.
As Dr. Murthy outlines, evidence is piling up that drinking even small amounts is a problem.
TheWorld Health Organizationsays theres no safe amount of alcohol to consume.
First things first: How does alcohol impact health?
Its effects on the brain also cause issues with gait, balance, and memory.
Drinking started to feel counterintuitive to the other healthy lifestyle choices I make for myself.
DArgenio Waller is right: The current research on alcoholisgrim.
Heavy drinkers had brains that were about 10 years older than similarly aged people who were not heavy drinkers.
Of course, as you probably know, alcohol is terrible for the liver too.
Some 1 in 20 new cancer cases in the US also result from alcohol use.
So why did we think alcohol had health benefits for so many years?
As for red wines supposed star ingredient, the antioxidant resveratrol?
Some research on the compound has even beenmarred by controversy, including some that turned out to be falsified.
More people are sober curious, but the pressure to drink is still strong.
Thereisa clear downward trend in alcohol consumptionparticularly in young adults.
(Though, FWIW,theres also a rise in the use of marijuana and hallucinogens.)
questions you might face if you sip seltzers while out.
I still struggle with how to answer [that] question, says DArgenio Waller.
DArgenio Waller says its taken her some extra effort to find other ways to wind down.
What I liked most about alcohol was the emotional signal to relax, she says.
Ive started finding other ways to capture that feeling.
These include drinking tea, going for evening walks, or deep breathing.
Of course, some people SELF spoke to did stop drinking for health reasons.
Kelsey Harlow, a 29-year-old from Cincinnati, went sober two years ago after having her gallbladder removed.
Even after one drink, she would notice flare-ups of her lupus.
Both Harlow and Woon say their doctors never advised them on the health impacts of alcohol.
You would never promote people to drink as part of a healthy lifestyle, confirms Dr. Shield.
He says experts usually encourage people who dont drink not to start.
But were not at the point that experts suggest everyone should stop drinking entirely.
Even in chronic users, theres clear potential for reversing the adverse effects of alcohol.
This is likely the next frontier of research, says Dr. Shield.
If you want to motivate people to change, you need evidence that a change can improve health.
Big-picture changes around alcohol are underway worldwide too.
In 2026, Ireland will become the first country to include acancer warning on all alcohol productssold.
Warning labels are a great way of giving them that knowledge, adds Dr. Shield.
For DArgenio Waller, this sort of knowledge has been empowering.
Not drinking has had positive impacts in what feels like all aspects of my life, she says.
Thats an outcome thats pretty hard to ignore.
