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My parents growing up were very strict on alcohol. They disapproved on drinking saying it turns you into a bumbling, loud imbecile.
When I first had my drink at 19 at a pub with college friends I was surprised to see that while many got more lively, peoples behavior generally didn't deviate too much from their sober personalities. My psychiatrist always told me that people who behaved badly under the influence had thoughts repressed but never acted on them.
I would have to agree with his point. There's no doubt that alcohol impairs judgement and people can do stupid things but I believe the excessive behavior we see of drunk people who get arrested is just something they'd have done eventually.
Hmmm, 19 at a pub means you might be in the U.K.. M.A.D. made drinking under 21 illegal in the U.S. through a legal maneuver. From what I've deduced, drinking in the U.K. generally starts at puberty. Congrats on holding out.
I am getting a chuckle out of the projections and judgmental responses to your post. To be fair, many of those may be strongly influenced with current culture in the U.S.. Why do I say that? Go back in time and to movies like "The Thin Man" and drinking was seen as posh. If you study history, the "town drunk" was not seen as a threatening character, and even earlier the first test of the force of government in the U.S. was based on taxation of alcohol. Alcohol is a hot topic.
Alcohol affects different individuals differently. So do steroids, sugar, testosterone, and politics. I would never dare to give a "one size fits all" response to a question about the effects of any of those.
Your psychiatrist (again kudos for getting one in the U.K. under the NHS) was stating a homily.
Do many people, under the influence of alcohol, do stupid things? Of course. Do many people, under the influence of < political rhetoric, infatuation, religious fervor, drugs, emotional distress > do stupid things? Of course. Some DON'T. The broad brush is dangerous. Please, individuals are individuals. Your need for easy categorization does not reflect reality.
I agree with it "lowers inhibitions", but also that they have the idea they can blame the alcohol for their behavior when it is undesirable to others. That argument doesn't really hold up.
"Alcohol, like other depressants, slows down the central nervous system. This can lead to feelings of relaxation, confidence, and lowered inhibitions. It can also cause physical reactions like loss of coordination, memory, and the ability to make good decisions."
Alcohol basically pumps me up. I'm ready to go on a bunch of beer until I'm too drunk to get around. My mood is fine as long as I'm not set off, but the least little thing, which I'd likely roll my eyes at or cuss under my breath while sober, can make me explode.
Even when sober, I'm very easy going, until I'm not, at which point, I just explode. My old boss knew my triggers and would calm me down when she could tell I was getting upset, and before I blew up. That "fuse" is an order of magnitude shorter when drinking.
Alcohol is fine occasionally in moderation. However, for many it becomes a problem damaging people physically and emotionally. It can ruin relationships and families. The problem is you don’t know what category you will fall in until it’s too late.
My parents growing up were very strict on alcohol. They disapproved on drinking saying it turns you into a bumbling, loud imbecile.
When I first had my drink at 19 at a pub with college friends I was surprised to see that while many got more lively, peoples behavior generally didn't deviate too much from their sober personalities. My psychiatrist always told me that people who behaved badly under the influence had thoughts repressed but never acted on them.
I would have to agree with his point. There's no doubt that alcohol impairs judgement and people can do stupid things but I believe the excessive behavior we see of drunk people who get arrested is just something they'd have done eventually.
One thing to think about is the consequences of alcohol depend both on the time frame we are talking about, how much alcohol you consume when you drink, the frequency you consume alcohol and your own unique personal risk factors.
In the short term as others noted it lowers inhibition and it gives you a dopamine hit. That is is why it feels good to get drunk and the reduced inhibition is helpful if you are feeling a little anxiety talking to the other gender. In the short term it also spikes testosterone which is why people become more amorous when drinking and also contributes to risk taking and fighting in some people.
Longer term though if you are drinking frequently, your body tries to downward regulate excessively high dopamine levelsthat occur while drinking and lowers your bodies own set point for dopamine levels. That is why people who drink to feel good tend to need to keep increasing the amount of booze to achieve the same feeling of euphoria. That is also why in the longer term the more you drink, the more depressed you feel, so you drink more and that feedback loop leads to alcoholism. In the long term your body also tries to downward regulate the elevated testosterone levels that occur while drinking, that is also why alcoholic men tend to develop to have problems with sexual function and may start to develop breast tissue on their chest.
The reason auto insurance rates are higher for guy's under 25 vs women under 25, is that the frontal cortext doesn't fully develop until 25 in men whereas it fully develops in women closer to 22. Alcohol impairs the functioning of the frontal cortex. Your frontal cortex is what prevents you from taking crazy risks. Alcohol is a major contributing factor to date rape both in reducing men's inhibitions against assaulting women but also in reducing women's vigilence in keeping themselves out of situations where they might be sexually assaulted. There are some people who get violent when they get drunk, but if they aren't drunk, they aren't violent. Not every impulse people have, do we have to act upon.
On my dad's side of the family, his father and three of his 5 brother's were alcoholics so my dad didn't drink. On my mom's side of the family, she didn't drink but both her sister and her brother were alcoholics. As a result both of my parents were very insistent and vigilant that none of us drink. When I was in high school my older brother made the highly reasonable suggestion that there was healthy middle ground between not drinking at all versus becoming a raging alcoholic and that I should learn how to drink in a responsible fashion. The general reasonableness of that idea really appealed to me. So in high school, I drank with my friends in a highly responsible way. I never drank and drove. I drank some to feel good but I wasn't getting smashed. I was a pretty happy drunk, it just made me feel relaxed. In general I managed my alcohol in a very controlled and responsible fashion.
By the time I was a freshman in college, this same brother who gave me the seemingly reasonable advice about alcohol broke up with his girlfriend and asked me to help move out of their apartment. When I got over there at 9 a.m., he was completely smashed. In the apartment as I was helping him pack and move out of his place, I was finding bottles of booze hidden all over the place. I realized then, that maybe mom and dad had a point about alcohol being a bad choice for us. That is the problem with alcohol, you can manage alcohol perfectly well until suddenly you aren't managing alcohol well at all. All three of my older brothers have gone through 12 step programs for at least alcohol, but there were other drugs involved as well. Initially they were all very responsible people seemingly using booze in a responsible fashion. But that is also why they felt comfortable continuing to drink because they were managing their drinking successfully until they weren't.
So one thing I would think about is what is your unique family history with alcohol. Look at your parents, your aunts, your uncles and your various cousins. There are some people who drink frequently over much longer time periods then anyone in my family and it really isn't a problem for them and there are some people like my family for whom this just isn't the case. Your unique family risk profile is much more relevant than what works for your friends. George Burns was a comedian famous for smoking his cigar when he performed. He smoked everyday and he lived until he was 100 and when he died, he died not of lung cancer, but a heart attack. That doesn't mean smoking is not dangerous, but that some people have very protective genes against some kinds of risks and some don't. The question you are trying to figure out is to what extent you are George Burns or me, when it comes to booze. If your friends have a risk profile closer to George Burns and you have the risk profile closer to me using your friends to gauge your risk is setting you up for failure.
Alcohol basically pumps me up. I'm ready to go on a bunch of beer until I'm too drunk to get around. My mood is fine as long as I'm not set off, but the least little thing, which I'd likely roll my eyes at or cuss under my breath while sober, can make me explode.
Even when sober, I'm very easy going, until I'm not, at which point, I just explode. My old boss knew my triggers and would calm me down when she could tell I was getting upset, and before I blew up. That "fuse" is an order of magnitude shorter when drinking.
That sounds an awful lot like brain damage. You're not concerned about the damage alcoholism is doing to your brain, body, career and relationships? Give it 10 years and you will certainly see that you are in trouble.
Sometimes the people who go most in excess on drinking in college age are those who were never exposed to it.
We allowed our children to taste alcohol so it wasn't some secret forbidden sauce. I think my parent's gave me my first taste at 13. I never got crazy drinking like many college students (not that I haven't overindulged at times!).
My cousin was exposed to alcohol at a young age, exactly on the theory that you outline: a sip here and there at family parties dispels the mystery and mystique of it. In college, it wasn't alcohol she went for. It was marijuana that was her indulgence-of-choice, to which she'd never previously been exposed. It completely derailed her first year of college; she got expelled.
Location: Was Midvalley Oregon; Now Eastside Seattle area
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I like a rye, IPA, and heavy wines. However, at my age and health, alcohol makes my eyes dilate, gives me tunnel vision, vertigo becomes worse, gout, upset stomach, and the urge to barf . Probably some other stuff but I'm already unsteady just thinking about it.
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