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Until the alcohol's effects wear off. Then you may end up in the fetal position under the bed, praying for death because of the spike in your anxiety or depression.
My brother died at 61 from heavy drinking, and smoking since the age of 14.
They did an autopsy and his heart was destroyed, and his lungs, pulmonary, and respiratory systems were deeply harmed. He had COPD.
Heavy drinking can destroy the heart. Smoking can also cause heart disease, and very often does.
And smoking can cause COPD which is Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (lung & pulmonary disease) which can also include severe emphysema - where breathing can become more and more difficult.
It was his destroyed heart which killed him. Including heart disease affecting transport of blood to the heart. A doctor told him he would be dying soon because his heart would stop. And his heart did stop a couple months later.
So many people do not know that smoking can cause heart disease and often does. (they think smoking just causes cancer) And many people think just the liver is harmed by excessive drinking, and have no idea that excessive drinking can severely harm the heart.
My father also died in his early 60s, like your brother. He was also a heavy drinker and smoker, but he didn't start smoking until he was fighting on the front lines during the Korean War (after college...and he had been a competitive athlete in high school, and in college).
He had two heart attacks when he was 55, and still didn't stop smoking or drinking .
His attitude was 'If I can't smoke or drink, I don't want to live' (he drank a fifth of vodka/+smoked 4 packs of unfiltered Pall Malls a day for over 35 years).
I think PTSD contributed to this 'road' that he followed. He was one of the physically toughest people I've ever known (he was 6' 7", and an ex Golden Gloves boxer), but he would cry when talking about having to kill people during the war.
When my father died, there were three factors listed on his death certificate:
Atherosclerosis
Cirrhosis of the Liver
Chronic Emphysema
In the last few years of his life, he couldn't even walk a flat city block without stopping to rest.
I've always tried to live my life as close to the opposite of my father as possible. I've never smoked, was never more than an occasional social drinker after college, and haven't had any alcohol at all in over 10 years.
My maternal grandfather (who was really more like a father to me), was an 'everything in moderation' kind of person. He never had more than one drink a day, and occasionally smoked a pipe. He stayed physically active throughout his life, even though he hadn't been an athlete in his youth. He died a few months short of his 90th birthday.
My father had some people in his family who steered clear of vices and lived long lives. His grandmother never smoked nor drank, and lived to be 104.
the benefits and alcohol in moderation are flawed. the moderate drining groups are already living healthy lifestyles, rich/wealthy and have greater access to health care. the non drinking group are unhealthy and stop drinking for health reasons. there is no such thing and healthy drinking. alcohol is aclass A carcinogen according to the EPA and a group 1 carcinogen on the international research on cancer of the WHO. 50 years ago big tobacco where claiming smoking was healthy for you
So true. Just look at caffeine - it has been praised, demonized, neutralized, over the last 3 or more decades.
There was a story of a women I saw last year who was in her late 90's who drove herself to yoga everyday. She credited it, and her two glasses of wine she drank nightly for her longevity.
60 minutes did a piece on a retirement community where there were people thriving in their 90's. The one thing they all had in common is that they had a couple of drinks every night.
Genetics, and how one takes care of oneself are going to be the determining factors of what is harmful and what is not for an individual.
Your last sentence is certainly a key to it all.
Then there are families like mine. No one smokes and no one drinks. This has been true going back to at least my grandparents' generation who were all born in the late 19th century. No one on either side of my family has developed cancer going back 5 generations.
And most of my family has lived in urban areas where many of us older members were exposed to industrial pollutants and
coal dust.
I watched a feature story on NBC News last night, that alerted me to this. There is a significant increase of developing many types of cancer from drinking any amount of alcohol and much more risk for heavy drinkers. Smoking tobacco along with the alcohol, increases the risk even more. In the case of head and neck cancers, the risk for heavy drinkers may be as much as 500% greater than for those who don't drink at all.
Read this article from the National Cancer Institute, that explains the many ways that alcohol consumption can negatively affect the body and lead to cancer. This might explain the modern-day rise in cancer rates, as a lot more people are drinking more than ever. On the NBC News website, you can play the Nightly News for Nov. 7 and find their coverage of the story.
Tomorrow there'll be a study claiming light to moderate drinking improves the liklihood of surviving certain cancers. These "professionals" dont have anymore of an idea of what theyre talking about than you or I do.
Wrong. These "professionals" test a thesis under specified conditions and report their results. Then an incompetent media and even more unqualified readers morph it all into something it never was.
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