THERE IS A SAFE WAY TO DRINK
by Morris Chafetz, M.D.
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I HAVE devoted most of my professional life to the problems of alcohol and its abuse, most recently as director of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. So I've spent much of my time trumpeting the fact that alcohol is a drug and that alcohol abuse is the most serious drug problem this nation faces. Nonetheless, I believe firmly that alcohol can do more good than harm. For there "is" a safe way to drink.
Pharmacologically, alcohol is an anesthetic, not a stimulant. In moderate amounts, it "appears" to stimulate, because it inhibits those brain centers which restrict "less civilized" outbursts, as well as those which make us aware of exhaustion. Then we feel physically abler and emotionally freer. But with increasing doses alcohol puts to sleep the brain centers which affect judgment, knowledge and social controls. Sufficient dosage can put us to sleep for keeps, by anesthetizing those centers which control breathing and heartbeat.
Responsible people, therefore, must chose rather carefully the time, place and circumstances of drinking. Obviously, if you are to engage in complex mental or physical activities--writing, driving, business--it is scarcely appropriate to be under the influence of an anesthetic drug. On the other hand, if you're going to be sharing a meal, or some other human interchange, in a relaxed way, alcohol can be a rewarding adjunct to the experience-- a true servant of man.
An essential point is that there is a "known" safe level of drinking. In preparing the second report to the Congress on Alcohol and Health, we found that researchers all over the world were independently using the same level to define safe or moderate drinking: 1 1/2 ounces of pure alcohol per day--the equivalent of three one-ounce drinks of 100-proof whiskey
(which is 50-percent alcohol), four-eight-ounce glasses of beer, or half a bottle of wine.
This limit, of course, is only a statistical average. For some people, even one drop of alcohol is too much. Nor do our findings permit saving up one day's ration in order to drink more the next day. At no time should any individual wishing to remain within the safe limits consume more than 1 1/2 ounces of pure alcohol in a single day.
Studies show that the driver who has consumed an amount of alcohol within this limit is no more likely to have an automobile accident than the driver who does not take any alcohol. But beyond this limit, when the blood-alcohol level (the concentration of alcohol in the blood) begins to creep over the 0.5 percent "sober" level, the risk of a traffic accident jumps enormously. By the time the blood-alcohol level reaches 0.2
percent--the level of most drunk drivers who are arrested--the risk of an accident is 100 times that of the non-drinking driver.
The "manner" of drinking is also crucial. One should always
sip, slowly. Alcohol is a highly unusual foodstuff in that at least 20 percent of it is absorbed directly from the stomach into the bloodstream without going through any digestive processes.
Therefore, gulping alcohol produces a sudden, marked rise in the alcohol level in the blood and hence in the brain. Once alcohol is in the bloodstream, nothing, with the exception of a kidney-
dialysis machine, can clear it from the blood more quickly than the body's own steady metabolic rate of three quarters of an ounce of pure alcohol per hour.
Another rule of safe drinking is that food in the stomach, preferably protein or fatty products, effectively delays alcohol's invasion of our systems. Food covers the stomach wall, making capillaries less accessible. It also sponges up the alcohol and carries it gradually through the digestive process, slowing absorption and allowing the metabolism and brain to adapt. So, as any experienced drinker knows, the same dose
taken with food in the stomach will provide a more pleasant outcome than alcohol on an empty stomach.
A number of other factors also influence our resonse to a drink. It's best not to take alcohol when physically or emotionally upset, lonely or in need of solace. It is true that alcohol's
anesthetic effect will dull the pain of loneliness. But alcohol is no substitute for another person. In other words, do not drink alone.
It's also best to drink in a relaxed setting. If I had to come
up with an unhealthy drinking situation, I would have created the American cocktail party. Standing around uncomfortably in a crush of people, most of whom one does not know, one tends
to gulp that first drink. People like to think that the alcohol at cocktail parties makes it easier to get acquainted, and cite the fact that strangers frequently pour out intimate details of their lives. In my judgment, a stranger sharing intimacies so freely is not relating to you--he is relating to himself. A medical colleague once tested this at a cocktail party when a woman was pouring out her heart to him. "I have just murdered my grandmother," he said. The woman smiled sweetly, said, "Isn't that nice," and babbled on.
Regardless of where and how you drink, what you expect from alcohol is hwat you get. As with almost all drugs expectation is strongly related to outcome. If you're part of a group that wants to act drunk, even with small doses you'll feel drunk. It's best, then, to drink with people who set expectations that are socially useful and not destructive. Too many Americans, preoccupied with drinking, fail in this regard. We spend a good deal of time thinking about drinking, or talking about it. Our liquor advertisements imply that alcohol is proof of
sophistication and worldliness. Or else it's funny. Thinking something is funny is a society's way of giving it social sanction. It is also a sign of discomfort--for jokes are a "safe" way to ventilate deeper worries. Study after study has shown that Americans are uncomfortable, ambivalent, almost guilt- ridden about their use of alcohol.
Why is this country so uptight about drinking? In my opinion, oe major reason is that our society places a great deal of stock in order and control. And being overdosed with a drug-- drunk--means being out of control. When we see someone who has lost control, it threatens CCourDD sense of control. Alcoholism is threatening because so many of us use alcohol. When we see an alcoholic, we are afraid that we could become alcoholics, too.
If our culture were more open and less guilty about alcohol, I think we could do more for people with alcohol problems. We might also do more for our children. Surveys completed in 1975 show that children in this country between the ages of 12 and 17 are already manifesting severe alcohol abuse;in fact, five percent of these "kids" get drunk at least once a week.
What can parents do? For one thing, they can alter the use of alcohol in the home. I contend that we teach our children about alcohol very early. Toddlers notice that when Mommy and Daddy drink this particular liquid they behave differently. The children can't miss the fact that it's something special-- especially when we tell them they can't have it "because it's not good for you."
I see no harm in becoming more relaxed about alcohol in the home, even giving your child a taste if you're drinking and he wants it. Why not? Other cultures do, in a matter-of-fact way.
Chinese, Lebanese, Spanish, Jewish and Italian people do not think there is anything special about giving alcohol to their young. Nobody makes a fuss about it, and these cultures use alcohol without appreciable problems.
Indeed, always to focus on alcohol in the context of alcoholism
is, I think, to miss the point. If you are preoccupied with alcohol, if you or others in your environment are discomfited by this preoccupation, if alcohol interferes with your ability to
function in other necessary ways, then you have an alcohol problem.
Our country is very concerned these days with safety and health. We have to remind ourselves that "anything" that affects human beings has a potential for hrm. In too great a quantity, even oxygen and water, those essentials of life, can harm or kill. So life is a risk, and I suspect the only sure way to be safe
from disease and dying is to be dead.
But there "are" safe limits that people can use in making their decisions about risk-taking, such as choosing to drink or not to drink or how much to drink. We ought to share with young and old alike the best available knowledge on such subjects. And then let each individual make up his or her own mind.(#)
SIMPLIFY! SIMPLIFY! by Thoreau
GOING HOME by Hamill
THE ART OF PAYING A COMPLIMENT by Adams
PUT YOUR BEST VOICE FORWARD by Price
THAT VITAL SPARK--HOPE by Whitman
BUT WHAT USE IS IT? by Asimov
NO WONDER by Sangster
MAKE AN APPOINTMENT WITH YOURSELF by Finkel
HEARING IS A WAY OF TOUCHING by Lagemann
THE SPECIAL JOY OF SUPER-SLOW READING by Piddington
YOU'RE SMARTER THAN YOU THINK by Lynch
HOW TO SELL AN IDEA by Wheeler
I'M A COMPULSIVE LIST-MAKER by Bluestone
HOW TO RELAX by Kennedy
THE ONE SURE WAY TO HAPPINESS by Callwood
TOO MUCH SEX, TOO LITTLE JOY by May
HOW TO BE A BETTER PARENT by Homan
FIVE WAYS TO IMPROVE YOUR LUCK by Gunther
TAKE MUSIC INSTEAD OF A MILTOWN by Marek
VIEW FEATURE RECIPE
ENTER CUISINE CORNER
Under construction but accessible too.
(Recommended)
ENTER CHILDREN'S ROOM
Specially adapted short stories for young people of all ages, from all over the world, by Amy Friedman.
(Very good fables.)
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Heavy stuff that were lifted by several decades to its present location, ZDS' third floor.
You can't find writers who can still keep their distance from their topics like these two.
(Highly recommended for the philosophical. Not too easy to digest in one sitting. Anyway, it's better than tons of history and anthropology books.)
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