Alcohol abuse cases are in-numerous despite their negative consequences. Here are some of the popular myths about alcohol abuse compiled by us.
Drinking beer before liquor will make you feel worse
This is one of the most popular suburban myths about alcohol abuse. It is said that if you drink a couple of beers and then start downing the liquor, you’re more likely to feel sick and vomit. This is far from true. Even though many people have experienced this, that can be due to the amount of alcohol and their lack of tolerance. The opposite (drinking beer after consuming alcohol) too can make you feel sick and vomit. The hard truth is that mixing different types of alcoholic beverages upsets your stomach, which makes you puke and feel sick.My sex drive improves when I’m drunk
In many cases, drinking makes you feel free and gets your mood elevated for a while. And you feel more free with the opposite sex. If you’re a shy person, when sober you may become an aggressive ‘skirt chaser’ when drunk. But, your sex drive actually decreases, and your sexual performance is most likely to be the worst when drunk. Alcohol can cause erection problems in men and it can also lower sex drive in women.Liquor is poison for brain cells
It’s true to an extent. However, moderate alcohol consumption may actually improve mental functioning and cognitive thinking. Moderate drinking can even help to preserve the brain’s capability as you grow older. But, as you know it, alcohol abuse will sooner or later become poison for your entire body, not just the brain cells.Men and women have equal tolerance to alcohol
This is not true. Alcohol is gender biased and women have much lower tolerance to alcohol than men. Alcohol tolerance also depends on various other things like physical attribute, for example, height, body weight, and age. But, researches have shown that men and women of the same age (above 18), equal height and weight have different alcohol tolerance. Women cannot handle as much alcohol as men, because the presence of dehydrogenase enzyme or the alcohol breaking enzyme is less in women. Hormonal changes taking place in the body during periods can also affect alcohol absorption.Drinking alcohol causes addiction, so alcohol is equal to alcoholism
This is just like saying sugar causes diabetes, so even people without diabetes should not have sugar. If alcohol was indeed the cause of alcoholism, all drinkers would be alcoholics. According to scientists, people are born with or develop addictive personalities. Some do, some don’t. Addictive personalities comprise of traits like impulsive behavior, chronic high stress, frustration, etc. That’s is the reason many alcoholics do drugs too. This predisposition in personality leads them to behave abusive. If you don’t have all these symptoms, you’re not likely to suffer from alcoholism. However, you should always make a limit when drinking alcohol, because even if you do not become an addict, you’ll definitely harm your body.Coffee will sober up a drunk quicker
No, coffee does not have any such qualities. Like the old saying goes, coffee will only keep a drunk wide awake. Not coffee, not cold showers, not exercise but only time will sober up a drunk person. Intoxication depends upon the BAC or blood alcohol content of the drunk person. The body releases alcohol at the constant rate of .015 percent of BAC per hour, regardless of body weight, age and gender. One standard drink contains this .015 percent. So for every drink to consume, it’ll take that many hours to completely sober up. If you consume 10 drinks, you would require 10 hours to fully sober up.
Taking a shower may make you feel a bit comfortable as it’ll help to regulate the elevated body temperature a little bit. But, it won’t sober you up. Neither will drinking a cup of coffee nor even 10 cups of coffee for that matter. Caffeine will only help you to stay awake.
If someone passes out, let them sleep
Do you know what happened to John Bonham, the famous drummer of the greatest rock band ever, Led Zeppelin? John Bonham choked to death in his own vomit as he passed out drunk and everyone let him sleep. The vomiting did not wake him as he was so drunk that he lost complete consciousness and the discomfort was not enough to wake him up. The vomit sank into his lungs and his lungs sank in the vomit, just like drowning under water. Unconscious drunk people should be hospitalized or kept upright or should be kept awake. Hospitalization is recommended by doctors as the person might be suffering from an alcohol poisoning.
Drinking on a full stomach keeps you sober
The right thing to say would be – drinking on a full stomach keeps you sober longer! Eventually you’re bound to feel the effects of alcohol. Drinking on a full stomach only delays the alcohol absorption process in the bloodstream. It does not prevent it. But, it’s definitely more harmful to drink on an empty stomach. Not only will you get drunk faster on an empty stomach, you’ll also do severe damage to your stomach.Alcohol provides energy and makes you feel warm
Another popular misconception. Alcohol is a depressant and it makes you feel sleepy and drowsy. Some alcoholic beverages make you feel energetic initially but within an hour or two it affects your motor skills, your control and interferes with your thoughts, speech and reaction. Alcohol is also well known to make you give in to the wrong impulses.
The feeling of warmth after downing a few drinks is basically an illusion. In reality, alcohol makes the blood rise up to the surface of your skin. This makes you feel warm, but it drops down your actual body temperature as your body loses surface heat.
