A Daily Review of Breaking News, Facts and Studies, Stories of Recovery & Tips and Leading Blogs covering the topic of Alcohol and Abuse.

My Mom and Step-Dad just got into town today, so I am looking forward to a fun weekend of events around the Denver area this weekend. I hope all of you have some nice family plans lined up for the weekend. Holiday weekends are always interesting because it seems like just yesterday I couldn’t imagine a sober weekend, let alone a sober holiday weekend.

So I am always grateful to not be obsessed with the thoughts of drinking all weekend and making sure I have enough alcohol around to last through the holiday.

A Different Perspective to The Study That Heavy Drinkers Outlive Nondrinkers

Yesterday I reviewed a highly controversial article that has garnered a ton of attention in Time that said heavy drinkers outlive nondrinkers. You can read here if you missed it. Today I wanted to offer up a study that offers a different conclusion and to also talk about this from a different point of view.

One thing I like to do, especially with controversial topics like this, is just to ask what does my common sense tell me. I mentioned yesterday that personally my health has changed dramatically since I got sober. I didn’t mention how many people in the rooms of AA I have seen go from critical health concerns to looking and feeling great and seeing a complete reversal of their blood work. I recently published an article on EzineArticles.com that is in some ways related to this, which you can read here – Alcohol Treatments. This article was done with a bit of a fun intention, which was to simply point out all the things alcohol is used for that isn’t  for drinking, such as fuel, cleansing agents, disinfectants, etc. And of course this was meant to point out a bit of the insanity when you think that this is substance you put in your body for a good time. To me it is crazy to think that alcohol put in your body in excess, that is also used in the ways discussed in this article, could actually have a positive impact on your health. Is that common sense to you?

Also one of the hundreds of comments to this Time article was nice enough to reference a study done that contradicts this one. You can read it at the Oxford Journals, which is a very reputable source. If you have any doubts about the validity of the Time article be sure to read this journal.

Michael Douglas on David Letterman’s “Late Show”

The recent news around Michael Douglas has to be mentioned, given the article we just discussed. Michael Douglas has been diagnosed with Stage 4 Throat Cancer and he discussed with David Letterman about his past drinking and smoking past. Report sin the New York Times says this particular cancer is brought on from drinking and smoking.

The good news is he is expected to fully recover. I am always in awe with regard to how far modern medicine has come and lives that are saved every day.

Why Does Alcohol Abuse Make You Bloated?

I was at work the other day and a conversation came up around this topic when we were discussing someone we thought might have a drinking problem. I mentioned he always had that bloated look, which I have seen quite often among active heavy drinkers. Of course I had to look in the mirror at my bloated face for years.

The question was asked why does alcohol make you bloated/puffy and I realized I had never actually looked that up. Well I just read a great explanation on that on which you can read here on eHow.com, but I will summarize the main point. Alcohol dehydrates you and the body overcompensates by retaining water. But another aspect of this is an allergic reaction that many have to alcohol, even though most people are not even aware of it.

All I can say is one of the greatest things I like seeing is watch people’s face change during their first 30 days of sobriety.  Their face gets a healthy look and their eyes come to life.

That is all I have for today.

Dave Andrews

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