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Healthy habits add up to 10 disease-free years to your life, study reveals

nhs.uk

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Re: Healthy habits add up to 10 disease-free years to your life, study reveals

#11

Post by izzydata »

_Microft wrote: post #2

Surprising: one of the healthy habits mentioned is drinking alcohol only in moderation (defined in this study as just under 2 units for women and 4 units for men daily) . If I drank any alcohol on a daily basis, I would be scared that it would go downhill from there. Habits are hard to change, so better do not pick up bad ones at all. I'm convinced that just avoiding to do stupid things is half the battle already.

That one doesn't make any sense to me. Alcohol is basically poison. Perhaps small amounts of it won't do any harm to you, but how could it possibly have a positive effect on your health?

Re: Healthy habits add up to 10 disease-free years to your life, study reveals

#13

Post by pkaye »

laurencerowe wrote: post #5
_Microft wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My mistake, I should have been more precise in my formulations. I was rather surprised that daily alcohol consumption still counted as moderate .

This seems to be a cultural UK/US difference which I've noticed moving to the US. In the UK a glass of wine with food every night would be seen as part of a healthy mediterranean diet and health advice on alcohol was refocussed to discourage binge drinking, emphasizing daily rather than weekly consumption limits. In the US daily drinking seems to be seen as bad (perhaps a legacy of prohibition?) while binge drinking…

In the US its a pretty skewed distribution. 30% don't drink at all. Another 30% less than once per week. The top 10% drinks a crazy amount.

https://drinksfeed.com/think-you-drink-a-lot-this-chart-will...

Re: Healthy habits add up to 10 disease-free years to your life, study reveals

#14

Post by izzydata »

Dirlewanger wrote: post #9
_Microft wrote: post #2

Surprising: one of the healthy habits mentioned is drinking alcohol only in moderation (defined in this study as just under 2 units for women and 4 units for men daily) . If I drank any alcohol on a daily basis, I would be scared that it would go downhill from there. Habits are hard to change, so better do not pick up bad ones at all. I'm convinced that just avoiding to do stupid things is half the battle already.

I'm surprised this was mentioned at all. There's even newer research that basically shows any amount of alcohol regularly is bad for you.

The idea that any amount of alcohol is bad for you is about as surprising of a concept to me as vaping actually being bad for you. Drinking poison or filling your lungs with anything that isn't air is not healthy.

Re: Healthy habits add up to 10 disease-free years to your life, study reveals

#15

Post by Hoasi »

_Microft wrote: post #2

Surprising: one of the healthy habits mentioned is drinking alcohol only in moderation (defined in this study as just under 2 units for women and 4 units for men daily) . If I drank any alcohol on a daily basis, I would be scared that it would go downhill from there. Habits are hard to change, so better do not pick up bad ones at all. I'm convinced that just avoiding to do stupid things is half the battle already.

> Surprising: one of the healthy habits mentioned is drinking alcohol only in moderation (defined in this study as just under 2 units for women and 4 units for men daily).

These figures are not absolute. Other studies consider someone an alcoholic as soon as there is a craving for alcohol. The risk is higher for someone who drinks daily.

Standards of what is acceptable also vary from country to country.

Re: Healthy habits add up to 10 disease-free years to your life, study reveals

#16

Post by twinkletwinkle_ »

izzydata wrote: post #11
_Microft wrote: post #2

Surprising: one of the healthy habits mentioned is drinking alcohol only in moderation (defined in this study as just under 2 units for women and 4 units for men daily) . If I drank any alcohol on a daily basis, I would be scared that it would go downhill from there. Habits are hard to change, so better do not pick up bad ones at all. I'm convinced that just avoiding to do stupid things is half the battle already.

That one doesn't make any sense to me. Alcohol is basically poison. Perhaps small amounts of it won't do any harm to you, but how could it possibly have a positive effect on your health?

The key word is definitely "only".

Re: Healthy habits add up to 10 disease-free years to your life, study reveals

#17

Post by enraged_camel »

izzydata wrote: post #11
_Microft wrote: post #2

Surprising: one of the healthy habits mentioned is drinking alcohol only in moderation (defined in this study as just under 2 units for women and 4 units for men daily) . If I drank any alcohol on a daily basis, I would be scared that it would go downhill from there. Habits are hard to change, so better do not pick up bad ones at all. I'm convinced that just avoiding to do stupid things is half the battle already.

That one doesn't make any sense to me. Alcohol is basically poison. Perhaps small amounts of it won't do any harm to you, but how could it possibly have a positive effect on your health?

It’s also a stress-reliever, and is frequently consumed in the company of others, so it has social benefits as well.

Re: Healthy habits add up to 10 disease-free years to your life, study reveals

#18

Post by mrlala »

izzydata wrote: post #11
_Microft wrote: post #2

Surprising: one of the healthy habits mentioned is drinking alcohol only in moderation (defined in this study as just under 2 units for women and 4 units for men daily) . If I drank any alcohol on a daily basis, I would be scared that it would go downhill from there. Habits are hard to change, so better do not pick up bad ones at all. I'm convinced that just avoiding to do stupid things is half the battle already.

That one doesn't make any sense to me. Alcohol is basically poison. Perhaps small amounts of it won't do any harm to you, but how could it possibly have a positive effect on your health?

Maybe it can have a positive affect on your mental health, in moderation?

Sharing a bottle of wine or champagne with my wife can be one of the most enjoyable experiences to us.. going out to the pub having some beer with family & friends is great.

An argument could be "you can have just as much fun doing something else", but I don't know.. that's not really my experience. A moderate amount of drinking usually makes things even more fun.

Re: Healthy habits add up to 10 disease-free years to your life, study reveals

#19

Post by izzydata »

twinkletwinkle_ wrote: post #16
izzydata wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That one doesn't make any sense to me. Alcohol is basically poison. Perhaps small amounts of it won't do any harm to you, but how could it possibly have a positive effect on your health?

The key word is definitely "only".

I don't agree. Even if you "only" drank in moderation forever and never drank too much for your liver to deal with it isn't helping anything. At the absolute best it simply isn't hurting anything.

Which I'm really not convinced that is even true.

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