What alcohol does to your body, brain and health [video] • Hacker News Board

Re: What alcohol does to your body, brain and health [video]

#211

Post by jacobr1 » Thu, Aug 25, 2022, 2:56 PM UTC

AndrewKemendo wrote: post #208

jacobr1 wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sugar (in large amounts) isn't so great for you either ... And caffeine from coffee/tea while fine in moderation, becomes really bad if abused as part of a pattern of chronic sleep deprivation which is really common.

There is neither sugar nor caffeine in herbal tea - you cannot drink too much of it I have probably had a sum total of 10 mocktails in my life - each of which has less caffeine and sugar than a half can of coca-cola

Great - have at it! I like mocktails too!

I was just being a pedantic jerk reacting to: "no downsides."

There are often possible downsides to anything one can do ... but that doesn't mean it isn't something worth doing. I love to hike - I could break my ankle or fall of cliff - but that doesn't mean I should never hike.

Re: What alcohol does to your body, brain and health [video]

#212

Post by eurasiantiger » Thu, Aug 25, 2022, 3:16 PM UTC

JeremyNT wrote: post #207

eurasiantiger wrote: post #204

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pretty sure you just enjoy the buzz. Stop drinking for 12 months and see if you still really like the taste.

I do have a counter anecdote here. I mostly gave up alcohol years ago for health reasons (I was never a "heavy" drinker but did enjoy it regularly) and I greatly miss the things the parent poster describes. Once in a blue moon (at special events and such) I will drink an alcoholic beverage again, and while there are some I don't miss (like a Pilsner beer or Vodka) there are others I really do enjoy for their own sake…

I posit you are particularly susceptible to the neurophysiological effects elicited by phytochemicals and other psychoactives in those specific beverages.

This may be simply due to genetics — maybe you have an under- or overactive neurotransmitter-metabolising enzyme oslt which is temporarily remediated by those drinks in a fashion which produces euphoria — but may also be mediated by diet, medications and even life experiences.

Re: What alcohol does to your body, brain and health [video]

#213

Post by phendrenad2 » Sun, Sep 04, 2022, 8:06 AM UTC

ilaksh wrote: post #170

Steve44 wrote: post #119

One thing I've not seen mentioned in this thread is the enjoyment you can get from the wide expanse of flavours & mouthfeels of different alcoholic drinks. Most of the comments seem to be focussed on people drinking either to help with social anxiety or just to blot the world out, or as one poster put it "to dissociate with reality". I really love exploring different drinks, mainly beers and spirits although I do sti…

That is ridiculous. Alcohol tastes like poison. It does not in any way enhance the flavor of any beverage. Small dilute amounts just are less noticable.

Depends on what you mean by "taste". Technically, spicy foods wouldn't taste any different if the spice chemical capsaicin were removed from it. And yet many people prefer spicy foods.

Re: What alcohol does to your body, brain and health [video]

#214

Post by phendrenad2 » Sun, Sep 04, 2022, 8:09 AM UTC

patrick451 wrote: post #163

wheelerof4te wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The fact that alcohol is sold in stores en masse, but it's somehow so bad that it kills cells? If it is so bad, why isn't it banned in every country in the world? Beer is even considered food in some countries. I don't see any evidence for his theories mentioned in the video.

> The fact that alcohol is sold in stores en masse, but it's somehow so bad that it kills cells? If you think that mass availability is an indicator of safety, I have carton of Marlboros to sell you.

Pretty sure my washcloth has killed more of my skin cells than alcohol has.