City living can pose a lot of challenges and problems, and it’s human to want to unwind after a day full of activities. One of the most common methods to unwind is alcohol. Drinking alcohol can indeed temporarily lower your stress level, but too much of it can negatively impact your health.

According to the Government of the United Kingdom guidelines, one must not consume more than 14 units of alcohol per week, which equals to 6 glasses of beer or wine. As cited from Science Daily, a study conducted by the University of Cambridge proves that consuming alcohol more than the recommended amount can lead to premature death. Too much alcohol is also associated with stroke, aneurysm, and heart failure.

The study compared the overall health of people based on their alcohol consumption. Over 600.000 datas from people of 19 different countries were analyzed. Besides alcohol consumption, age, smoking, diabetes history, education, and occupation were also put into consideration.

The upper safe limit of drinking was about 5 drinks per week (100g of pure alcohol, 12.5 units, or just over five pints of 4% ABV beer). However, drinking above this limit was linked with lower life expectancy. For example, having 10 or more drinks per week was linked with 1 to 2 years shorter life expectancy. Having 18 drinks or more per week was linked with 4 to 5 years shorter life expectancy.

For those of you who regularly consume alcohol, consider cutting back to achieve a better health and life.

Text by Anggie Triana
Stock photos from thesociallit.com

Source (s):

• Consuming more than five drinks a week could shorten your life (2018), https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/04/180413121952.htm, April 19, 2018.
• Wood, A. M., Katoge, S., Butterworth, A. S. et all (2018). Risk thresholds for alcohol consumption: combine analysis of individual-participant data for 599 912 current drinkers in 83 prospective studies. The Lancet 391(10129): 1513-1523, DOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(18)30134-X.