Tibetan_Ice Posted August 13, 2013 Well, I wouldn't say no good. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2017200,00.html People that drink live longer than those who abstain entirely. In moderation, different forms of alcohol have been shown to have numerous benefits, especially wine. The benefits in wine are the nutrients and other components, not the alcohol. But, yes, people who drink seem to live longer than the sober people in the other vehicle that they crashed into. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drunk_driving_in_the_United_States http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/9870356/Thousands-of-women-die-from-breast-cancer-caused-by-drinking-research.html Alcohol was classified as one of the most carcinogenic substances by the World Health Organisation in 1988 and is particularly linked to cancers of the mouth, throat and liver. Prof Mark Bellis, director of the centre for Public Health at Liverpool John Moores University, has calculated how many people die from alcohol-related illnesses in the UK. He said his latest data shows that cancer was the biggest contributor to alcohol-related deaths and was responsible for 9,000 cancer deaths a year, 1,500 of them from breast cancer. He called for cancer warnings to be mandatory on all alcohol products saying it was wrong that people were buying them without knowing the risks. "There is no safe level of alcohol consumption in terms of cancer risk. Everyone should know if a substance carries that sort of risk. Posters shouldn't say 'drink responsibly' they should say something about the health risks, particularly around cancer," he told the Daily Telegraph. http://dougwead.wordpress.com/2010/08/31/get-drunk-live-longer/ Get Drunk, Live Longer? A false myth persists that alcohol use will extend your life. It is almost an accepted fact that moderate consumption of red wine is beneficial to heart disease. Today, once more, there is a new study appearing online that claims moderate drinking in general extends lifespan more than abstinence. John Williams alerted me to the report. But readers beware. First, the sample includes individuals “between 55 – 65 who had any kind of outpatient care in the previous three years.” Yikes. Let’s poll those sick people. Second, more importantly, there is no information on who financed the study. The latter can be big. When I worked in the White House I felt the power of the alcohol lobby. While statistics clearly showed that alcohol related deaths and crime were astronomical those facts were always stripped clean from any emerging policy or legislation. Even when a nationally newsworthy personal tragedy forced the subject onto the front pages and the White House felt the political necessity of hosting a drunk driving event in the Rose Garden, the backroom preparations revealed the corruption of the process. The early more famous anti-drunk driving organizations, usually born out of the pain of loss, were almost entirely financed by the alcohol industry itself. “We care about drunk driving too,” they explained, “It hurts our image.” And so subsequent organizations were formed only to fall on hard times and into the same status. The latest, hottest, most painfully born anti-drunk driving organizations were almost always the only pure ones. Over the years, the most objective, less biased, scientific studies exclusively show that non-drinking groups such as Mormons and Seventh Day Adventists have the best health, and the lowest rates of cancer and heart disease. Count me as a skeptic on this new study. I lost two brothers, one at 46 years of age, another at 47. They were both heavy drinkers. I am a teetotaler. So believe what you will. Drink up me hearties, yo ho. But don’t fool yourself either. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
i am Posted August 14, 2013 Yeah, I think the "those who drink alcohol live longer" studies proved correlation, but not causation, and it's most likely a combination of things including the social interaction that actually causes people to live longer. Okay. I was only refuting the absolute statement that no good can come of it. I'm not sure where you are going with this, or what else you think was implied in my statement, but in the words of Alfred Korzybski, "I have said what I have said; I have not said what I have not said".Anything past that and you are just arguing with yourself. Yeah it's an unnecessary turn to this thread...suddenly making the jump to drunk driving deaths. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tibetan_Ice Posted August 14, 2013 (edited) Yeah it's an unnecessary turn to this thread...suddenly making the jump to drunk driving deaths. Ya, you're problaby right. I should have talked about birth defects instead. My first ex-wife had a previous 'fetal alcohol syndrome' daughter. Edited August 14, 2013 by Tibetan_Ice Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
xor Posted August 14, 2013 (edited) The problem with statistics nowadays is that people rely on them a lot. They start to take the bad for what is good and the good for what is bad. Yes! Besides statistics being abused more than not, there's the thing that you yourself are not always in the majority. Edited August 14, 2013 by Guest 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
eye_of_the_storm Posted August 14, 2013 dairy kills too...what have we become? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
i am Posted August 14, 2013 You remind me that after a long day of qigong instruction, my teacher hangs out with all of us at dinner and has a couple of good beers. For me, I usually wait until the last day of the workshop to imbibe. Yeah, qigong workshops aren't a place for drinking, for me...but maybe that's only because I'm just beginning and can't take the distractions? I don't know. The last time I took a trip specifically for training, every time I had dinner with other people and they wanted to drink and drink, I just kept having to say "that's not what I'm here for"...I'd eventually have to go to bed, since I was clearly a wet blanket on everyone else's good time. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
i am Posted August 14, 2013 Yes it's unfortunate that people are inconsiderate enough to drive after drinking, or drink while they're pregnant. I'll admit I'm surprised to encounter such a brick wall with you on this subject! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ॐDominicusॐ Posted August 14, 2013 wow, didn't realize this thread would blow up to 3+ pages. I used to be able to knock down 6-9 beers over a night out and could basically eat anything. Now the sensitivity is so intense physically, after 1 beer there is this dullness/heaviness/grogginess there. Many times I can tell the changes in the air pressure prior to a storm. Empathy through the roof as well when around others.... interesting phenomenon never the less. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
i am Posted August 14, 2013 (edited) Yep, listen to it and enjoy it. The more sensitive you become, the more you'll notice things your body was probably telling you all along. I've been going through the same thing recently, maybe not quite as strongly as you. Just go with it. I'll admit, while trying to keep up a typical social life, its not very convenient... Edited August 14, 2013 by i am Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
hagar Posted August 14, 2013 Well this might seem not-so-spiritual, but the damage we inflict on ourselves and others on a level of beliefs and values are far greater than any amount of a drug or substance. If viewed from the insubstantial level, what we do to our bodies and minds with alcohol is far less damaging than what we do with our thoughts, words and beliefs. From my own perspective, and this is only me, the pleasure of enjoying a glass of wine or beer with a friend far outwheighs the dangers. In my practice for the last 15 years, one basic insight always reigns supreme: we never know what will happen to us. Life is unpredictable. Even with perfect merit and moral, life is always chaotic. Better to enjoy the pleasures that is given, within measure. Better yet; in cultivating energy, forget the body. In cultivating spirit, forget energy. In cultivating the Dao, forget spirit. But never turn down an opportunity to enjoy this life. Denying anything is dying a little. h Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
i am Posted August 15, 2013 (edited) Yes it's a problem with me, not my friends. I have great friends. Just not friends who live with the same goals as me, as far as cultivation. They would understand, it's just an awkward period of adjustment while they got used to me not drinking. Lately I've just been hanging out a lot less, to avoid drinking. I can hang out and not drink. It's just that at some point, people start getting buzzed, and the conversation is no fun anymore for a sober person! Anyway, when I stop talking about it and start doing it, that'll be a good day For now, I still go to the brewery with friends on a Friday after work. But I have one glass of beer to their three or four. If we go somewhere after, I have one more with dinner. If its a real late night, I might have three total. I'm ok with that, so long as I didn't drink at all during the week. But my days of having a couple beers right after work, before dinner or anything, on any random weekday are over. It got to the point that just one pint would ruin the rest of the evening, as far as getting anything done or feeling good. Edited August 15, 2013 by i am Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
i am Posted August 15, 2013 Yes, both. We have a lot of breweries around here with tap rooms, and you can have 48oz a day. They close at 8. That's a very popular place for the after work beer crowd. You can have your kids there and all that. A couple beers there on a Friday often leads to dinner out somewhere, or dinner at someone's house. Used to lead to actual bars, but that rarely happens anymore. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites