When I first moved to London, one
of the first things that really shocked me about life in the UK was the British
drinking culture. In my head, I had pictured English people very well-mannered,
reserved and sophisticated, completely different from those infamous British
youngsters who love visiting my country during the summer – especially the
island of Corfu, which has become a regular English destination for partying – and
drink everything that can be found in liquid form in bars and nightclubs. Don’t
get me wrong though. The British are of course well-mannered and elegant, but
maybe not so much after 7pm, when the local pubs are starting to serve pints of
beer and Jack Daniels on the rocks.
In the beginning, I found it almost
scary how pervasive alcohol is in the British and Irish society, to the point
where I cannot imagine anymore a social occasion with my British friends, where
alcohol is not part of it in some form or other. It just feels like English
social life revolves around alcohol.
The worst part however, is the huge
peer pressure to drink and ‘be merry’. And if you decide not to drink, then you
are labelled ‘boring’ and not willing to ‘live life on the edge’ and have fun.
I have tried for years now to tell
my friends that there are so many more things we can do in our 20s than getting
drunk and being sick and embarrassing. Cinema, sports, dancing, cooking. You
can do all of these things and more without needing to be intoxicated.
I have always tried to show them
how harmful alcohol can be for our mental and physical health and how poisonous
it is for our bodies. But I always get the same old answer: “a little bit of alcohol here and there can
be fun and good for you.”
I remember even when I was a child
my grandpa used to drink a glass of red wine with his lunch every single day
and when I used to ask him repeatedly why he did so, he used to say that “a glass of wine every day is very good for
your heart.” As I was only a kid, the smell of alcohol annoyed me and I
always wanted to prove him wrong, but I just did not know how.
A few days ago, I was very happy (and
kind of satisfied in a strange way) to read about a new, revolutionary research
from the American College of Cardiology, which proved that excess alcohol
intake is one of the many causes of serious heart conditions.
Alcohol has been mainly associated
with liver damage. However, it appears that it also increases the risk of heart
arrhythmia, stroke and heart failure, as much as hypertension, diabetes,
smoking and obesity do. Furthermore, the study concluded that the reduction of
alcohol consumption can decrease cardiac arrests.
The research, which was led by Dr.
Gregory Marcus at the Department of Cardiology at the University of California
in San Francisco, took into consideration the analysis of the medical database
of 14.7 million patients over the age of 21, out of whom 268,000 (about 1.8%)
consumed vast amounts of alcohol daily.
By processing all the data, the
researchers found that heavy alcohol use is associated with double the risk of
atrial fibrillation, as well as increased risks of heart attack and congestive
heart failure. Instead, they reported, that complete abstinence from alcohol
could lead to tens of thousands fewer chances and incidents of heart disease.
I contacted myself various doctors
on their social media to found out more about their views on the topic:
Dr. Krumhol, cardiologist and medicine
teacher said that “older studies have
shown that moderate levels of alcohol consumption can help the heart, as they
raise our high density lipoprotein (HDL), which is easier known as the ‘good’
cholesterol. Antioxidants are substances that can be found in certain alcoholic
drinks, which also help protecting from artery damage. So definitely, the
results of the recent ACC research are coming to change a lot of the things we
thought we knew and show that we need to decrease alcohol consumption as much
as we can, to reduce any chances of hurting our heart. People who avoid
drinking are winning in this case.”
Cardiologist and researcher, Dr. A.
Banerjee, strongly emphasised on how bad alcohol can be not only for our
hearts, but also for our whole bodies: “Have
you ever wondered why we vomit after we drink too much alcohol? That’s because
alcohol is a poison and our bodies are trying to save us by removing alcohol
through vomiting. It can be harmful
for many of our organs and heavy drinking especially weakens the heart muscle
and causes cardiomyopathy, which means that the heart cannot pump blood
properly to the rest of the body and veins, which can then result to premature
death.”
“Many people think that even drinking a little is good for our heart,
but studies have shown the exact opposite. We only have one heart and we should
take care of it, before it abandons us” Dr. Banerjee added.
Finally, my views on alcohol and
how harmful it can be have received scientific confirmation.
Now the tables have turned and I am
the one who can put pressure on my friends to stop drinking and enjoy ‘living
life on the edge’ without alcohol.
I realise however, that no matter
how hard I try to persuade them, alcohol is part of their culture, a very big
part of their lives and they will most likely keep drinking, getting drunk and
eventually being sick. I think that alcohol is a topic on which general
agreement is almost impossible to achieve. I have come to the conclusion that actually
only a few people drink because they enjoy the taste of a drink and most people
drink to overcome their social awkwardness and anxiety, and be more friendly
and merry. I feel that everyone perceives drinking differently and young
British people might see it as harmless, because the environment in which they
see alcohol being consumed, consists of fun and happiness with friends and
family.
Although I might not win in my
attempt to change my friends’ minds, I now have an excuse to avoid drinking
myself and no one can blame me nor judge me and call me ‘boring’.
At least, I have another big reason
to annoy my British friends when they go out and drink and I can encourage them
to indulge in other healthier habits and non-alcoholic beverages.
I also have finally an example and
a scientific proof to show my dear grandpa that he was actually wrong when he
said everyday at the kitchen table that alcohol is good. Shame though that he
passed away 14 years ago of heart failure and I never told him.
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