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Alcohol May Turn Down Stress In The Brain.

Help Prevent Heart Attacks.

By latasha clarkPublished 12 months ago 3 min read
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Researchers claim they may be able to explain why moderate drinking is good for the heart because, contrary to what was previously believed, it acts on the brain rather than the blood as was once supposed.

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However, because alcohol also increases the risk of cancer at any level, according to researchers, they don't advise people to drink. Understanding this mechanism may instead suggest better approaches to obtaining the same effect, for as through meditation or exercise.Large epidemiological studies have demonstrated for decades that those who drink moderately—less than one drink per day for women and one to two drinks per day for men—had reduced chances of serious cardiovascular events like heart attacks and strokes than those who drink more.Senior author of the study and co-director of the Cardiovascular Imaging Research Center at Massachusetts General Hospital, Dr. Ahmed Tawakol, observed that after consuming a small amount of alcohol, you feel relaxed before you become drunk.The first effect that people experience with short-term alcohol is a little bit of a destressing response," he said. Tawakol and his team examined the drinking patterns of thousands of participants in the Mass General Brigham Biobank for the study. Even after correcting for genetic, lifestyle, and other risk variables, they discovered that people who drank one to 14 drinks per week were less likely to experience a heart attack or stroke than people who drank less than one drink per week.In addition, they examined the results of hundreds of these people's brain scans and discovered that light to moderate drinkers experienced fewer heart attacks and strokes as well as a reduction in the amygdala's stress responses.Light to moderate drinkers' altered brain chemistry was found to account for a sizable amount of alcohol.According to Tawakol, alcohol reduced significant adverse cardiac events by twice as much in people who were stressed or anxious. among the majority of patients, it was around 20%, but among people who had previously experienced anxiety, it was 40% relative risk reduction.Tawakol researches the stress neural network, which is concentrated on the amygdala, a region of the brain. The sympathetic nervous system is activated when the amygdala is overstimulated, preparing the body for a fight-or-flight reaction. Inflammation rises and blood pressure rises as a result. In the process, certain neurons are also stimulated, which causes the bone marrow to release additional pro-inflammatory cells.A woman declines a drink. Concerned about your consumption? The endocrine system becomes active and releases adrenaline, which raises blood pressure even more, as well as cortisol, which instructs the body to store fat and raises the risk of diabetes and high blood pressure. This series of consequences may eventually make heart attacks and strokes more likely.Even though they had fasted prior to the scans and had no alcohol in their systems, Tawakol said that brain scans of light drinkers revealed noticeably less activity in the amygdala than both non-drinkers and heavy drinkers, suggesting that light drinking may still have an impact after the buzz wears off.Sattar stated in a statement that the problem is that "we know any amount of alcohol is associated with more strokes and heart failure, as well as with increases in cancer and deaths from cardiovascular causes."So, even if true, focusing solely on one minor component creates a false picture, and the claim that light to moderate drinking improves heart health is false and reinforces long-debunked misconceptions.The problem is that we already know that drinking alcohol in any amount increases the risk of heart attacks and strokes, and Petra Meier, a professor of public health at the University of Glasgow, emphasized that the study can only demonstrate connections. It cannot demonstrate that light drinkers appeared to experience less stress in their brains because of alcohol.

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