Alcohol and the effects on your body
Alcohol and the effects on your body
Dr. John Higgins joins us to talk about how alcohol can affect your whole body.
Content
0 -> we know too much alcohol is not good for
3 -> you but it can do more than harm your
4.92 -> body and give you a little headache or
6.12 -> some anxiety we're going to talk about
7.319 -> the potential effects negative effects
9.179 -> of alcohol with our friend Dr John
11.099 -> Higgins with UT Health Houston doc
13.2 -> thanks for coming in thanks again good
14.82 -> to see you uh okay this is a very
17.16 -> important topic I kind of made the joke
18.96 -> earlier I said the doctor's going to be
20.22 -> here to tell us not to drink so much but
22.68 -> the question remains how much is okay I
25.38 -> mean where do we even begin okay well
27.539 -> Owen it looks like with alcohol it's a
30.359 -> U-shaped curve so there's a Sweet Spot
33.719 -> and The Sweet Spot looks like for women
35.94 -> it's about one drink per day and for men
38.34 -> it's uh it's about two drinks per day
40.879 -> also some people do binge drinking and
44.1 -> uh so for binge drinking we want to make
46.379 -> sure that women are having less than
48.18 -> four drinks in one session and Men less
50.1 -> than five drinks in one session okay so
52.739 -> this is what we're talking about
54.18 -> moderate alcohol consumption you know
56.46 -> think about it just a drink a day and it
59.34 -> looks like with that it's not only the
63.12 -> the properties of the drink so we know
66 -> that for example red wine has a lot of
67.799 -> Resveratrol antioxidants beer also more
71.88 -> so than heavy alcohol however there is
74.64 -> also a new study out of the Mass General
76.2 -> Hospital which showed that alcohol
78.42 -> itself has some relaxing qualities not
82.5 -> only on blood pressure but also to
85.5 -> de-stress you and we know when people
87.96 -> get stressed out they produce
89.58 -> inflammatory markers and those things
91.619 -> accelerate you know the plaque buildup
93.96 -> so so there's a couple of different
95.7 -> components so there's not only the
97.56 -> components of the alcohol but also the
100.38 -> um the other components antioxidants and
103.2 -> and you know I mean Alka it's it's Wines
105.24 -> in the Bible right it's been around for
107.1 -> I think 60 000 years so
109.979 -> um I think it does have some good
111.24 -> qualities but of course you know you
112.92 -> want to be in moderation moderation is
114.659 -> the key I think back to my to my Pappy
116.579 -> who you know guy arrested so he lived in
119.28 -> 95 and I think think he had maybe one
121.079 -> beer at the end of every day yeah you
123.06 -> know and so is that does that kind of
124.619 -> fit that you curve exactly oh and that
127.02 -> is exactly right you know I mean having
128.94 -> a glass of wine with uh with dinner you
132.12 -> know a glass of beer
133.739 -> um that's exactly where you want to be
136.56 -> um now uh if you we know if you go more
139.26 -> than that you can get the negative
140.7 -> effects like you were mentioning before
142.5 -> not only on the liver uh which processes
146.04 -> the alcohol but also you know on other
148.02 -> organs in the body we know it's not good
149.94 -> for the heart to over drink it can cause
152.16 -> heart failure as well as irregular
155.04 -> heartbeats like atrial fibrillation it
157.379 -> also that can cause a stroke exactly oh
159.599 -> and and in addition you know it can
161.64 -> affect uh the brain however I would say
164.4 -> again for those over 60 year olds a new
166.5 -> study came out showing that a glass a
169.08 -> day of your favorite will actually
171.239 -> reduce dementia as well as improve
173.459 -> memories so again another reason for
175.86 -> moderate consumption okay so what about
178.14 -> these these periods of time holidays
180.9 -> where maybe we are pushing that curve
183.42 -> and we're pushing it for an extended
185.16 -> amount of time it's one thing maybe a
186.84 -> Saturday night but now we're thinking
188.28 -> multiple weeks in a row what do we do
190.62 -> about that okay well I think the key for
192.9 -> that is uh Owen first of all tracky
195.239 -> drinking so have an idea what's going on
197.64 -> number two I always recommend patients
200.58 -> to have a glass of water with each glass
203.099 -> of alcohol not only will that slow down
205.62 -> your alcohol consumption but it also
207.659 -> helps to metabolize the alcohol and keep
209.76 -> you hydrated number three having a what
212.819 -> I call an afd an alcohol-free day so put
216.18 -> an alcohol-free day in there now there
218.879 -> are some substitutions you can do and I
221.28 -> I do this myself you can get
223.879 -> alcohol-free beer for example you know I
226.92 -> mean most almost all of the beers now
229.319 -> have them you can get the benefits of
231.659 -> the alcohol and you know be social but
234.18 -> at the same time you're not getting the
235.68 -> heavy alcohol concentration such a
237.959 -> minimal amount yeah
241.94 -> yeah actually some of them come quite a
244.26 -> long way right so that's another
246.36 -> strategy and then also Owen when you are
249.06 -> out on uh
250.62 -> um on holiday make sure you get some of
252.659 -> those healthy habits in between so you
254.04 -> know if you have a drink and a couple of
255.42 -> drinks in the afternoon get the gang out
257.519 -> and do uh go for a walk you know and
259.799 -> burn off some of those calories but also
261.479 -> slow down just be aware of uh how much
264.18 -> you're drinking and try to avoid that
265.74 -> binge uh drinking it's really the
267.72 -> extremes I'm always looking to achieve
269.639 -> some kind of balance it's like yeah I
271.02 -> don't want to go off the rails from
272.4 -> December to January 1st and then stop
275.46 -> for a month I don't want to you know I'd
277.259 -> like to just keep it balanced if I could
278.88 -> the whole way through which is not
280.5 -> always easy yes last thing I want to ask
282.18 -> you about if maybe someone is sort of
284.82 -> self-identifying maybe I'm drinking too
286.62 -> much or maybe you have a friend what
288.36 -> kind of resources for people that think
290.1 -> I've pushed it too far and I need some
291.72 -> help now drawing back my consumption
293.699 -> sure well I think um first step is you
297.06 -> know get all of the alcohol out the
298.44 -> house you know some people kind of a
300.12 -> stockpile probably in their cabinets so
302.82 -> get it all out of the house
304.88 -> see by yourself if you can go uh for a
309.479 -> period of time without alcohol okay you
312.36 -> know typically if you can go a week or
313.979 -> so without alcohol that generally means
315.72 -> you're not dependent on it but if you
317.52 -> can and if you find yourself going back
319.32 -> to it then I think you should speak to
321.3 -> your health care provider reach out to
323.4 -> some local uh places Alcohol Anonymous
325.74 -> is is probably the best if you're with
328.56 -> some people that are also having
330.66 -> problems with it uh you know that
332.94 -> generally helps you the peer group can
335.4 -> kind of help support you making sure you
337.86 -> can go both ways the peer pressure hey
339.96 -> let's go let's go out and have a few
341.28 -> verses hey guys let's not drink this
342.9 -> weekend let's go on that bike ride or do
344.759 -> whatever exactly actually that's a
346.139 -> really good point you brought up Owen
347.46 -> one of the big things where people get
349.139 -> into problems is when they're out
351.36 -> drinking at a place and then people
353.4 -> start doing rounds yeah because you know
355.44 -> you've got five people I'm buying this
357.3 -> around I'm buying this now we're five
359.34 -> rounds oh my goodness doc thanks for
362.039 -> coming in and really talking thank you I
363.78 -> know we could talk about this topic all
365.34 -> day absolutely and and cheers to
367.259 -> moderate alcohol consumption we as
369.96 -> doctors believe it is beneficial and the
372.419 -> studies actually show people live about
374.22 -> 20 longer who are drinking healthily
377.52 -> yeah it's that uh balance exactly what
380.1 -> I'm talking about don't forget you can
381.6 -> take us on the go with our free app keep
383.46 -> watching and we'll have more interviews
385.44 -> like this at click2houston.com always
387.419 -> good to see you doc you too take a quick
389.46 -> break now
391.38 -> Let's uh let's have a drink
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZ57rWo5K2I