all 10 comments

[–]EndlessSunflowers[S] 9 insightful - 3 fun9 insightful - 2 fun10 insightful - 3 fun -  (0 children)

I haven't had a drink in 5 years now because "life is what we make of it" and I was sick & tired of feeling sick & tired

Life is good now! I'm happier and healthier than I've ever been. Feeling good and feeling thankful!

One thing that pisses me off tho is how normalized and popularized alcoholism has become.
It hit me hard recently when JRE recently had an anti-aging "expert" on and they talked about how much they like to drink poison
Ummm... I'm no "expert" here but that is definitely NOT the path to longevity! LOL
Then a few days later, another guy is on there trying to explain how a few drinks is better for your health than none
(which sounds like every drunk I've ever met, trying to justify their bad habit, and push it on to other people too)

............... whatever

[–]mikipika 6 insightful - 1 fun6 insightful - 0 fun7 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Notice how there are not a lot of ads for alcohol or tobacco? Not sure where you are or where you have been. I've bartended on both East and West coast of the US. Been to bars in other countries. You sound like you escaped that alcohol prison. Absolutely good on you! IMHO you ae making a generalization of people that is demeaning. Alcohol addiction is a problem and hating on those poor souls is demeaning to both you and them. To be honest, I feel the way you about processed food. Except the weak part. Obesity is the problem I see, and it arises out of so many different issues that let's no start that rant today. Stay on course, I'm rooting for you!

[–]zyxzevn🐈‍⬛ 5 insightful - 3 fun5 insightful - 2 fun6 insightful - 3 fun -  (2 children)

[–][deleted] 3 insightful - 4 fun3 insightful - 3 fun4 insightful - 4 fun -  (0 children)

You know about all the best ground-breaking, peer-reviewed studies! People should pay more attention, if you ask me.

As shown in this study, Caffeine can be lethal.

[–]magnora7 3 insightful - 2 fun3 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 2 fun -  (0 children)

I don't think we take caffeine seriously enough, it's treated so casually in our culture. Then when people don't have it they go in to crazy withdrawals

[–][deleted] 4 insightful - 2 fun4 insightful - 1 fun5 insightful - 2 fun -  (1 child)

In Uni, we were shown fMRIs of chronic substance abusers of multiple drug classes, versus controls (people who didn't abuse substances). Each participant had at least 2 years of sobriety.

Alcohol, cocaine and meth caused the most, permanent and long-term damage.

Regular MRI of a control and an alcoholic: https://pubs.niaaa.nih.gov/publications/arh27-2/IMAGES/Page150b.gif (the corpus callosum is what separates and connects both hemispheres of the brain).

Ironically, opiates and cannabis cause the least long-term damage out of the most commonly used substances. It's the lifestyle that usually comes with being addicted to these substances that brings people down (i.e., hygiene practices, bad money habits, etc). But chronic alcohol use turns your brain into a sponge, Cocaine and Meth literally permanently damage your dopamine receptor sites.

In chronic Heroin users, after abstinence, their brain looked normal to that of the control, or someone who had never used a substance. However, in extreme cases where users were using extremely high doses of heroin or other opiates for long periods of time (5-10 years+), there was some slight shrinkage of the frontal lobe (which is responsible for information processing, emotions and judgement among other things), which is theorized as to why certain opiate addicts become so impulsive, stealing, harming and betraying family members, just to get their "fix".

Still, this damage did not compare to the damage done by chronic alcohol consumption/abuse, and unlike alcoholics, heroin addicts were able to recover and establish a form of "normal life". Alcoholics had major organ damage, hormonal fluctuations that lead to things like Cushing's Syndrome and other disorders, as well as neurological deficits.

[–]mikipika 3 insightful - 2 fun3 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 2 fun -  (0 children)

Brilliantly stated. Concise and informative. Thank you!

[–]asg101 3 insightful - 2 fun3 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 2 fun -  (1 child)

Hmmmm... works almost like "Soma" in Brave New World. I also have been wondering about cannabis legalization as another method to keep the masses complacent.

[–]HeyImSancho 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Just my opinion, but life is a balance; all of it. I don't know that any vice is anymore horrible than our own self-will-energy-determination, and (self)control of our environment rather than let it control us in any one extreme direction.

Our history is full of the cyclical one way extreme, then the opposite next; somewhere sometime we've got to find balance; part of that is greater real self-respect, and realization... just my thoughts on any vice.

[–]magnora7 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

I have like 3 drinks a week, and that's about the perfect amount for me. I agree it's way overdone in our culture. I don't even really understand how people become alcoholics. It's like being addicted to punching yourself in the stomach, it's so nonsensical to me.