Alcohol and longevity: can they go together?
Why happy hour might be extending your life
Issue #84: Alcohol, relationships, and your health
Read Time: 8 minutes
Good morning, 66.1ers.
This one was fun to write.
I've changed my thinking on alcohol and its effect on your health in the past year, thanks in large part to the findings shared in today's article.
Enjoy.
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A quick refresher for anyone who's new to the newsletter: 66.1 is the average health span (years lived without a serious disease) in the US. We're here to extend that.
In case you missed it:
Wednesday's issue of 66.1
In this week's issue of 66.1:
A deep dive into how alcohol indirectly affects your health in a positive way.
-Is red wine good for your heart health?
-Why people who have a regular happy hour live longer
-A common sense approach to alcohol consumption
Background
62% of American adults drink alcohol. And with the holiday season in full swing, you’ve probably had plenty of opportunities to share a cocktail with friends and family lately. As we approach the new year and what many folks decide is “Dry January”, it’s worth understanding how alcohol is affecting your health.
This issue, similar to the issue on caffeine a few weeks back, won’t cover the myriad topics about alcohol and health. Instead, we’ll focus on the role of alcohol in developing healthy relationships (which is the number 1 predictor of longevity). If you have more questions after reading today’s newsletter, I’d love to hear them. Send a reply to this email and I’ll do my best to incorporate them in a future issue.
Science first: Is a glass of red wine healthy for your heart?
There’s a vexing pattern out there called the “French Paradox”, and it goes something like this: despite consuming more red wine and saturated fats, the French tend to have a lower rate of heart disease than Americans and other countries with a similar level of resources and development. Initially, scientists wondered if, perhaps, the wine the French were consuming was having a positive effect on their heart health.
Recent studies have shown, however, that the French Paradox is another instance of correlation versus causation. Biddinger et al. conducted a study that showed that there is no amount of alcohol consumption that is good for your heart. Rather, as Biddinger’s study indicated, there is a positive correlation between alcohol consumption and cardiovascular disease risk.
As for why the French tend to have healthy hearts, we might examine their lifestyle: they walk significantly more than Americans, they don’t work nearly as much, and they take time for a happy hour. The combination of more exercise and less stress would seem to be a likely starting place for explaining the healthier hearts.
If you’re looking for an actionable takeaway from this “French Paradox”, it’s not that you need to drink more red wine. It’s that walking more and stressing less might help your cardiovascular health (and your longevity).
What about happy hour?
You may have seen Live to 100: Secrets of the Blue Zones, a Netflix documentary that was released last year. In short, the author Dan Buettner (The Blue Zones) travels around the world and examines the lives of people from different cultures who are renowned for their longevity.
It’s not a scientific study, but it’s interesting. And it’s important. Because it’s quite difficult to conduct a scientific study capturing the many daily habits of centenarians across the world. Qualitative observation like Buettner conducts, or like Dr. Cate Shanahan conducted for her book Deep Nutrition, is the best we have when it comes to comparing cultures across the world.
Interestingly, Buettner’s work highlights a trend among various “Blue Zones” cultures: many of them have a happy hour tradition. They enjoy a beer or a glass of wine with friends after a work day. This trend leads a person to ask the obvious question: If alcohol consumption is bad for you, why are these folks living for so long?
A couple facts worth noting:
These are happy hours, not ragers
People are having a drink or two, not eight.
As we saw in the previous section, increasing alcohol consumption increases cardiovascular disease risk. If you’re going to drink, it’s best to limit yourself to a couple drinks.
They are drinking with friends or family members, not alone.
This is an important detail. As I’ve discussed in previous issues of 66.1, the number 1 predictor of longevity is the health of your relationships. And you probably know the feeling of having had a couple drinks with friends: you’re covering conversational territory you probably wouldn’t if you were sober, your curiosity is piqued, and the conversation is flowing. You wake up the next day with a different perspective thanks to the conversation you had the previous evening. Your anxiety is lower because you feel more connected to your friends.
What’s evident from the Blue Zones project as well as scientific studies is that the benefits resulting from healthy behaviors associated with moderate alcohol consumption outweigh the deleterious effects of alcohol on your health. Namely, the time invested in good conversation with people you care about is going to have immensely positive effects on your health and longevity.
A common-sense approach
Here’s the deal. The chemical that gives you a headache, makes you feel groggy, and generally slows you down for a day after consuming it? That chemical on its own probably isn’t great for your health.
Certainly, alcohol plays a critical role in happy hour, allowing you to “loosen up” and enjoy relaxing time with friends. But as a substance, alcohol isn’t healthy in and of itself. It’s merely associated with a behavior we’ve come to understand is extremely important for your health and longevity–gathering with friends.
So, this holiday season, the answer when it comes to alcohol consumption may be Hesiod’s age-old advice: “Moderation in all things.” Have a drink or two with loved ones. Or three. Cherish the time together.
That’s all for this Saturday.
What did you think of today's issue?
Send me a reply here.
See you on Wednesday.
Happy holidays.
Have fun out there.
Marcus
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Why 66.1?
66.1 is the average health span (years lived without a serious disease) in the US, as of the start of this newsletter publication.
We're here to extend that.