Is Casual Drinking Really Casual?

Drinking alcohol is a common way to unwind and celebrate, but it's important to understand the impact of alcohol on our health. Even a single beer a day can be considered drinking and can have negative consequences. While some studies suggest moderate drinking may offer certain benefits, such as improved heart health and increased bone density, other research contradicts these findings and links alcohol consumption to various health risks. These include an increased likelihood of cancer, stroke, cardiovascular issues, liver disease, and even early death. The consensus among health professionals is that the less alcohol consumed, the better, with guidelines recommending no more than one drink per day for women and two drinks per day for men.

Beer and sleep quality

While drinking a beer or two may help you fall asleep faster, it can ultimately disrupt your sleep quality. Research shows that alcohol negatively impacts sleep, even in moderate amounts. Here's how beer or alcohol can affect your sleep:

Sleep Architecture

Alcohol disrupts your sleep architecture, which refers to the normal phases of deeper and lighter sleep your body cycles through every night. A night of drinking can fragment or interrupt these patterns, causing you to wake up multiple times as your body ricochets through the different stages of sleep.

Sleep Stages

Typically, a sleep cycle consists of three non-rapid eye movement (NREM) stages followed by the rapid eye movement (REM) stage. Alcohol consumption leads to more N3 sleep or "deep sleep" and less REM sleep initially. However, later in the night, once your body has metabolized the alcohol, you experience a rise in N1 sleep, the lightest stage of sleep, resulting in frequent wakings and fragmented sleep.

Sleep Disorders

Long-term alcohol use can contribute to chronic sleep problems and disorders such as sleep apnea. Alcohol can aggravate snoring and sleep apnea symptoms by causing physiological changes, such as relaxing the tongue and throat muscles and increasing airway resistance in the nasal passages.

Circadian Rhythm Disruptions

Alcohol use and dependence can interfere with your body's circadian rhythms, which are biological patterns that operate on a 24-hour clock. Alcohol consumption may decrease your body's sensitivity to cues like daylight and darkness, which are essential for triggering shifts in body temperature and the secretion of the sleep hormone melatonin. This disruption can lead to feelings of alertness when you want to sleep and sleepiness when you want to be awake.

Diuretic Effects

Alcohol acts as a diuretic, increasing urine output and causing you to wake up frequently to urinate. This effect is more pronounced in moderate amounts, especially with wine and spirits, and is more common in older individuals.

Recommendations

To minimize the impact of alcohol on your sleep, experts recommend allowing a minimum of three hours between your last drink and bedtime. Drinking water along with alcohol can help flush it out of your system, and it's best to consume alcohol with a meal, ensuring you're not drinking too close to bedtime.

Beer and weight loss

If you are trying to lose weight, it is best to limit your beer consumption or opt for low-calorie alternatives. Light beers, for example, have about 40 to 55 fewer calories per 12 oz serving compared to regular beer. Non-alcoholic beers are also a good option, as they tend to have fewer calories and can help you stay true to your weight loss goals. Ultimately, the key to drinking beer and still losing weight is moderation and being mindful of your overall calorie intake.

It is worth noting that alcohol consumption, even in moderate amounts, has been linked to an increased risk of cancer, cardiovascular events, and early death. Therefore, it is always advisable to drink in moderation and ensure a healthy relationship with alcohol.

• Limit the number of beers you drink per week.
• Be mindful of your eating habits when drinking beer. Choose lean protein sources and vegetables instead of high-calorie foods.
• Treat alcohol as a treat and choose it over dessert, not in addition to it.
• Drink water or seltzer between alcoholic beverages to stay hydrated and dilute your alcohol intake.
• Plan your drinking occasions and try to limit alcohol consumption during the week if you know you will be drinking on the weekend.

Beer and digestive issues

Drinking a single beer a day does count as drinking. While the impact of alcohol varies from person to person, even light drinking has been shown to heighten the risk of an early death, cancer, and cardiovascular events.

Beer can cause digestive issues for some people, and these issues can range from mild to severe. Beer contains ingredients such as grains, hops, and yeast, which can be consumed in other forms, like bread, but may cause a reaction when brewed and consumed as alcohol.

• Acid reflux or heartburn: Beer and other alcoholic drinks can aggravate acid reflux. The carbonation in beer can lead to bloating and belching, making it more likely for stomach acid to travel up into the oesophagus, causing irritation and pain. Alcohol also increases stomach acid secretion, which can further irritate the oesophagus.
• Bloating: Carbonation in beer can cause bloating, which can be uncomfortable and make it harder to digest the ingredients in beer.
• Diarrhea: Alcohol speeds up metabolism, which can lead to diarrhea.
• Stomach pain and discomfort: Beer can irritate the stomach or trigger or worsen pre-existing conditions such as gastritis or peptic ulcers. Gastritis is an inflammation and irritation of the stomach lining, which can be caused by excessive alcohol consumption. Peptic ulcers are open sores in the lining of the stomach, which can be worsened by alcohol consumption.
• Liver disease: Heavy alcohol consumption damages the liver, which is responsible for detoxifying alcohol from the body. Abdominal pain can be an early symptom of alcohol-related liver disease.
• Pancreatitis: The pancreas is an organ that produces digestive enzymes and insulin, which regulates blood glucose levels. Heavy or binge drinking can cause pancreatitis, a potentially life-threatening inflammation of the pancreas, with symptoms including abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, and fever.
• Inflammation: Beer can lead to inflammation in the gut, and consistent drinking can increase the risk of liver disease. Beer passes through the body quickly and can cause increased irritation in the intestines.

Beer and chronic diseases

Beer is a type of alcoholic beverage. Alcohol consumption is a risk factor for many chronic diseases and conditions. The average volume of alcohol consumed, consumption patterns, and quality of the alcoholic beverages consumed likely have a causal impact on the mortality and morbidity related to chronic diseases and conditions. Twenty-five chronic disease and condition codes in the International Classification of Disease (ICD)-10 are entirely attributable to alcohol, and alcohol plays a component-risk role in certain cancers, other tumors, neuropsychiatric conditions, and numerous cardiovascular and digestive diseases.

The relationship between alcohol consumption and cancer already was suggested in the early 20th century, when patients with cancer either of the oesophagus or of the cardiac region were more likely to be alcoholics. The accumulation of evidence supporting the relationship between ethanol and cancers led the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) to recognise the cancer-inducing potential (i.e., carcinogenicity) of ethanol in animal models and to conclude that alcoholic beverages are carcinogenic to humans.

Alcohol is a component cause for more than 200 other diseases and conditions with ICD–10 three-digit codes—that is, alcohol consumption is not necessary for the diseases to develop. For these conditions, alcohol shows a dose-response relationship, where the risk of onset of or death from the disease or condition depends on the total volume of alcohol consumed.

A large evidence-based review on the effects of a moderate consumption of beer on human health has been conducted by an international panel of experts who reached a full consensus on the present document. Low-moderate (up to 1 drink per day in women, up to 2 in men), non-bingeing beer consumption, reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease. This effect is similar to that of wine, at comparable alcohol amounts. Epidemiological studies suggest that moderate consumption of either beer or wine may confer greater cardiovascular protection than spirits. Although specific data on beer are not conclusive, observational studies seem to indicate that low-moderate alcohol consumption is associated with a reduced risk of developing neurodegenerative disease. There is no evidence that beer drinking is different from other types of alcoholic beverages in respect to risk for some cancers. Evidence consistently suggests a J-shaped relationship between alcohol consumption (including beer) and all-cause mortality, with lower risk for moderate alcohol consumers than for abstainers or heavy drinkers.

Beer and bone density

While the effects of drinking one beer a day vary from person to person, it is generally considered risky drinking for men and women. According to WebMD, risky drinking means having more than four drinks on any given day for men and three drinks within the same time frame for women.

However, the impact of beer consumption on bone density has been studied extensively. A study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition in 2009 found that men who consumed one to two beers or alcoholic drinks daily had higher bone mineral density than non-drinking men. Similarly, postmenopausal women who consumed one to two drinks per day had a higher bone mineral density in the spine and hip area than non-drinking women. The study concluded that the positive association between bone density and beer or wine, compared to liquor, suggests that constituents other than ethanol may contribute to bone health.

Another study published in the Natural Medicine Journal in 2009 supports these findings. The study found that moderate beer drinking of one to two beers a day was associated with increased bone density in men and women. However, women who drank more than two beers a day had significantly greater bone density, but in men who drank more than two beers a day, bone density decreased.

The beneficial effects of alcohol consumption on bone density are attributed to several factors, including the direct ethanol effect at inhibiting bone resorption, the high silicon content of beer, and the effects of various phytochemicals contained in the beverages. Beer is also an excellent source of bioavailable silicon, which has been linked to increased bone density.

However, it is important to note that excessive alcohol consumption can negatively impact bone health. Heavy drinking can cause hormone deficiencies in both men and women, leading to decreased bone density. Additionally, alcohol can impact the absorption of calcium and vitamin D, which are critical for healthy bone development. Therefore, while moderate beer consumption may have some benefits for bone density, excessive drinking can have detrimental effects.

Frequently asked questions