The word “alcohol” often conjures up positive feelings and associations with fun, socializing, relaxing, and partying. The stimulant effects start with the first drink or two: elevated heart rate, energized feeling and increased sociability.
Risky levels of consumption can create the exact opposite effects: distress, anxiety, loneliness, pain and depressive symptoms – plus a greater craving for more alcohol. This is the “dark side” of alcohol intake, and they start after you go beyond low-risk drinking guidelines.
To make safer decisions, use the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism’s Low-Risk Drinking Guidelines:
- ZERO – Sometimes, zero drinks is the only low-risk option. Use this guideline when you are driving, using machinery, cleaning a weapon, pregnant, on duty, or on certain medications
- ONE - consume no more than one standard * drink per hour
- TWO - consume no more than two standard * drinks per occasion
- THREE - never exceed three standard drinks per occasion.
Beyond these guidelines, you’re in dangerous territory – often referred to as binging or risky drinking. That’s the point where studies document changes in your brain’s amygdala (the ‘control room’ for your emotions). In other words, heavy drinking literally changes how your brain works and how you process emotions.
Bottom line: the more alcohol you consume, the more you’re risking negative impacts on your body and mind.
Original source can be found here