[TIME.com] Heavy Drinkers Live LONGER than NON-Drinkers

I don't dispute the study, but I know that if I find my self I drinking more for a while, my blood pressure goes up. It's almost a perfect correlation. I can't imagine that it's healthier than not drinking. Maybe they're defining "heavy drinking" too low.

 

Does not compute.

 

are you drinking more because you are stressed?

 

Fatty rises for another drink.

 

I guess I am going to die earlier.

 

In other news, cocaine users are wealthier than non-cocaine users!

 

from the article...

 

I wonder what percentage of these heavy drinkers also smoke? They tend to go hand-in-hand and would seem to skew the results.

 

Damn. I haven't even had 3 drinks in the last 5 years.

I guess I need to start downing shots like its medicine. The stuff just tastes nasty to me.

 

Probably cause the non drinkers are being run the f*** over by the heavy drinkers....

 

I have not died ever since I started having 1-3 drinks per day about 20 years ago. Pretty strong data.

 

1. I don't find that alcohol relieves any stress or lubricates any social interactions for me. It always struck me as odd that those seem to be the primary uses.

2. The idea that people who don't have money drink less also strikes me as odd. They probably drink cheaper stuff, but I can't imagine they get blitzed less.

 

Wow, this study was led by a UT professor? I hope they didn't use any of my tuition money to fund this joke of a study.

I'm no scientist, but I've always understood that in order to accurately test one variable, you have to hold all other variables even (or at least thats what I learned in elementary school). From what I gather from the article, it seems like they just picked a bunch of random people, put them into groups, and see who died first.

Did they note what kind of drinks they had? Their diets? Preexisting medical conditions? Where was this research done, and were all the test subjects from the same area?

Also, correlation doesn't equal causation.

I thought Time magazine was legit. Guess not. This study wouldn't even fly in a middle school science fair.

 

Apparently I'm no grammarian either. I don't even know if "grammarian" is a word. Too lazy to look it up. And to fix it.

 

Have you read the actual study?

No, you read an article about the study. Big difference, Newton.

 

1. For real? Alcohol is a great stress reliever. As far as "lubricating social interactions," I think what they mean is that a lot of social events involve alcohol. There are lots of social things (happy hours, tailgating, etc.) that non-drinkers may miss out on and as a result have fewer friends. (At least that's the theory in the article).

2. I agree. There's plenty of cheap stuff out there. The idea that the poor don't have enough money to drink seems bizarre to me. Substance abuse is a major problem with the homeless.

 

The article states they controlled for all types of variables. I am pretty sure they though of everything you just listed.

 

The next time I am at a party I am almost positive that I will bring this article up to rationalize my binge drinking.

So reading this article is a bad thing for me.

 

Except that moderate drinkers (1-3 drinks per day) live the longest.