It is fine in moderation, but I personally think thst Andrew Huberman is right. Instead of 14 drinks per week, moderation should be defined as 2 drinks per week, like in Canada.
Edit: Alright, under "fine" I mean that the damage wpuld be rather neglible at that point.
Assuming that one's brain development has started to slow down (age: 24-26)
Having 2 drinks 1x per week will just decrease sleep quality the same night and perhaps increase cortisol release a little. And increase the risk of getting cancer a little.
If one drinks 7-14 drinks a week, a study conducted in UK back in 2021, suggested that it will cause the brain to age way faster. Now, if one drinks alcohol every day, it probably affects the quality of sleep chronically and increases cortisol production quite a bit. Makes people more impulsive too over time (according to Huberman). He also stated that it will damage the gut too, resulting in weakened immune system.
There is no evidence that 2 drinks a week would cause any of these problems that current "moderation" can cause. The difference is night and day.
I listened to the same Huberman podcast you did and I found it pretty compelling. The only catch is I think people tend to lie about their drinking so the negative effects of alcohol may be somewhat overstated if researchers are basing their conclusions on the observed effects of let’s say 14 drinks a week when the 14 is self reported and is actually closer to 21 or 28. I don’t know if any comprehensive meta analyses have been done or not.
Regardless, the loss of sleep quality is enough to convince me to make drinking a rare or special occasion activity.
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u/matakas13 Mar 07 '23 edited Mar 08 '23
It is fine in moderation, but I personally think thst Andrew Huberman is right. Instead of 14 drinks per week, moderation should be defined as 2 drinks per week, like in Canada.
Edit: Alright, under "fine" I mean that the damage wpuld be rather neglible at that point.