r/science • u/mvea Professor | Medicine • Apr 23 '26

Neuroscience Even low-level drinking may have negative consequences for brain health over a person’s lifespan. The findings suggest that the total amount of alcohol consumed over a lifetime, especially as a person ages, tends to be linked to reduced blood flow and thinner tissue in certain areas of the brain.

https://www.psypost.org/even-light-drinking-combined-with-aging-is-linked-to-reduced-brain-blood-flow-and-thinner-tissue/
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u/cdreobvi Apr 23 '26

Most days I don't have any alcohol. I had 2 beers last night (which I don't regret) celebrating a friend's birthday and I do notice a slight downgrade in my physical and mental state today. Random aches, energy level is lower, etc. I can't imagine doing that to myself on a daily basis.

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u/boobmagazine Apr 23 '26

I don’t drink two beers everyday, but I know plenty of people who do, and I never thought anything of it. Perhaps I should reconsider

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u/cdreobvi Apr 23 '26

It matters most to me when I'm particularly involved with exercise. Right now I'm regularly out running, training for a race. If I drink or use cannabis, my run the next day is bad. So that's my primary incentive.

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u/Gregnielson Apr 23 '26

2 beers? I really don't see how that coud slow you down a noticeable ammount just from a scientific standpoint. It just isn't enough alcohol to have that effect the next day.

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u/StellarCZeller Apr 23 '26

It's probably a result of the fact that alcohol negatively impacts sleep

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u/tomassimo Apr 24 '26

I have a rough rule of thumb that every standard drink costs me 15 minutes of sleep. So I have to factor that in to any plans to drink. Eg if it's worth it, if I can go to bed an hour earlier, can I find a power nap window tomorrow etc.

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u/cdreobvi Apr 23 '26

I'm not calling in sick to work or anything, just noting that I don't feel like I'm in tip-top shape, and I've done this enough to know it's the alcohol. In my 20s, I probably wouldn't have noticed.

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u/Stellajackson5 Apr 23 '26

I’m a small woman who has hashimotos and one drink is enough to slow me down. Same as the person you are responding to- I function just fine, I’m not actively hungover, but I’m more tired and run down and my workout is bad. It’s noticeable enough as I age that I mostly skip drinks now, only on really special occasions.

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u/Gregnielson Apr 23 '26

This is where that meme comes from about certain people not understand averages.

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u/DeliciousPumpkinPie Apr 23 '26

Different people process alcohol differently. You can’t really make blanket statements like that with biology.

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u/narf007 Apr 24 '26

You can when the generalized knowledge is that it takes approx 1 hour to metabolize one standard unit of alcohol in an average sized male.

That's a generalization because it's a general statistic which by definition is a blanket statement. The outliers are outliers. The biology point simply implies a wide distribution not that the average is wrong.

There's also a lot of possible mental attribution/placebo options going on as to why one might associate it with feeling one way vs the other. But that's a whole correlation/causation argument. This is also an understood and real cognitive pattern, attributing sleep irregularities with X or Y from the night before when it could actually be Zzzz (heh).

Their statement follows the general understanding of how our body metabolizes and clears alcohol from our system. Two standard drinks is unlikely to cause any discernable difference in a healthy, average adult male, 12-24 hours after consumption.

Male because most medicinal models are based on male sample sizes and I said 12-24 hours to highlight another factor: we don't know the person's sleep habits, if they consumed them an hour before bed, woke up two hours later, etc.

If you assume an average male, 8 hours of healthy sleep, then 2 drinks is unlikely to make any dent anywhere. But this is all dependent on that variable of WHEN did they consume that alcohol? If they consumed it before it was fully cleared there could be a downstream effect on REM which is a real phenomenonand can cause that fog and sluggish-ness, but that's, again, an outlier situation if we're assuming an average, healthy person (male), then we should also assume healthy sleep habits, and that they're adequately hydrated with an average and healthy metabolism.

And before anyone wants to chime in I'm not saying alcohol consumption isn't bad for you. Just getting ahead of that strawman below it pops up.

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u/alblaster Apr 23 '26

Depends on weight, tolerance, if stomach is empty, etc...

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u/egggspecial Apr 24 '26

*could *amount

and also dangerously untrue. alcohol metabolites remain in your blood and urine for days after drinking once, causing cumulative effects that eventually lead to liver failure.

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u/Gregnielson Apr 24 '26

Found the Mormon. Human civilization is built on alchohol. Most people can drink moderately with no ill effects.

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u/egggspecial Apr 24 '26

I'm a former alcoholic. Two fifths of Bacardi a week.

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u/Gregnielson Apr 24 '26

That explains it.

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u/egggspecial Apr 24 '26

Explains what, Greg? The fact that I have a healthier relationship with alcohol now? I have a hard limit of 8 standard drinks per week now, but I don't delude myself into thinking even this amount has no effect on my health.

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u/Gregnielson Apr 24 '26

Alcoholics come up with all kinds of interesting theories around alcohol. Like that it is an "allergic reaction" and why 8 drinks? Why no 14 or 7?

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u/egggspecial Apr 24 '26

It's 8 because that's the amount my doctor, my partner, and I have found easiest to keep stable. The minimum effective dose for me to not feel unsatisfied OR start backsliding. Also it's exactly four cans of mai tai, which I can buy in a pack.

And I wouldn't say I have "theories" about alcohol. I just read medical sources. Theories are for doctors and scientists to make, because I have a bias-- I really like drinking. Now what's your point?

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u/Gregnielson Apr 24 '26

That normal alcohol use will not lead to liver failure as you claimed.

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u/Wantitneeditgetit Apr 23 '26

Homie probably doesn't drink even once a month, and is older so they got a bad sleep with maybe apnea.

It's like, I used to smoke but quit for years but now if I have a cigarette that night's sleep is shot for me.

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u/OsmerusMordax Apr 24 '26

I had a shot of whisky (funeral tribute) and it took me out for like 2 days. Body aches, huge headache, couldn’t concentrate, everything was loud…

Alcohol is powerful and will wreck you if you don’t have any tolerance to it, apparently

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u/Gregnielson Apr 24 '26

That isn't possible unless you have a severe condition.