From intelligence to aggression, alcohol is linked to more than just your mood. These 8 findings reveal the truth.
Alcohol: it’s the life of the party, a social icebreaker, and for some, a nightly ritual.
Science has uncovered some fascinating—and sometimes unsettling—truths about how alcohol affects our minds and bodies.
From surprising links to intelligence and personality to its impact on brain health and emotions, these eight research findings reveal a complex picture of our relationship with alcohol.
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Discover what high-intensity drinking is, its dangers, and how it differs from binge drinking. Learn effective prevention strategies.
High-intensity drinking is a dangerous pattern of alcohol consumption involving double or more the binge drinking thresholds.
What is high-intensity drinking?
High-intensity drinking refers to alcohol consumption at levels significantly exceeding the thresholds for binge drinking.
For men, this involves consuming 10 or more drinks on a single occasion, while for women, it is 8 or more drinks.
This behaviour is particularly prevalent among young adults and is often linked to social events like parties or celebrations.
Unlike binge drinking, which is already harmful, high-intensity drinking amplifies the risks of acute health crises and long-term damage.
Research highlights that individuals engaging in this pattern face higher rates of alcohol poisoning, injuries, and chronic diseases, including liver and heart conditions.
Patterns and prevalence
Who engages in high-intensity drinking?
High-intensity drinking is most common among young adults aged 18 to 25, with a notable peak around the age of 21.
This coincides with major life milestones, including turning the legal drinking age in many countries and entering higher education or the workforce.
Certain cultural and social norms perpetuate this behaviour, such as the expectation to celebrate with excessive alcohol consumption during birthdays or graduations.
While men are more likely to engage in high-intensity drinking, recent studies show the gender gap narrowing, with increases observed among women.
Where does it occur?
The behaviour is more prevalent in social settings, including:
University campuses, especially within fraternities and sororities.
Sports events, where alcohol promotion is common.
Festive celebrations and nightlife venues.
Geographically, high-intensity drinking trends can vary, but it is often linked to regions with strong drinking cultures and fewer alcohol regulations.
Immediate and long-term consequences
Acute health risks
The dangers of high-intensity drinking begin almost immediately after consumption.
Short-term risks include:
Alcohol poisoning, which can be fatal.
Impaired judgement, leading to accidents, injuries, and risky behaviours such as unprotected sex or drink-driving.
Blackouts and loss of consciousness.
As blood alcohol concentration (BAC) rises, vital functions such as breathing and heart rate can become compromised, leading to life-threatening conditions.
Chronic health impacts
Repeated high-intensity drinking over time can contribute to:
Liver diseases, including cirrhosis and alcoholic hepatitis.
Cardiovascular issues, such as high blood pressure and heart failure.
An increased risk of cancers, including breast, liver, and oesophageal cancers.
Moreover, this drinking pattern significantly disrupts cognitive functions, particularly in adolescents and young adults whose brains are still developing.
Long-term effects may include memory deficits, attention problems, and poor decision-making abilities.
Social and economic effects
Beyond personal health, high-intensity drinking places a heavy burden on society.
Economic costs include:
Increased healthcare expenses for treating alcohol-related conditions.
Loss of productivity due to absenteeism or impaired performance.
Strain on law enforcement and emergency services.
Socially, this behaviour can lead to strained relationships, domestic violence, and neglect of responsibilities, further impacting communities.
Comparing binge drinking and high-intensity drinking
While binge drinking involves consuming enough alcohol to bring BAC to 0.08% or higher, high-intensity drinking exceeds these limits, often doubling or tripling the amount.
This distinction is critical because the risks increase exponentially as alcohol intake rises.
For example:
Binge drinking may lead to temporary impairment, but high-intensity drinking is more likely to cause severe intoxication or alcohol poisoning.
The long-term health impacts are more pronounced in high-intensity drinking due to higher levels of sustained damage to organs.
Understanding these differences can help researchers and policymakers develop targeted interventions for each behaviour.
Why high-intensity drinking peaks at age 21
Age 21 is often a pivotal point for high-intensity drinking, especially in countries where this is the legal drinking age.
The celebration of this milestone is frequently marked by rituals encouraging excessive alcohol consumption.
This behaviour is further normalised through peer pressure and cultural expectations, particularly among university students.
Emerging adulthood is also a period of increased independence and risk-taking, which can contribute to reckless drinking patterns.
Prevention and intervention strategies
Educational campaigns
Raising awareness about the dangers of high-intensity drinking is a crucial step.
Campaigns should focus on:
Informing young adults about the short- and long-term risks.
Highlighting the differences between binge drinking and high-intensity drinking.
Dispelling myths that normalise excessive drinking, such as “drinking to celebrate.”
Community-level interventions
Effective community strategies include:
Limiting alcohol availability, such as reducing late-night sales.
Enforcing strict penalties for underage and excessive drinking.
Providing alcohol-free events and alternatives for young adults.
Individual support and therapy
For those struggling with high-intensity drinking, personalised interventions can be effective.
These include:
Cognitive-behavioural therapy to address underlying causes of risky drinking.
Motivational interviewing to encourage behaviour change.
Peer support groups, such as Alcoholics Anonymous, for ongoing recovery.
Emerging research on high-intensity drinking
Recent studies are shedding light on the unique risks and contexts of high-intensity drinking.
Key findings include:
The impact of high-intensity drinking on brain development in adolescents, which can result in lasting cognitive impairments.
The role of social media in promoting drinking challenges and glorifying excessive alcohol use.
The need for gender-specific interventions, as women face unique health risks at lower levels of consumption.
Ongoing research aims to identify effective prevention strategies and understand the societal factors driving this behaviour.
Conclusion
High-intensity drinking represents a significant public health concern, with severe immediate and long-term consequences.
By understanding its patterns, risks, and drivers, we can better address the problem through targeted prevention and intervention strategies.
Raising awareness and promoting responsible drinking behaviours are essential steps towards reducing the harm caused by this dangerous pattern of alcohol consumption.
The drink is consumed by 86% of Americans and is popular around the world.
The drink is consumed by 86% of Americans and is popular around the world.
Drinking higher levels of alcohol and binge drinking are both linked to a lower IQ, research finds.
People with higher IQs tend to avoid binge drinking.
The conclusions come from a study of 49,321 Swedish men conscripted for military service between 1969 and 1971.
They were given IQ tests and asked about their alcohol intake.
The lower their IQ was, the more they drank and the more likely they were to binge drink.
It is not clear from the study exactly how IQ is linked to alcohol intake.
However, it is likely that lower IQ is linked to lower social status and emotional problems, both of which may drive higher rates of alcohol consumption.
The study’s authors conclude:
“We found that lower results on IQ tests are associated with higher consumption of alcohol measured in terms of both total alcohol intake and binge drinking in Swedish adolescent men.”
People with higher IQs tend to be healthier, the authors explain:
“One suggested explanation for the association between intelligence and health is that cognitive skills enhance possibilities to make healthy lifestyle choices.
Cognitive ability has been found to be associated with several health-related behaviors, such as smoking, food intake, and physical activity.”
Previous studies have also linked binge drinking to lower IQ.
While the drink used to be thought safe for brain health, the latest research finds otherwise.
While the drink used to be thought safe for brain health, the latest research finds otherwise.
Drinking as little as three glasses of wine or three cans of beer per week is linked to Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease, research finds.
People who drank more than this amount of any alcohol, the study found, had elevated levels of iron in their brains.
Iron accumulation has been found in both Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease and may help to explain cognitive decline.
The research included over 20,000 people included in the UK Biobank study.
All had reported their alcohol consumption and had their brains scanned, while 7,000 had had MRIs of their livers to assess iron levels.
Average alcohol intake was around 18 UK units, which is equivalent to over 7 cans of beer or 6 large glasses of wine.
The results showed that anything above 7 units per week was linked to high levels of iron in the basal ganglia, a group of neurons involved in a whide range of cognitive functions, such as learning, movement and the emotions.
Dr Anya Topiwala, the study’s first author, said:
“In the largest study to date, we found drinking greater than 7 units of alcohol weekly associated with iron accumulation in the brain.
Higher brain iron in turn linked to poorer cognitive performance.
Iron accumulation could underlie alcohol-related cognitive decline.”
In the US, 7 units is this is about 4 standard drinks, which are 12 oz of beer, 5 oz of wine or 1.5 oz of a distilled spirit.
The flavonoid interferes with the metabolism of alcohol.
The flavonoid interferes with the metabolism of alcohol.
The intense hangover after drinking large amounts of alcohol is related to genetics, metabolism of alcohol (ethanol), sulphites, and congeners (compounds created by ethanol fermentation).
But wine products also contain other substances including tannins and histamine that can trigger headaches.
But when it comes to the “red wine headache” phenomena, there might be a different explanation.
Quercetin
Scientists think there must be other reasons that some people who are not heavy drinkers experience red wine headaches.
These headaches can occur 30 minutes to three hours after drinking a small glass of red wine.
Researchers came up with a theory that an antioxidant called quercetin may trigger headaches by interfering with the metabolism of alcohol.
That makes sense since quercetin levels are much higher in red wine than other alcoholic drinks, including white wine.
Professor Andrew Waterhouse, the study’s senior author, explains how this healthy flavonoid interferes with alcohol:
“When it gets in your bloodstream, your body converts it to a different form called quercetin glucuronide.
In that form, it blocks the metabolism of alcohol.”
Toxin acetaldehyde
Ethanol is converted to toxic acetaldehyde in the body and than is metabolized by the ALDH2 enzyme to acetate.
If this fails than the acetaldehyde toxin would build up in the body causing symptoms such as headache, nausea, facial flushing, and excessive sweating.
Ms Apramita Devi, the study’s first author, said:
“Acetaldehyde is a well-known toxin, irritant and inflammatory substance.
Researchers know that high levels of acetaldehyde can cause facial flushing, headache and nausea.”
Nearly half of East Asian population experience these symptoms after a drink because their enzyme doesn’t work properly and so toxins builds up in their body.
Alcoholics who take drugs such disulfiram to overcome drinking also experience similar symptoms because the medication blocks the enzyme that breaks down acetaldehyde.
This study suggests that quercetin produces similar adverse effects by blocking ALDH2 which would result in accumulation of the toxin.
Professor Morris Levin, study co-author, said:
“We postulate that when susceptible people consume wine with even modest amounts of quercetin, they develop headaches, particularly if they have a preexisting migraine or another primary headache condition.”
Grapes and the sunshine
The higher the exposure to sunlight, the more flavanol in red grapes.
Normally red wines with better quality are produced from grapes that are grown with care and in sunnier climates.
Therefore, these type of grapes contain greater levels of quercetin.
The levels are also influenced by the process of wine making such as removing unwanted material known as fining, skin contact during fermentation, and aging.
Professor Waterhouse said:
“Quercetin is produced by the grapes in response to sunlight.
“If you grow grapes with the clusters exposed, such as they do in the Napa Valley for their cabernets, you get much higher levels of quercetin.
In some cases, it can be four to five times higher.”
Some types of alcohol make people feel aggressive and confident, others make them feel relaxed.
Some types of alcohol make people feel aggressive and confident, others make them feel relaxed.
Different types of alcohol are linked to different emotions, a survey about alcohol finds.
Liquor makes people feel more aggressive, while wine is linked to feeling relaxed.
Liquor (spirits) were linked in people’s minds to feeling energetic, confident and sexy.
Like wine, beer was also linked to feeling relaxed.
Professor Mark Bellis, who led the study, said:
“For centuries, the history of rum, gin, vodka and other spirits has been laced with violence.
This global study suggests even today consuming spirits is more likely to result in feelings of aggression than other drinks.
In the UK, a litre of off-licence spirits can easily be bought for £15 or less, making a double shot only 75 pence.
Such prices can encourage consumption at levels harmful to the health of the drinker and through violence and injuries also represent a risk to the people around them.”
Alcohol beliefs
The results come from a survey of almost 30,000 people from 21 different countries.
Because of the nature of the study, it isn’t possible to say that different types of alcohol actually cause these different emotions.
Rather it is an insight into people’s beliefs about the effects of liquor versus wine versus beer.
Of course, our beliefs have considerable influence over what we experience, so the study is informative.
Kath Ashton, the study’s first author, said:
“People routinely use alcohol in order to alter their moods but this study suggests different drink choices may result in different emotional outcomes.
Understanding the relationships between different drinks and their emotional consequences may provide important insights into the prevention of alcohol related harms.”
The damage done by this risk factor was particularly striking for early-onset dementia: that which occurs before 65-years-old.
The damage done by this risk factor was particularly striking for early-onset dementia: that which occurs before 65-years-old.
Alcohol is the biggest avoidable risk factor for dementia, according to research.
The conclusions come from over 1 million people diagnosed with dementia in France.
The damage done by alcohol was particularly striking for early-onset dementia: that which occurs before 65-years-old.
Of the 57,000 cases of early-onset dementia in the sample, 57% were related to chronic heavy drinking.
Heavy drinkers are defined as those consuming an average of 4-5 standard US drinks per day for a man, or 3 standard US drinks for a woman.
This is like drinking close to a bottle of wine per day for a man or over half a bottle per day for a woman.
While this study only looked at heavy drinking, others have suggested moderate alcohol intake also carries risk for the brain.
Dr Jürgen Rehm, study co-author, said:
“The findings indicate that heavy drinking and alcohol use disorders are the most important risk factors for dementia, and especially important for those types of dementia which start before age 65, and which lead to premature deaths.
Alcohol-induced brain damage and dementia are preventable, and known-effective preventive and policy measures can make a dent into premature dementia deaths.”
Alcohol use disorders are thought to shorten life by an average of 20 years.
The link between heavy drinking and alcohol may be even stronger than this study reveals as only the most severe cases were included in this study.
Dr Bruce Pollock, study co-author, said:
“As a geriatric psychiatrist, I frequently see the effects of alcohol use disorder on dementia, when unfortunately alcohol treatment interventions may be too late to improve cognition.
Screening for and reduction of problem drinking, and treatment for alcohol use disorders need to start much earlier in primary care.”
