Why I (mostly) STOPPED Drinking Alcohol

First it's time for a confession. I love alcohol, bourbon, chardonnays, and probably my favorite IPAs. Now I've never been a big drinker. Like maybe Friday, Saturdays, and the occasional Sunday, maybe during a Seahawk game, I'd have a drink or two and I thought I was fine. But apparently, like so many times in my life, I was wrong. Everyone, welcome to the channel. Ed DeBoo, physical therapist from Integrated Physical Therapy in Bellingham, Washington. As a physical therapist, what I try to do is not only help my clients, of course, with their orthopedic issues, back pain, neck pain, shoulder pain, but what I also try to do is educate them about lifestyle medicine. Because especially for those of us who are over 50, I'll be 55 in like a week and a half, and I know it's becoming harder to maintain a healthy lifestyle. So I really try to educate not only myself, but then in turn my clients on things that I found. I recently read some new research about how even a little bit of alcohol, like, you know, one to three alcoholic drinks per week may not be good for our health. Why is it that alcohol is harmful? When the body metabolizes alcohol, it breaks it down into a compound called acetaldehyde, which unfortunately is a chemical known to be toxic to the brain and to our cells. It's the fact that alcohol changes the DNA at a cellular level is what researchers believe contributes to the negative effects of alcohol, including high blood pressure, heart disease, cancer, and cognitive decline. Wait a minute, Ed. What about the fact that I heard a little bit of alcohol is actually good for us? There was some observational studies that came out for a long time. That's what we were told, is that a little bit of alcohol every single day is actually beneficial for us. However, then I found this from the World Heart Federation. In 2022, the World Heart Federation released a policy change debunking the notion that alcohol is heart healthy, and I quote, Contrary to popular opinion, alcohol is not good for the heart, the report says, noting that some studies that show cardiovascular benefit from drinking are flawed, and more research points to a host of chronic conditions linked to alcohol. In the past year alone, studies have found that alcohol consumption may accelerate genetic aging, shrink the brain, and increase the risk of cardiovascular disease. Not a lot of good news there, guys. I don't think anyone is saying if you have a couple of drinks a week that you're going to die of cancer. However, we have to look at the big picture on most things, and then every individual needs to come up with a plan that they're most comfortable with. The point I try to stress to my clients is it's not just about whether we drink alcohol or not, or whether we smoke or not. It's the whole aggregate. It's the whole 360 view. Am I sleeping well? Am I controlling my stress? Am I trying to eat some vegetables? Am I trying to eat some fruit? Am I strength training? Am I doing the things that I know that I can control through lifestyle first as it affects my overall health? For me personally, I still drink alcohol, but I don't drink it every Friday, Saturday, and most Sundays like I used to. My oldest son just graduated from college, and my youngest just graduated from high school, so yeah, we had some wine. We had some celebration, but you know those are rare, and personally for me, I've started exploring the non-alcoholic brew side, and I found some ones that work, and that taste pretty good to me. So for me personally, I've decided that less is more when it comes to alcohol consumption. All right everyone, didn't mean to be a buzzkill with this video, however, but I felt like it was important because I have this conversation with clients almost all the time. It's all about knowledge and education. If you have any questions, please leave them down below. I'll try to answer them. If you haven't subscribed, please consider doing so. Give the video a thumbs up if you found it helpful, and until the next video, thanks.