Cairo Association of Teachers - Newsletter

CAT Tracks for March 20, 2009 SIPPING THE LIFE FANTASTIC

I always said that beer vending machines in the teachers' lounge would be a good idea! I've seen some nice wine coolers on the market also!!

BUSTED!!!

No...the cops did not raid the teachers' lounge and haul off all the drunken, uh, "happy" teachers.

I read the article more closely...and did the math (science?)

Who are these scientists???

They classify "light to moderate drinking" as "up to 299 grams of alcohol per week". Being rusty on metric measures, I Googled 299 grams...it equals 10.55 ounces!

Party animals!!!

They consider "light to moderate drinking" to be less than one beer in a week???

How are you supposed to do that? Open a bottle at the beginning of the week...take a sip...put a cork in it...take a sip the next day...etc. Then, by the end of the week...when the beer is so flat that you just can't stand another sip...you pour the dregs down the drain???

The scientists indicate that stress is the killer. Well, they've just stressed me out! I'm liable to break down and drink a whole damned beer in one sitting.

So, there!!!

Oops...

I am reminded that a beer is not pure alcohol...mostly water. Therefore, I must calculate how many grams of alcohol are actually in one twelve ounce beer and figure the number of beers per week from there. (You wine drinkers will have to do your own math...probably best done prior to imbibing!)

As Miss Litella on Saturday Night Live used to say...

"Never mind"

FOOTNOTE:

Didn't wanna leave ya hangin'...

Further "research" shows...An average drink - namely, 12 oz of beer, 5 ounces (oz) of wine, or 1.5 oz of distilled beverage - contains 12 to 14 grams of alcohol. (Since you beer drinkers are probably less inclined to do the math, that figures out to about three beers a day. Whew, I can feel the stress leaving my body now...)

Social support enhances heart benefits of moderate drinking, study finds

Reuters

Having a supportive social network enhances the health benefits of having a few drinks, new research from Japan suggests.

The study of Japanese men years found that moderate to light alcohol consumption, coupled with high levels of social support, were linked to lower rates of heart disease and stroke.

"But remember," Dr. Hiroyasu Iso from Osaka University noted in a statement, "this beneficial effect of social support is confined to light-to-moderate drinking. Heavy drinking is risky irrespective of social support level."

In a report in the journal Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, the researchers note that light to moderate drinking has been shown to help protect against stroke and heart disease. Being surrounded by lots of family and friends is also known to be good for the heart and may even help people live longer.

The new study, Iso and colleagues say, shows that high levels of social support may enhance the heart-healthy effects of light to moderate alcohol consumption.

Iso's team examined drinking patterns, social support and cardiovascular health of 19,356 men in their 40s, 50s and 60s who were enrolled in the Japan Public Health Center-based Prospective Study. Their alcohol consumption was classified into seven categories: never, past, occasional, 1 to 149, 150 to 299, 300 to 449, or 450 or more grams of alcohol per week.

During an average follow up of more than 9 years, 629 strokes and 207 coronary heart diseases were documented in the men.

Confirming past studies, heavier drinking (i.e., 300 grams per week or more) was associated with an increased risk of stroke. This may be explained at least partly by alcohol-induced high blood pressure, the researchers say.

In contrast to heavy drinking, light to moderate drinking — up to 299 grams of alcohol per week — was associated with reduced risks of stroke and heart disease, and the effect was more pronounced in men with high levels of social support, "probably due to avoidance of unhealthy behaviors and enhancement of stress buffering," Iso surmised.

Compared with light to moderate drinkers with high social support, those with low social support had unhealthier lifestyle behaviors; they were more apt to be sedentary and had fewer opportunities for medical checkups. They were also more likely to have high stress levels, no job, and no spouse.

The researchers speculate that low levels of social support may cause mental stress, which is hard on the heart. Mental stress activates components of the body's neuro-endocrine system, "which lead to an increased risk of cardiovascular disease," Iso explained.