A study has found that getting pissed right up fairly frequently is the key to staying healthy and feeling happy in later life. No, really.
According to The Times:
Researchers questioned hundreds of people aged over 60 attending hospital for routine surgery about their mood and quality of life, and compared this with the amount of alcohol they drank.
One third of the participants were classified as drinking “potentially unhealthy” quantities. This included those who enjoyed a drink at least four nights a week or people who regularly had the equivalent of two bottles of wine in a single day.
This group of heavy drinkers were slimmer, happier and more mobile than their teetotal and low-drinking counterparts, the researchers found.
The study, which is being presented at a meeting of the European Society of Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care, was based on 628 adults with an average age of 72 who were undergoing elective surgery at the University Hospital Bonn in Germany.
The 186 adults in the “medium to hazardous alcohol consumption group” were significantly less likely to be obese or overweight than those who did not drink or drank only occasionally.
The high-drinking group also reported better overall health, less pain and found it easier to perform activities such as getting dressed and seeing family.
Vera Guttenthaler, the study’s author, said: “One explanation may be that higher alcohol consumption may lead to elevated mood, enhanced sociability and reduced stress.
“The results may lead to the conclusion that alcohol consumption . . . might support older patients to experience a better quality of life before and after elective surgery.”
British experts cautioned that the study was observational and therefore could not determine cause and effect.
Bloody killjoys! I trust ze Germans over any so-called “British experts.” This is great news! And to think, I was just about to begin cutting back on the Cuba Libre’s!
Not anymore. I shall continue to Bacardi the bejesus out of meself safe in the knowledge that it’s doing me a world of good.
