To Life, To Life, L'chaim! Drinkers Live Longer

Tue, 31 Aug 2010 02:12:34 -0400

Constantly seeking ammunition in the battle to convince your friends to go out drinking? Well, you now have science and statistics on your side. Time reports on a paper in the journal Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research that claims moderate drinkers and heavy drinkers have lower morality rates than people who never taste a drop, even when accounting for every potentially disruptive variable. During the 20-year period that the study covered, 69 percent of the participants who never drank died, compared to 60 percent of the heavy drinkers and 41 percent of the moderate drinkers.

Time said the social lubrication that comes with a boozy night out could be generating this extra vitality, speculating that drinking gives those who opt for daily bar-based interaction an edge over teetotalers in the war against death.

No one can deny the perils associated with drowning yourself in cocktails—cirrosis, a variety of cancers, empty wallets, walking up in foreign places, chipped teeth from drunken falls, awkward next-morning conversations and of course alcoholism. But it's nice to hear that drowning your sorrows might actually have some merit.

Observer » Studies We Actually Care About

To Life, To Life, L'chaim! Drinkers Live Longer