This is not a drill! Grab your wine bottles because according to a new study, drinking alcohol helps you live longer.
In a recent presentation at the meeting for the American Association for the Advancement of Science, researchers could prove that drinking does, in fact, help us in the long run. According to Neurologist, Dr. Claudia Kawas and her team at the University of California, there is a link between drinking and people who live to their 90’s.
For the past 14 years, she has studied the lifestyle habits of 1,700 people between the ages of 90-99. Initially, she was interested in trying to figure out what makes people living longer, and was frustrated with the inconclusive research. From there she started looking into common factors all these individuals shared, and alcohol consumption was one of them!
How much drinking is good enough? Apparently a moderate amount. How much is moderate? That definition changes depending on who you are. According to Kawas, moderate drinking decreased the risk of premature death by 18%.
It’s very important to know that we still don’t know why or how it’s healthy for us, we just know the correlation between the two.
Kawas’ study isn’t the only one to find this trend, several others have reported similar findings, while others have discovered that drinking will increase your chances of developing different types of cancers.
Other contributing factors to living a longer life include regular exercise and participating in hobbies. It was proven that those who spent two hours a day doing a hobby were 21% less likely to have a premature death, and 15-45 minutes of daily physical activity also help lessen that chance by 11%.
Obviously, some of these people have other factors that help them live longer such as good genetics and lifestyle choices. But it’s pretty funny to think that a little bit of booze is helping them out too.
In general, moderate drinking has been proven to have several long-term benefits such as decreasing chances of getting heart disease, potentially reducing your risk of having a stroke, and ensures you get a good night’s sleep. Okay, that last one was not scientifically proven, that’s just common knowledge.
Sure, we all thought that having a healthier diet, doing yoga, going for walks in pretty parks, and going to fancy cleansing spa places might help save you from passing away too early. But who knew alcohol was a huge way to ensure your longevity on this earth!?
Excuse me while I go crack open a bottle of wine with my grandmother and toast to a having a long life.
Featured image via Scott Warman on Unsplash
