Myths about Alcohol

1. I drive better after a few drinks. Alcohol does not normally increase physical or mental skills. What it may do is increase confidence and decrease judgment and self-criticism. The drinker may feel as if his performance has improved when in reality it may have declined. At least half of the fatal highway accidents involve drinking.

2. Alcohol increases sexual desire and ability. Contrary to popular belief, the more you drink, the less your sexual capacity. The depressant action of alcohol lowers inhibitions. Therefore, the drinker may respond more freely to sexual stimulation. But, like other activities, too much alcohol reduces performance abilities.

3. I don't know any alcoholics. Maybe you just don't know you know any alcoholic. Some of your best friends may have drinking problems. They don't seem "different", and they usually try to hide their illness, even from themselves. About one out of every ten people who drink has a drinking problem.

4. Most alcoholics are skid row bums. Alcoholism shows no favorites. It is found among all classes of people. It has been estimated that only three to five percent of all alcoholics live on skid row. Furthermore, it seems that only a minority of those living on skid row are alcoholics.

5. You are not an alcoholic unless you drink a pint daily. There's no simple rule of thumb. Experts have concluded that how much people drink may be far less important than when they drink, how they drink, why they drink, and what happens to them when they drink.

6. Most alcoholics are middle-aged or older. A University of California research team has found that the highest proportion of drinking problems is among men in their 40's and 50's.

7. Alcoholics are morally weak. Although there are still people who disagree, alcoholism has been medically and legally classified as an illness. Alcoholics are no more responsible for their drinking than tuberculosis patients are for their coughing

8. All alcoholics drink in the morning. Although the craving for a morning drink is a common symptom among chronic alcoholics, there are those who don't display it. It is not when drinking occurs, but the lack of control over it when it does occur that defines alcoholism.

9. You can't become an alcoholic by drinking only beer. Even though the percentage is relatively low (2% - 5%), beer still contains the potentially addicting ingredient - ethyl alcohol.  People who drink beer merely have to drink more liquid in order to get drunk than they would wine or whiskey.

10. Alcoholics drink every day. Some alcoholics drink only on weekends, some abstain for months. Alcoholism is not determined by how often people drink but whether or not they can control their drinking once they start.

11. Women don't become alcoholics. Women are not immune to becoming alcoholics. In recent years, the estimated ratio of men to women alcoholics has dropped from 6:1 to 3:1. The increase in the number of women alcoholics has been explained both as an increase in the willingness to be treated, and therefore "discovered", and as an increase in the actual number of cases.

12. I'm just a social drinker. Just because you never drink alone doesn't mean you can't have a drinking problem. Plenty of "social drinkers" become alcoholics.

13. The really serious problem in our society is drug abuse. This is correct and one of those drugs is alcohol. About 300,000 Americans are addicted to heroin, but about 9,000,000 are addicted to alcohol.  It's not even close.

14. People who drink too much, only hurt themselves. Drinkers hurt and endanger themselves but also their families, their friends, employers, and strangers in the community.

15. "What a Man! Still on his feet after a whole fifth". When we stop thinking of "it's manly to drink too much", we have begun to grow up.  It's no more impressive to over-drink than it is to over-eat.  Often people who seem to be able to out-drink others are developing a tolerance for alcohol and become dependent on it.

16. Getting drunk is funny. Maybe in the movies or in jokes, but not in real life. Drunkenness is no funnier than any other illness.

17. If the parent's don't drink, the children won't drink. But the highest incident of alcoholism occurs among offspring of parents who are either non-drinkers or alcoholics. Perhaps the "extremism" of the parents' attitudes is an important factor.

18. The best cure for a hangover is . . . Everybody has a favorite, but they all have one thing in common-they don't work! What works? Preventive medicine. If you don't drink too much, you won't get a hangover.

19. Alcohol warms the body. Alcohol makes the drinker feel warmer because it causes blood to rise to the skin's surface. However, when this happens, the body temperature is actually lowered because the surface heat is lost.

20. Alcohol cures colds. Although some symptoms of the cold might be temporarily relieved, alcohol does not cure colds.

21. Mixing drinks causes greater intoxication. Only the consumption of ethyl alcohol, the ingredient common to all alcoholic beverages, causes intoxication, not the mixing of drinks. A person may tend to consume more when there is a variety of drinks, but it is still only the total amount of ethyl alcohol that counts.

22. Alcohol is a stimulant. Alcohol is not a stimulant. Although in small quantities, it may be initially stimulating or cause uninhibited behavior, it is primarily a depressant. The first area of the brain alcohol affects is the area which regulates inhibitions, judgment, and self-control. It is the lack of such restraints that causes the apparently "stimulated" or uninhibited behavior and people may do things they might not otherwise do.

23. People are friendlier when they're drunk. While some people may be more friendly while drunk, some are more aggressive and hostile, likely to engage in criminal activity, prone to be more homicidal, and to act on suicidal tendencies. Half of all murders and one-third of all suicides are alcohol-related.

24. Alcohol is a medicine. This is a wives tale, though it is true that alcohol was called the miracle of life when the distillation process was discovered around the fourteenth or fifteenth century.  These claims never held up, however, and there are currently very limited medical uses for this drug.

25. Black coffee and a cold shower will sober you up. Alleged methods for sobering up range from hot coffee to cold showers, from fresh air to food. The only effect these treatments can have is to produce a wide-awake drunk. An awakened drunk, feeling sobered up, may attempt to perform tasks such as driving, of which he/she is no more capable than the sleepy drunk is. Time is the only method of sobering up. There is no way to increase the oxidation rate--the rate at which the body naturally eliminates alcohol.

Related Links:
More myths about Alcohol
Facts About Alcohol Poisoning
Alcohol & Exercise
Alcoholism: Getting the Facts
 

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