Feeling stressed? Think you need a drink? New research suggests that a drink may be just what you don't need, and may prolong stress rather than relieve it. HealthDay reports that researchers at the University of Chicago put 25 healthy men through a stressful public speaking task known to increase heart rate, blood pressure and feelings of tension, as well as one non-stressful task for comparison. When the men were done, researchers gave them intravenous fluids containing about the same amount of alcohol as two typical drinks. Eleven of the men were given the alcohol followed by an inactive placebo 30 minutes later. The rest of the men received the placebo first, then the alcohol, while the researchers measured their levels of anxiety, stimulation and desire for more alcohol, as well as their heart rate, blood pressure and salivary cortisol. HealthDay reports that the researchers found that alcohol can change the way that the body deals with stress: it can decrease the hormone cortisol, which the body releases to respond to stress, and it can prolong the feelings of tension produced by the stress. Stress can also change how alcohol makes a person feel: it can reduce the pleasant effects of alcohol or increase the craving for more alcohol. The bottom line: booze can actually make stress more stressful.
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Saturday, May 31, 2025