8 myths about alcohol (stop believing them!)

Red wine gets you drunk less quickly than white wine. And put off your first trip to the toilet for as long as possible: once you’ve gone to pee, you’ll keep going. Do you believe these kinds of myths about alcohol? We’ll quickly set you straight.

One drink per hour, no problem

As long as you drink only one drink per hour, you can simply drive home. Because while you’re sitting on your bar stool, your body is busy processing that alcohol into a few harmless farts or burps.

Not true: What do you think? Drink all evening and then drive home sober? Life isn’t a pony camp, and this is of course nonsense. It takes your body about two hours to break down the alcohol in one glass of wine. If number two is on its way in the meantime, that process doesn’t go any faster. It’s also not the case that breakdown is much faster in men than in women, or faster in younger people than in older people. Even if you drink one drink per hour, it’s best to call an Uber if you want to get home.

Mixing spirits and beer is asking for trouble

Spirits first, then beer: no problem. Beer first, then spirits: bad idea. The order of your drinks matters.

Not true: The order doesn’t matter; it’s the amount of alcohol in your drinks that counts. An article in The New York Times suggested that the bubbles in beer and champagne may stimulate your stomach a little, making you get drunk faster. If you then move on to spirits, that alcohol would be absorbed into your body more quickly. Whether that’s true is debatable.

Dark drinks are better for you

Red wine, whisky and other dark-colored drinks contain substances that are good for you. White wine, genever and lager don’t contain those healthy substances. That’s why your hangover from white wine and beer is much worse than from, say, red wine.

Not true: red wine contains more polyphenols than white wine, and these are antioxidants that may have a health benefit. Dark beers contain flavonoids, another healthy substance. But research in which one group of people drank vodka and the control group drank whisky showed that all participants felt equally awful after a night out. The whisky drinkers complained more about hangover symptoms such as a dry tongue, headache and an upset stomach.

Once you go to the bathroom, you’ll keep going

Put off going to the bathroom for as long as possible, because once you’ve gone, you’ll keep going back and forth.

Not true: alcohol disrupts the substances in your blood that make you retain fluids. So on a night out, you can’t retain fluids properly and have to urinate more often. It makes no difference how long you postpone your first trip to the bathroom. In fact, alcohol can irritate your bladder, so it’s better to go when you feel the need, to prevent bladder problems (and other embarrassing situations).

Dark beer contains more alcohol than light-colored beer

You can see it right away: a Guinness contains much more alcohol than a lager. You can tell by the color.

Not true: the alcohol percentage in a beer has nothing to do with its color. Don’t be fooled!

If you’ve vomited, you’re sober again

Come on, give that alcohol back to nature! Then you’ll feel better immediately and be sober again right away.

Not true: the alcohol in your drink is absorbed by your body quickly. Feeling nauseous from the alcohol? Sticking your finger down your throat doesn’t help, except perhaps to prevent things from getting worse. How can you prevent that nausea? It’s not rocket science: don’t drink so much or so quickly.

A big night out costs you a few brain cells

Getting drunk and partying hard is bad for your brain. Every drink costs you a few brain cells.

Not true: no brain cells die when you get seriously drunk. You often behave stupidly, so it may seem as if your IQ plummets with every shot you knock back, but all your gray matter stays right where it is. However, if you drink regularly or consume a lot of alcohol over a long period, you can damage your brain. Korsakoff syndrome—ever heard of it?

Read also:

• Is it ever okay to order extra drinks just before happy hour ends?
• With this wine, the hangover won’t come later
• Fact-check: does drinking alcohol help against a hangover?

Source: MyRecipes