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The Hangover That Lasts
NY Times ^ | December 29, 2007 | PAUL STEINBERG

Posted on 12/29/2007 10:23:09 PM PST by neverdem

NEW Year’s Eve tends to be the day of the year with the most binge drinking (based on drunken driving fatalities), followed closely by Super Bowl Sunday. Likewise, colleges have come to expect that the most alcohol-filled day of their students’ lives is their 21st birthday. So, some words of caution for those who continue to binge and even for those who have stopped: just as the news is not so great for former cigarette smokers, there is equally bad news for recovering binge-drinkers who have achieved a sobriety that has lasted years. The more we have binged — and the younger we have started to binge — the more we experience significant, though often subtle, effects on the brain and cognition.

Much of the evidence for the impact of frequent binge-drinking comes from some simple but elegant studies done on lab rats by Fulton T. Crews and his former student Jennifer Obernier. Dr. Crews, the director of the University of North Carolina Bowles Center for Alcohol Studies, and Dr. Obernier have shown that after a longstanding abstinence following heavy binge-drinking, adult...

--snip--

So, some possible resolutions for the New Year:

Stop after one or two drinks. Studies of the Mediterranean diet have shown that one or two drinks on a consistent basis leads to a longer life than pure teetotaling.

If you must binge, start at age 40, not at age 16 — and always have someone else drive. Just as youth is wasted on the young, so perhaps is alcohol.

If you have binged excessively when younger, follow it up with some regular exercise. Get those brain cells regenerated.

As Shakespeare once pointed out without the benefit of studies on lab rats, “O God, that men should put an enemy in their mouths to steal away their brains!”

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: alcohol; alcoholabuse; brain; health; marijuana; neurology; wod
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Paul Steinberg is a psychiatrist.
1 posted on 12/29/2007 10:23:11 PM PST by neverdem
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To: neverdem

When I turn 65 I plan to really start drinking hard. I also plan to become a mean, nasty, embittered old man..... Everyone need goals in life.


2 posted on 12/29/2007 10:28:09 PM PST by woofie
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To: neverdem

I’m curious what his definition of binge drinking is.


3 posted on 12/29/2007 10:33:33 PM PST by peggybac (Tolerance is the virtue of believing in nothing)
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To: woofie

Yours sounds like an excellent plan. It shows clear objectives to be achieved and a clear method of achieving them. I shall begin to recommend this plan to my clients immediately.


4 posted on 12/29/2007 10:34:19 PM PST by 17th Miss Regt
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To: neverdem

Don’t drink and drive.

I’m a cop and I’ve been working checkpoints. It’s always sad to see people (often very nice decent people) making bad decisions.

Get a ride, a hotel, etc.


5 posted on 12/29/2007 10:52:22 PM PST by KJC1
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To: KJC1

Why don’t they routinely and randomly drug test LEOs and judges like they do in many other professions?


6 posted on 12/29/2007 10:56:52 PM PST by dragnet2
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To: dragnet2

In the state of CA, all cops agree to be tested at any time, any place.

Judges are another matter...I don’t know what they agree to but any testing would be welcome in my book.


7 posted on 12/29/2007 11:00:05 PM PST by KJC1
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To: KJC1

That’s not what I asked.


8 posted on 12/29/2007 11:00:36 PM PST by dragnet2
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To: KJC1
Why don’t they routinely and randomly drug test LEOs and judges like they do in many other professions?

In the state of CA, all cops agree to be tested at any time, any place.

Judges are another matter.

I'll try to be more specific, why are not LEOs and judges RANDOMLY, and ROUTINELY drug tested like in many other professions?

9 posted on 12/29/2007 11:04:25 PM PST by dragnet2
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To: dragnet2

Are you asking me why “they” don’t test officers according to “your” schedule?

Who is “they” and what is “your” standard?


10 posted on 12/29/2007 11:05:58 PM PST by KJC1
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To: dragnet2

Law Enforcement Officers ARE subjected to routine drug testing. We sign on that as a condition of employment. So again to answer your question, you can sniff our shi-att anytime. :)


11 posted on 12/29/2007 11:08:22 PM PST by KJC1
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To: KJC1
Law Enforcement Officers ARE subjected to routine drug testing.

Do you understand the difference between "being subject to drug testing" and mandatory random drug testing, like in many other professions?

12 posted on 12/29/2007 11:11:48 PM PST by dragnet2
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To: dragnet2

What is your real beef?


13 posted on 12/29/2007 11:12:46 PM PST by KJC1
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To: neverdem
...the University of North Carolina Bowles Center for Alcohol Studies

If they're in need of test subjects, I spent 7 years in Wyoming and I drank an entire bottle of Goldschlager on New Years Eve 1999 thinking the world would end.

14 posted on 12/29/2007 11:14:28 PM PST by GOP_Raider (Don't panic, folks. Rush Babies Will Save America.)
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To: KJC1

Why are you avoiding the simple question?


15 posted on 12/29/2007 11:15:56 PM PST by dragnet2
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To: dragnet2

What is your question? Put simply of course.


16 posted on 12/29/2007 11:17:15 PM PST by KJC1
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To: KJC1

One more time officer, just for you.

Why don’t they routinely and randomly drug test LEOs and judges like they do in many other professions?


17 posted on 12/29/2007 11:19:00 PM PST by dragnet2
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To: KJC1

Do you understand the difference between “being subject to drug testing” and mandatory random drug testing, like in many other professions?


18 posted on 12/29/2007 11:21:15 PM PST by dragnet2
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To: KJC1

I hear ya KJC1, ran into a “sobriety” check point this evening, normally I despise those things (NCSHP run check point) but the officer was clear, roll down the window, chat a bit, off you go.

He was only checking to see if

A. I was wearing the seat belt
B. Had been drinking.

Folks, a .357 mag bullet travels at 1,400 ft per second with 900 ft pds of energy or so, a Vehicle can travel 60 mph + with a ft pd of energy around 37,000 ft per second, far mroe deadly, drink if you feel like it, but do not think it is wimpy to take a cab.....


19 posted on 12/29/2007 11:25:41 PM PST by padre35 (Conservative in Exile/ Isaiah 3.3)
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To: dragnet2

LOL. What part of me telling you that LEOs sign on the dotted line to be subjected to drug/alcohol testing do you not understand? Meaning, it happens.

It is a condition of employment, open book.

Again, we agree that we can be tested anytime/anywhere, our backgrounds are checked to the bone unlike your job, so what is your beef besides being a potential cop-hater or wannabe?


20 posted on 12/29/2007 11:26:30 PM PST by KJC1
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