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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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To: dragnet2

Dragnet, why won’t you say what YOU do for a living since you feel like back-seat driving my career?

Maybe you are un/underemployed?


61 posted on 12/30/2007 12:32:18 AM PST by KJC1
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To: Wingy

The gentleman equates checkpoint stoppage with manditory, periodic, random alcohol testing of civilian auto operators.....and simply asks, “How would YOU like it, officer!”


62 posted on 12/30/2007 12:32:48 AM PST by dasboot
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To: mysterio

“Also, if you have binge drank more than once, you are an alcoholic.”

Crap. Outright BS.


63 posted on 12/30/2007 12:33:34 AM PST by jwh_Denver (Scrooge, my kind of guy.)
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To: jwh_Denver
“Also, if you have binge drank more than once, you are an alcoholic.”

I didn't realize, until now, that everyone in my town is an alcoholic. So are all the people with whom I've ever worked for the past 45 years.

64 posted on 12/30/2007 12:38:16 AM PST by Rudder
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To: KJC1
Dragnet, why won’t you say what YOU do for a living

I never discuss what I do for a living...But I do enjoy sitting on my porch shooting beer cans with my BB gun.

65 posted on 12/30/2007 12:38:27 AM PST by dragnet2
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To: jwh_Denver

Hmmm....Academy graduation night..and the first end of a shift at the pub with the lads would automatically qualify every cop. Guilty. [do I qualify for SSDI?]


66 posted on 12/30/2007 12:39:08 AM PST by dasboot
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To: dragnet2

For the first time tonight, you are being honest.

Don’t backseat drive, that’s all.


67 posted on 12/30/2007 12:40:24 AM PST by KJC1
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To: KJC1
Then it hits me...

You're seemingly kinda new, judging from the language used in that last reply. [you seem to take yourself way too seriously...FNG? Although some guys never leave it behind.]

And that makes me wonder if your peeing in the cup has something to do with your probationary period?

68 posted on 12/30/2007 12:49:01 AM PST by dasboot
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To: Rudder

LOL Good one! ;>)


69 posted on 12/30/2007 12:49:31 AM PST by Gator113 (My short list..Fred, Hunter, Romney.)
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To: dasboot

lol


70 posted on 12/30/2007 12:51:21 AM PST by dragnet2
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To: dasboot

If you felt like putting money down, tell me your bet.


71 posted on 12/30/2007 12:51:44 AM PST by KJC1
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To: dasboot

Couple of stubborn libertarians, and a police officer, walk into a bar...

:)


72 posted on 12/30/2007 12:51:57 AM PST by Cringing Negativism Network (I'm a proud Yankee Doodle Protectionist)
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To: Cringing Negativism Network

Don’t forget: And some posers who have never worked in law enforcement but pretend like they are the world’s next superheroes.


73 posted on 12/30/2007 12:57:20 AM PST by KJC1
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To: KJC1
I just did. I'm betting that your peeing in the cup, periodically, random selection, is manditory for probationary officers. If it were a department policy beyond that stage, you'd have said so, right from the git.

I call!

74 posted on 12/30/2007 12:57:23 AM PST by dasboot
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To: neverdem

The most I’ve ever had in one night was when I was 18, December 28th 2003. I had minor alcohol poisoning; my stomach felt like a small bomb went off in it for 3 days after that night.

Binge drinking serves absolutely no purpose and is harmful to a person’s health.


75 posted on 12/30/2007 1:01:31 AM PST by wastedyears (Merry Christmas, FReepers)
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To: dasboot

You just busted your wad. LOL. You showed your hand big-time. You’ve never been in law enforcement.

I am a law enforcement officer. Are you/have you ever been?


76 posted on 12/30/2007 1:02:05 AM PST by KJC1
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To: KJC1
You’ve never been in law enforcement. I am a law enforcement officer. Are you/have you ever been?

First you say he has never been, then you ask if he has?

77 posted on 12/30/2007 1:07:01 AM PST by dragnet2
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To: wastedyears
Binge drinking serves absolutely no purpose and is harmful to a person’s health.

Well, yeah...at first.

78 posted on 12/30/2007 1:08:30 AM PST by Rudder
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To: dragnet2

I was being polite. But I’m glad you are still here, what with your secretive profession but abundant, dazzling advice.


79 posted on 12/30/2007 1:09:16 AM PST by KJC1
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To: Rudder

It’s not a pleasant experience. That definitely wasn’t the only time I got sick from drinking. Although, it was my first time drinking.


80 posted on 12/30/2007 1:09:36 AM PST by wastedyears (Merry Christmas, FReepers)
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