If you’re over 40, the chances are you like a drink. A recent online survey in Britain found “empty nester” mothers were at the forefront of a middle-aged drinking epidemic, with 28 per cent of women over 45 admitting they drank as much or more than their grown-up children.
It’s also those 65 and over who are most likely to drink on five consecutive nights each week. But it’s not all bad news. Last week, Danish research published in the journal BMJ online found that Alzheimer’s patients who consumed two to three drinks daily had a 77 per cent lower risk of death than those than those that drank less or nothing. Still, as the Chief Medical Officer, Dame Sally Davies, mulls over current NHS drinking guidelines, experts are urging us to spare a thought not only for the short-term effects of alcohol on our brains, but also the damage our drinking habits are doing to our bodies as we approach middle age.
“Alcohol affects just about every system because it’s a small molecule that goes everywhere in the body,” says Paul Wallace, emeritus professor of public health at University College London and medical director of the charity Drinkaware. “From the gut to the heart, the blood vessels to the skin, its effects are all-pervasive.”
– Anna Magee
Source: What alcohol does to your body after 40
Image from Unsplash
Leave A Comment