One out of 3 adults and 2 out of 3 high school students who drink alcohol binge drink, according to recent government surveys. Startlingly, the data suggest that 90% of the alcohol consumed by high-school kids and more than half …
alcohol
Study O.K.’s Light Drinking During Pregnancy. Too Good to Be True?
A glass of wine or two a week — and not more than one large glass on any occasion — may be safe during pregnancy, according to a large study just published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.
If I’m Drunk, Then You Stepped On My Toes On Purpose
Why does heavy drinking sometimes lead to violence? A new study — nicely examined by the British Psychological Society on its blog here — offers one clue.
Family MattersParenting
Simple Fix: Family Dinners Help Teens Avoid Drinking and Using Drugs
If you have reservations tonight for a romantic dinner for you and your spouse, go ahead and cancel them. It’s Family Day — A Day to Eat Dinner with Your Children, designated by all 50 states to highlight how parental …
Study: An Earlier ‘Last Call’ May Reduce Assaults
It may seem like a drag when the bartender rings that bell and shouts, “Last call for alcohol!” But in addition to a legion of weary bartenders, everyone else may benefit from an earlier closing time, according to a new study in …
Even More Evidence for the Health Benefits of Drinking
After TIME.com ran my story about how moderate and even heavy drinking are both associated with living longer than average, lots of readers e-mailed me their skepticism.
Recipe for Longevity: Social Drinking or Just Going to AA?
We’re so used to thinking of pleasurable things as “sinful” and “bad for you” that when the popular media, or science for that matter, attempts to validate our guilty pleasures — such as my colleague John Cloud’s excellent piece about recent research showing that heavy drinkers outlive teetotalers — skepticism runs high.
Red-faced from drinking? It could be an evolutionary advantage
Lots of people get flushed in the face when they feel embarrassed, but for many Asians it’s the facial flush itself that can be embarrassing.
About half of all people of Asian descent share a genetic trait that causes a prompt reddening of the face in response to drinking alcohol — the result of an enzyme deficiency that interferes …
Happy New Year! Don’t forget contraception
It’s New Year’s Eve, and for many people that means some confetti, bubbly and even a midnight kiss. But if you hope that for that kiss to turn into something more, safe sex advocates emphasize the importance of curbing your cocktail intake, and remembering contraception. Research sponsored by the sexual health non-profit group Marie
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Neurological clues to how alcoholics process emotion
Alcoholics’ brains may process emotion differently than those of people who don’t have a history of alcohol abuse, according to a study published in the November issue of the journal Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research. There is ample research analyzing how alcoholics tend to process emotion distinctly and with a range of …