Find out if it is worth drinking alcohol in winter, and how much harm you will cause to your body. Surely many of our readers came up with the idea that with the help of alcohol you can warm up in a severe frost. In practice, right after a glass of an intoxicating drink is drunk, warmth really spills over the body. However, after a while it gets even colder. Today we will talk about the benefits or dangers of alcohol in the cold.
The first thing you should remember is that alcohol is very tricky. It is able to warm, but this positive effect on the body does not last long. If you drink alcohol in the cold, then you are more likely to get harm, not benefit. Moreover, it is in the cold season that the danger of alcohol increases significantly.
Why shouldn't you drink alcohol in cold weather?
Ethanol has vasodilating properties, but it can play a bad trick on you in winter. When you drank alcohol, the vessels dilate, but blood flow is disturbed. Blood actively rushes to the skin, but the internal organs at this time lack blood supply. The warmth that you feel after drinking a glass is literally felt by the skin. In turn, all internal organs begin to freeze as the blood flow has changed.
In addition, the warming effect of ethanol is extremely short-lived. As soon as alcohol stops acting on the body, the feeling of warmth leaves you. As a result, you begin to experience even greater coldness than it was before the drink. A small dose of ethanol leads to short-term warming, after which a person begins to freeze literally to the very bones.
This is understandable, because at first the vascular system works normally, and then begins to react to alcohol, harm and benefits in the cold, which we will consider in more detail today. You probably already understood yourself that alcohol is not able to warm you in the cold and even more - it leads to a violation of heat transfer processes. Another rather serious negative factor in alcohol consumption is its effect on the functioning of the nervous system. It will probably not be difficult for you to remember how you start to freeze if, say, waiting for someone for a long time. The frost begins to gradually spread throughout the body and as a result your limbs become numb. Then the cold spreads actively throughout the body. This happens if you are sober and you have the opportunity to sensibly assess the degree of your freezing and prevent further hypothermia, which can result in frostbite.
If you drank a sufficient amount of alcohol in the cold, the benefits and harms of which are now being considered by us, then the system for assessing your condition is knocked down. You can no longer say for sure how cold or warm you are. This will lead to the fact that you yourself will not notice how much you are overcooled. Even in a mildly intoxicated state, the risk of frostbite is extremely high.
In addition to the already described negative properties of alcohol, it is worth remembering about impaired coordination of movements. This is dangerous not only in winter, but also in the warm season. It is in a state of alcoholic intoxication that people most often receive injuries of varying severity, which is called from scratch.
Due to a dull self-preservation instinct, a drunk person may decide to bypass the open water hatch on a slippery path. In this state, you are simply not able to accurately determine the degree of danger to your health of this or that act. Even the organs of vision can bring a person down under the influence of alcohol.
If you have not just drank a glass or two, but "loaded" with alcoholic beverages to the fullest, then the risks of injury are enormous. It is very easy to fall in this state, but it can be extremely difficult to get up. If it's freezing outside, then you just freeze. According to statistics, more than 80 percent of cases of frostbite in the cold season, including fatal ones, are accounted for by drunk people.
What is the correct way to drink alcohol in winter?
We have found out what benefits or harms of alcohol in the cold can be obtained. However, if you still want to take alcohol in the cold season, then you should adhere to simple rules:
- Drink alcohol to the best of your ability and don't overdo it. Recall that the daily maximum allowable dose of pure ethanol is 30 milliliters for men and 20 milliliters for women.
- If you do decide to drink in winter, then do it indoors and try not to go outside after drinking alcohol.
- In those situations when you need to go home in the cold, and you have already taken alcohol, then find a person who will accompany you. It is desirable that he be sober.
- When going out into the cold drunk, you should dress warmly, although it may seem that you are not cold.
Alcohol myths
Alcoholic drinks are popular in all countries of the world, which has led to a large number of myths about them. In many ways, these false statements are a kind of psychological protective barrier. Agree that not every person can easily accept the fact that alcohol, in fact, is a poison for the body. In order to somehow calm himself down, a person comes up with various explanations, while endowing alcohol with miraculous effects. Among the most popular myths are the following:
- Red wine can increase your lifespan.
- Beer is an excellent thirst quencher.
- Vodka with pepper can cure various diseases.
- Alcohol has a high energy value.
- With the help of ethanol, you can quickly warm up in the cold.
We just carefully considered the last of these myths and now you know what benefits or harms alcohol can get in the cold. Moreover, this myth is reflected even in literature. For example, Vasily Terkin, the hero of the famous work of Alexander Tvardovsky, gets warm thanks to vodka.
Using alcohol for colds
Popularly, the use of vodka with pepper during colds is an extremely popular treatment. There is an opinion that as soon as you feel the first signs of a cold, you should immediately use this recipe. Let's not dissemble and say that there is still some truth in this myth.
Ethanol is able to increase heat transfer and in this regard it can be compared with aspirin. As a result, the body temperature drops. In turn, some substances that are contained in pepper can enhance the vasodilating effect of alcohol on the body. It is also necessary to say about the softening effect of pepper on the mucous membrane, and alcohol, among other things, can act as an anesthetic.
At the same time, all the positive effects of pepper can be obtained by you separately from alcohol, because this seasoning can be added to broth or broth. You must remember. That during the illness the body is weakened, and vodka in this situation can do harm. To begin with, alcohol can cause dehydration, but during illness, the body loses a large amount of fluid without it.
If alcohol is taken in large quantities, then the body's ability to resist disease is sharply reduced. If you have problems with the stomach or intestinal tract, alcohol is definitely contraindicated for you. Also, remember that peppers can burn your throat, which will significantly extend the healing time. However, there is one case when medicine completely shares the opinion of the masses on the use of alcohol for colds. We are now talking about external use, not internal. Thanks to the vodka compress, you can get rid of diseases such as sore throat and otitis media. Thanks to the compress, the vessels at the site of its application expand.
To prepare a medical compress, you need gauze, a piece of cloth or bandage, cotton wool, vodka and oilcloth. Vodka must be heated to 37 degrees and moistened with gauze, which should then be squeezed out and applied to the desired area of the body. Cover the gauze on top with an oilcloth or a plastic bag and fix it with a bandage. The duration of the procedure is about 4 hours.
Positive and negative properties of cognac
A huge number of rumors have accumulated about cognac, or rather its positive properties. However, you should understand that the benefits of moderate consumption of cognac can only be obtained if the drink is of high quality. It is quite obvious that the cost of such a cognac will be quite high.
For the production of this high quality drink, white grapes are used. The wort obtained in the fermentation process is distilled through a distiller. After that, the cognac is poured into oak barrels, in which it matures and gains new aromas. Thanks to distillation, various harmful impurities are removed from the cognac.
Doctors say that quality cognac can help you get rid of colds. However, it must be consumed in a small dose of no more than 35 milliliters. If you see that you are completely unstuck, then before going to bed you can drink a glass of brandy. You can also add this drink to a decoction of herbs. However, cognac should be taken only before bedtime in the above dosage and in a warm room.
Some artists believe that with the help of cognac it is possible to improve the performance of the vocal cords, which will make it possible to work out the whole concert without any problems. However, in this case, the dosage of cognac is even less in comparison with the treatment of colds. To support the vocal cords, it is enough to consume one tablespoon of the drink.
For more information on whether alcohol warms up in the cold, see here:
