How Much Should You Really Be Drinking?

- So Sheena, I'm starting to hear about this thing called Dry January.

- Yeah, I heard of it too, but at first I thought it was a winter without any snow.

- No, that's just where we're headed with global warming.

This is a month where you go without drinking any alcohol.

It's a chance to reset, reflect, and start the year on a healthier note.

- Yeah, I've read that one in seven Americans plan to stop drinking for a month after New Year's, and that's kind of a lot of people.

But Alok, let's keep it real.

Do you really think that not drinking for a month will help at all, change anything?

- We'll get to that, but if you want to ditch alcohol, here's how you can get started.

- To understand your drinking habits, the first step is to know how much you really drink.

First, let's get started by pouring a drink.

So Veronica, can you show me how you would pour a drink at home for yourself?

- I mean, is this uncensored?

Is this okay for the PBS metaverse?

- Yes, listen, we all grown here.

I'm ready to drink.

(both laugh) - Okay.

It's almost spring break, y'all.

- Oh, okay, all right.

So we'll definitely be toasty and warm with that one.

- It's neat.

(Sheena laughs) - All right, and now Mike, please serve me a whiskey neat.

- All right, so if we're gonna drink a whiskey neat, it'd be about two ounces of whiskey.

So we have this jigger here and we'll pour it on in, fill it up to the top, and then dump it into the glass.

And there we have our whiskey neat.

- All right, so let's put these together.

Huge difference.

Now, before I was a lovely nurse, I was a bartender and it helped me get through nursing school, so I'm very proud of that.

But at that time, I did notice how some people pour differently at home than they would have a cocktail at a bar.

So as you can see, there's a huge difference between these two drinks, right?

And imagine if you're drinking this at home, you're drinking two of these.

Mike, how do bartenders limit the amount of alcohol they serve?

- The best way is to make sure that you do an accurate pour, and you can do that with the jigger.

This jigger has two sides, one ounce or two ounces, and so you know what the appropriate amount is to pour in.

- So you at home just gotta imagine that you have a Mike or a bartender in your house that's gonna tell you, hold on, stop.

Do not pour yourself double, okay?

- Don't pour like me.

(all laugh) - Now even measuring the amount of liquor doesn't always tell us the amount of pure alcohol we're actually drinking.

Many people are unclear on the basic drinking guidelines, so I created a little quiz to help us out.

Question number one, which one of these counts as a standard drink?

A, a pint of beer, B, a martini, C, a travel-sized wine, or D, none of the above.

- I'm gonna go for a martini.

- I'm gonna say the beer.

- Okay.

(buzzer sounds) (all laugh) The answer is D, none of the above.

In the US, now stay with me here, in the US, a standard drink contains 0.6 ounces of pure alcohol.

Generally, this amount of alcohol is found in 12 ounces of beer, a pint is 16 ounces, five ounces of wine, or 1.5 ounces of distilled spirits like gin, rum, vodka, or whiskey.

Knowledge, knowledge.

Okay, so question number two.

Do you know what proof on a bottle of liquor means?

A, how much of the contents comes from a licensed manufacturer, B, the percentage of alcohol by volume in the liquor, or C, double the percentage of alcohol by volume in the liquor.

- I'm gonna go with D, none of the above.

- Okay, all right.

Mike?

- I'm gonna go with C, double the amount of alcohol in the bottle.

- Okay, okay Mike.

You've been on point, okay.

It's C, double the percentage of alcohol by volume.

If you can't find the proof, you can look for Alcohol By Volume, or ABV.

Now you have two ways to find the amount of alcohol in your bevy, okay?

All right, last question.

How many drinks per day makes a woman a moderate drinker?

A, three or less, B, two or less, C, one or less.

And I'm gonna start by saying, don't judge us, okay?

All right, which one Veronica?

- I'm feeling a little triggered by this question.

(all laugh) Let's go with B.

- Okay.

- I'm gonna go with C, one or less.

- Okay, Mike, you've been spot on.

The answer is C, one drink or less a day for women, two drinks or less for men.

Like, okay, I can, so.

All right, Veronica, Mike, you both did such a great job, so thank you.

How did you guys do at home on the quiz?

And here's another thing.

Over the years, you might've heard that moderate drinking is good for you or a glass of red wine is good for the heart.

Eh, the latest advice, a little different.

Let's hear it from Alok.

- It's true, I'm not here to scare you, but the most recent evidence suggests that no amount of drinking is good for you.

So let's take a tour about how alcohol affects your body.

When you have a drink, alcohol rapidly gets into your bloodstream through the tissue lining of your stomach and in small intestine.

And one of the organs it affects is your brain.

Your brain has all these chemical messengers called neurotransmitters.

Alcohol raises the level of a specific neurotransmitter called GABA.

And this makes you feel relaxed when you drink.

But also, alcohol is a depressant, and this is what slows down your speech and your movement.

You know that euphoric feeling and the decreased inhibitions when you have a drink or two?

That's because alcohol also messes with a neurotransmitter called dopamine, and you feel pleasure.

And this leads you to doing really dumb things that you think are a good idea, like dancing in public, or climbing a telephone pole, or texting your ex at 2:00 AM.

The reason people tend to do dumb things, things they regret when they drink, is because alcohol impairs cognitive processes.

And here's something a little scary.

The latest research shows that the more you drink, the more your brain volume may shrink, and such neurological changes have been linked to problems with memory and even dementia.

And then you've got the liver.

Alcohol enters your liver and gets broken down by an enzyme called alcohol dehydrogenase into acetaldehyde, which is toxic.

And then this gets broken down into acetic acid, which is a harmless ingredient in vinegar.

But this is not before you suffer a hangover.

You might be wondering, can staying away from alcohol for one month actually make a difference in my health?

Well, it could, there's limited data from a small study that show that even moderately heavy drinkers who abstained from alcohol for one month saw drastic improvements in their liver health, they reduced their risk of diabetes, they lost weight and they lowered their blood pressure.

- Does this mean that people shouldn't drink at all?

- I think it's okay in moderation, right?

Even I have a cocktail every now and then after a hard day at work.

But I think it's important that we all kind of take stock of our alcohol intake, and we just look to see what we're actually putting in and how it makes us feel.

- And if you do want to cut back or stop drinking altogether, there are a few things that you should consider.

For one, if you're a heavy drinker, stopping cold turkey is flat out dangerous.

- Right now there are three FDA approved medications that treat alcohol abuse.

There's Naltrexone, which blocks some of those opioid receptors, reducing the reward people get from drinking alcohol, thus it cuts back cravings.

There's also Acamprosate, which works in a similar way, kind of reducing the positive reinforcement people get from drinking.

But this one also helps reduce those withdrawal symptoms like anxiety, insomnia, or the jitters.

And then there's Disulfiram, or as people commonly know it, Antabuse, which actually inhibits your body's ability to break down alcohol, raises those acetaldehyde levels, you know what that means.

That means that every time you drink, you feel like garbage.

And this also reduces cravings.

Sheena, let's be real, we both know a lot of people who drink.

But for those who aren't heavy drinkers, how should they be feeling about this topic?

- Well I think it's a moment to really realize how much you're drinking.

Dry January is a step further to really notice your daily habits.

Are you drinking because you're bored?

Are you drinking just to kill stress?

Are you drinking to help you sleep?

I think it's a moment to step back and just notice your own habits.

So what do you think?

Does Dry January sound like something you might want to try?

Let us know in the comments.

- [Alok] We're @PBSVitals on all social media platforms.

We'll have more quiz questions up so you can test your alcohol knowledge against everyone else.

(upbeat music)