Of Course 1 in 3 Texans Believe Alcohol is Good for You

My understanding has always been that a drink or two a day keeps the doctor away.

So, I get it when I hear that roughly a third of Texans believe that drinking alcohol is good for you. It is true that experts say red wine, in moderation, is good for cardiovascular health.

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I’ve also heard that a drink or two a day can reduce your risk of stroke. However, a recent study by the University of Oxford found that there is no safe level of alcohol consumption when it comes to brain health. Well damn – I truly thought I could hang my hat on that one.

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The truth is that I’m in line with many Texans (and most Americans, for that matter).

Rehabs.com conducted a survey of 3,000 people and concluded that 36% of Texans believe drinking alcohol is beneficial to your health. That’s a little bit lower than the national average of 39%.

The most common belief among those surveyed is that alcohol is good for cardiovascular health. Which makes sense, because like I said earlier, that’s what we’ve been told for years.

Another thing the survey found is that a lot of people wouldn’t quit drinking even if there was hard evidence that it was bad for your health.

1/3 of those surveyed said they wouldn’t quit if it was proven to cause damage to the brain. And 38% would keep on drinking even if trials showed that it reduced life expectancy by 5 years.

My take is that we drinkers are gonna do our thing no matter the consequences.

For me, alcohol is my go-to for winding down after work. Okay, maybe it’s not the healthiest choice for winding down, but it sure is fun. And to quote Ben Franklin, “Beer is proof God loves us and wants us to be happy.”

I'll take that.