A common question I get from the teetotalers is, “Why drink?”

They’ll tell you about the stories they read about raging alcoholics and their crazy uncle who came back smelling like a bag of dried vomit. (At least it wasn’t a bag of wet vomit)

These people are missing out. Here’s why.

It’s actually good for your health

Multiple studies have shown that taking moderate amounts of alcohol can actually reduce your risk of heart disease by 25% to 40%. It can also help to reduce bad cholesterol levels and reduce the risk of gallstones, diabetes, Alzheimer’s, and the common cold.

It might actually even help us live longer.

Note that it’s moderate amounts of alcohol. Getting drunk every night gives more problems than it solves. You can find out more here and here.

It helps you to relax

Alcohol functions as a depressant. This doesn’t mean that we will collapse into a heap of blubbering tears after a glass of wine. It actually suppresses the excitatory neurotransmitters in our brains, which slows down our breathing and thoughts. So, if you were tense and your mind was racing, like say, after a difficult work meeting, drinking will help you wind down and lower your stress.

Alcohol suppresses the inhibitor neurotransmitters in our brains, which causes us to become more confident, talkative and less socially inhibited. In situations where your party is shy or having trouble talking to each other, a bit of alcohol helps to open everyone up. Even with friends, it sometimes helps to get everyone relaxed and talkative.

It makes you feel happy

When we hear about the alcohol buzz, it refers to both the lowering of the inhibitors, and also to the release of pleasure chemicals in our brains, called endorphins. Alcohol trigger these chemicals which make us feel happy.

It tastes good

This is completely subjective, but I do enjoy the many different tastes from the gajillion or so different types of drinks there are. From orange to apples to vanilla to toffee, there’s plenty of flavour and textures to savour. It’s even more fun with a complex alcohol like whisky where many different smells and tastes blend together, and I play a little guessing game to identity them. It reaches a whole new level when we start thinking about cocktails!

It pairs well with food

We talk about dining and drinks all the time. Food and beverage. Tea and biscuits. Why is that? It’s because flavours complement each other and you get more enjoyment out of both together than separately. We’ve understood this for a while, so you have waffles and ice cream, chilli and soy sauce, and chocolate with marshmallows. It so happens that there are flavours you can get only in your drinks. Wine is a common one, but even Guinness and beer have been paired well with food.

A final note

Alcohol in the right doses is pleasurable and flavourful, but like anything else, it can be bad in excessive amounts. Too much alcohol won’t just reduce your stress, it will remove it all by sending you to (literal) heaven. Always drink in moderation and enjoy quality, not quantity.