09/16/2026
Why Age and Alcohol Don't Mix
During the pandemic, 14% of older adults reported drinking more, with ages ranging from 50 to 80, a survey done by University of Michigan shows that 23 % downed 3 or more drinks in a typical session. That's unhealthy for anyone, but its especially unhealthy for people our age because we cant process alcohol or deal with its effects as well as we used to. At about age 50 these biological processes start happening. Specifically: Your body loses muscle, gains fat and carries less water in the bloodstream. Because muscle holds more water than fat, this means there's less water in an older body. So any alcohol you consume isn't diluted to the degree it was when you, say, pounded beers in your 20's. Result: a higher blood-alcohol content.
Also, your stomach and liver don't produce as much of the alcohol-digesting enzyme called ADH, which also leads to a higher blood-alcohol-content that's sustained longer, even if your not drinking anymore than when you were younger. Women have less ADH than men to start with, which is why they are less able than men to clear alcohol from the body.
Alcohol effects the frontal cortex of your brain. this is the part of the brain that is used to make executive decisions. Also, this part of the brain plays a central role in self-regulation. In other words, impulsive and compulsive behavior can be effected and lead to alcohol misuse, which can speed up aging. not to mention, wreck the quality of your sleep. The so called " too much alcohol" number is no more than 2 a day for men and no more than 7 a week for women.
Keep in mind, you start to lose the neurotransmitters in your brain that signal the ability to perceive the effects of the alcohol . We don't gauge our sobriety as accurately. Just like our eyesight and hearing fail, so does our perception.
Rosamund Dean, in her book, Mindful Drinking: How to Break Up with Alcohol, suggests carefully counting how many drinks you have- and noting where, when, and why.
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