Age to stop drinking: why the question shakes up our habits
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In France, alcohol is a social necessity, from table wine to aperitifs, but the health bill is heavy. In 2016, the WHO assigned alcohol 3 million deador 5.3% of global mortality, with 29% due to injuries, 21% to digestive diseases, 19% cardiovascular, 13% infectious and 12% to cancers. Faced with this assessment, the question ofage to stop drinking is no longer a simple debate of morals.
Because alcohol doesn’t just damage the liver. It acts on the nervous system as a direct neurotoxinwith impacts on memory, attention and balance. The older we get, the more these effects combine with the natural fragilities of the brain. A leading neurologist has set a precise threshold to cut short the ambiguity. What follows is surprising.
Alcohol and the brain after 60: fragilities that become more pronounced
From the age of fifty, the brain changes: the number of neurons decreases, cerebral blood flow slows, and it loses around 2% of its weight per decade. As a result, the cognitive reserve shrinks, attention tires more quickly, balance becomes more fragile. If alcohol is added, the neurons take more. This terrain favors marked disturbances, until the syndrome Wernicke-Korsakoff in long-term drinkers.
He is categorical: “I strongly suggest that people aged 65 or over completely and permanently eliminate alcohol from their diet,” Dr. Richard Restak told The Sun. Neurologist and author of How to Prevent Dementia: An Expert’s Guide to Long-Term Brain Healthhe points to an increased risk after 65 ans : a deficiency of thiamine (vitamin B1) favored by alcohol and the cause of massive memory loss.
65 years old, the pivotal age set by Dr. Richard Restak
The syndrome Wernicke-Korsakoff combines neurological damage and severe amnesia. In advanced forms, walking deteriorates, confusion sets in, then memory collapses on a daily basis. Medical sources point out that part of this damage is due to chronic vitamin B1 deficiency linked to prolonged consumption. And above all, they could have been avoided if the cessation occurred in time for the oldest.
Beyond the brain, alcohol takes a heavy toll on general health. Risks include cancers of the mouth, throat, esophagus, colon-rectum and liver, but also serious cardiovascular diseases and cirrhosis. Added to this are psychological disorders such as depression, epileptic seizures in some, and avoidable tragedies on the road. Every year, lives are turned upside down under the influence of intoxication which anesthetizes discernment.
And before age 65, how much alcohol consumption is still acceptable?
And before this age, where should we place the cursor? Drinking more than two drinks per day for a woman and more than three for a man is a significant risk factor for these cancers. For women, even less than one drink per day increases the risk of
cancer be you. In other words, the bill is first paid in the probability of illness, which increases with the dose and duration of exposure.
In fact, many people mainly question their habits: frequent aperitifs, evening drinks, large meals. Reducing the frequency, alternating with non-alcoholic drinks, planning zero-drink days already helps protect memory and balance. Then, after age 65, sticking to abstinence, as Dr. Restak suggests, becomes a prudent choice for the brain. A simple compass, useful in everyday life.
