Top Myths and Misconceptions of Alcohol Drinking Revealed

Alcoholics struggle to understand their addictions and how they should treat them. The same applies to people on the outside. If you are coping with someone who needs the help of alcohol rehab centres, you need to know about some of the myths and misconceptions of drinking alcohol. They are extremely damaging and they often form part of the conventional range of excuses and lies brought out by addicts who are still in denial about their addictions.

In this article, we are going to explore the top three myths and misconceptions of drinking alcohol. The chances are you already believe in many of these yourself.

Sobering Up with Hot Coffee and Cold Showers

Someone who is drunk may resort to drinking hot coffee or taking a cold shower. These are common tricks used by functioning alcoholics –typically, after a hard night’s drinking before work. Many people in rehab clinics report these tactics make them feel more alert and awake. Whilst they may do this, they do nothing to reduce the concentration of alcohol in the blood.

The alcohol remains in your system and your reaction times will not have changed. It is still dangerous to drive or go to work even after trying out these tactics. In a standard drink, it will always take about an hour for your body to process the alcohol within. This does not change no matter how many external treatments you attempt to bring in.

Beer is Better than Hard Liquor

There is absolutely no difference between the alcohol in whisky and the alcohol in a beer. This misconception does have some truth to it, though. It has some truth because someone who drinks whisky is more likely to consume more alcohol units than someone who has a few beers.

However, you can only measure alcohol in terms of units. This is what alcohol rehab clinics drill into their patients. Someone who drinks twelve units of alcohol will consume twelve units of alcohol whether it comes from vodka or wine.

Someone is drunk based on their blood alcohol content not on the type of drink they consumed.

Eating Before Drinking Helps with Sobriety

This is perhaps the biggest myth of all. Some people believe that if you eat before you drink the food will help to soak up all the alcohol. A full stomach does have an effect, just not in the way you think. Instead of removing the alcohol, it delays its absorption into the bloodstream. In other words, it slows down the absorption of alcohol, as opposed to preventing it.

When you think about it, this makes complete sense. The alcohol does not leave your body. Even if we assumed food did absorb alcohol, the alcohol would reach your blood after the food was broken down regardless. Once it goes in it cannot just disappear. It has to be processed by the body in the same way as before.

In fact, if you need to absorb the alcohol and process it quickly in time for an engagement the next day it can be better to drink on an empty stomach.

Middlegate understands many of the myths and misconceptions surrounding drinking and alcohol rehab clinics. They specialise in providing aid to people who need the help of rehab clinics to get sober.

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