You've Prolly Seen This, but What the Hell

This was all over memeorandum yesterday and on Red Eye last evening... so EIP continues to be your best source for old news.  But.  Whatever.  There's a new study out that's fairly good news for us moderate drinkers and Time magazine ran a piece on it.  Excerpts:

But a new paper in the journal Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research suggests that — for reasons that aren't entirely clear — abstaining from alcohol does actually tend to increase one's risk of dying even when you exclude former drinkers. The most shocking part? Abstainers' mortality rates are higher than those of heavy drinkers.

Moderate drinking, which is defined as one to three drinks per day, is associated with the lowest mortality rates in alcohol studies. Moderate alcohol use (especially when the beverage of choice is red wine) is thought to improve heart health, circulation and sociability, which can be important because people who are isolated don't have as many family members and friends who can notice and help treat health problems.

Well, now. That's us... on six out of every seven days, at a minimum. Once or twice a month I'll have more than three drinks in a single day and once or twice a year I'll throw caution to the winds and let it all hang out. Things were sorta different in past lives... the weekly Happy Hour on Fridays when I was working might could have been described as "excessive drinking"... but that was then and this is now.

Speaking of now... Beer Me! Just like the picture, please.

p.s.:  I liked what The Awl had to say on this subject:

Still, there's plenty of good to take away from this, unless you happen to be a non-drinker. Although you're probably happy to die early given your joyless, alcohol-free existence. 

Heh.