But maybe a little less than you thought.  Lots of people see holidays like St. Patrick’s Day as the a day when getting drunk doesn’t seem so awful, because:

a) it’s tradition to do it,
b) people almost EXPECT to do it, and
c) you feel almost left out if you DON’T do it.

I had a patient once who recalled his family’s St. Patrick’s Day tradition, “it’s a rule: you go to the parade, then you come home and abuse yourself.” A case of beer PER PERSON (that’s four 6-packs or 24 cans) during the course of the day was not unusual, “and that wasn’t the only stuff we drank, either.”

Moderate drinking seems to be fine (see below) but there’s no way this kind of drinking is moderate and certainly not healthy, even if it’s “typical” for some St. Patrick’s Day.

What’s “moderate drinking”? There really are definite numbers here. The feds describe “moderate drinking” as: 2 drinks for a man, one for a woman. What’s “one drink”?

• 12-ounce can or bottle of beer
• 5-ounce glass of wine
• 1.5 ounces of distilled spirits

So that case of beer should have last about 12 days for a man, and 3-1/2 weeks for a woman. That’s the bad news for beer drinkers. For wine drinkers, you may want to check your pour. Five ounces is likely less than you think – it means 5 drinks per average bottle or white or red.

Booze: The good news

Moderate drinking, as defined above, seems to be associated with a longer life. The 90+ study was initiated in 2003 to study the common factors about people who live to be 90 years and older. There’s reason for this study – the nonagenarians are a fast-growing group. Baby boomers will likely contribute to their expansion in the years to come.

The 90+ year-old folks who have one or two drinks per day tended to live longer than those who abstained. Ditto for moderate coffee drinking, which has been defined as two to three cups daily. As for why moderate drinkers live longer, that’s till up for grabs.

This is an “association” study – it cannot show that moderated drinking of booze or coffee CAUSE you to live longer. Studies like these can only generate a hypothesis. Still, at least drinking moderately isn’t associated with negatives like earlier death.

It could be that people who drink moderately also aren’t taking take medication that is incompatible with alcohol. Therefore, the alcohol consumption acts as a screener or “marker” of people who are healthier to start. Same with coffee drinking. If you have high blood pressure, you may be told to stay away from caffeine, associating abstainers with poorer health.

“Beer-Bank”? It’s No-Deposit, No Return 

With booze, unfortunately there is no “banking” your beers ahead of time so you can enjoy a big blast on St. Patrick’s Day – or on any random Friday night. It’s two drinks per day, use them or lose them. If you know you’re going to drink more than that, keep it to no more than one drink per hour. The liver just can’t metabolize alcohol more quickly than that. Even at that rate, you may still not pass a breathalyzer, so don’t drink and drive. Period.  And please, holiday or not, legal drinking only, not for kids.

By the way, plenty of other factors were also associated with longer life, including daily exercise and working on hobbies of interest. Sounds like those who are enjoying themselves more also tend to live longer.

Silver lining for moderate drinkers/teetotalers

Keep your drinking sensible and instead of kissing the Blarney Stone, you’ll kiss hangovers good-bye and feel great the next day.  Cheers!