Drinking alcohol "to keep warm" makes it easier to catch a cold
The cold air has intensified, causing the North to remain cold at night and in the morning throughout the Lunar New Year holiday.
During the cold and rainy Tet holiday, alcohol becomes the favorite choice of many people when wishing a happy new year with the concept of "drinking to keep warm".
However, from a scientific perspective, this is a completely wrong concept and poses many potential health risks.
Drinking alcohol "to keep warm" makes it easier to catch a cold (Illustration: Getty).
According to Master, Doctor Doan Du Manh, member of the Vietnam Vascular Disease Association, when the human body is exposed to a cold environment, it will increase metabolism and produce heat to maintain body temperature.
In normal people, when exposed to cold weather, blood vessels under the skin contract, blood vessels that nourish internal organs will dilate further to regulate excess blood due to vasoconstriction under the skin.
"After drinking alcohol, you will feel your whole body heating up. That is because alcohol causes the body to release heat energy that is already in the body. So, in fact, the person drinking alcohol is losing heat faster, instead of being "warmed up" as mistakenly thought.
After the alcohol is gone, most of the heat is released, causing the whole body to feel cold and have goosebumps, leading to the consequence of being cold after drinking alcohol," said Dr. Manh.
In addition, for people with high blood pressure, alcohol abuse will lead to many dangerous complications, especially in cold weather.
"When drinking alcohol, blood vessels will dilate and if exposed to cold weather, blood vessels will constrict, causing high blood pressure which can easily lead to stroke. Therefore, people with high blood pressure should abstain from drinking alcohol," said Dr. Manh.
According to this expert, during Tet, it is difficult for men to completely avoid drinking alcohol. However, to ensure health, we need to know how to control the amount of alcohol we consume at a moderate level.
People should drink no more than 2 units of alcohol a day. This is equivalent to 350ml of beer or 150ml of wine or 45ml of spirits.
"During drinking parties during Tet, if you have to drink a lot of alcohol, you can drink a glass of lemonade or fruit juice. This measure helps reduce fatigue after drinking and increases resistance," Dr. Manh analyzed.
What to do when drunk, alcohol poisoning?
According to Dr. Nguyen Trung Nguyen, Director of the Poison Control Center, Bach Mai Hospital, initial treatment skills when a relative is poisoned by alcohol are very important, so that the condition does not worsen and can lead to danger to life.
The principles of care and first aid for drunk people and alcohol poisoning can be summarized as follows:
-The patient should be placed on one side to prevent the patient from inhaling vomit into the lungs. At the same time, this lying position also helps to limit the phenomenon of tongue retraction.
-Take measures to keep warm, because drunk people and people with alcohol poisoning are very susceptible to heat loss.
-In case the patient can eat, the patient should be fed, paying attention to supplementing carbohydrates and sugars because patients with alcohol poisoning are very susceptible to hypoglycemia caused by alcohol itself.
Especially for people who are weak and malnourished, the risk of hypoglycemia is even higher.
- Another very important measure is to rehydrate and replenish salt for the patient. When drunk, people often vomit a lot, sweat, cannot eat, leading to dehydration and electrolyte loss.
In this case, the effective and easy-to-do method of rehydration and salt replacement at home is to give the person fruit juice, lemon juice mixed with salt, oresol, mineral water with salt...
- People with alcohol poisoning, depending on their physical condition, can be cared for at home. However, it is necessary to closely monitor to prevent complications and bad developments from occurring, in order to have measures to take them to the nearest medical facility for timely emergency care.
Source link
Comment (0)