Myth: drinking alcohol warms your body and can be used to prevent hypothermia. In fact, drinking alcohol helps lower the core temperature of your body. This myth likely got its start thanks to the fact that drinking alcoholic beverages will make you feel warmer as your blood/alcohol level rises. As the Director of Clinical Pharmacology at the University of Iowa, […]
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Today I found out what causes a hangover. There are several things that contribute to hangovers, but one of the principal factors is simple dehydration. Alcohol has a dehydrating effect by inhibiting the release of vasopressin, which is an anti-diuretic hormone. So, in layman’s terms, the result of alcohol inhibiting the vasopressin is that your body produces a lot more […]
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Today I found out the origin of the term “booze”. The first references to the word “booze” meaning “alcoholic drink” in English appear around the 14th century, though it was originally spelled “bouse”. The spelling, as it is today, didn’t appear until around the 17th century. The word “booze” itself appears to have Germanic origins, though which specific word it […]
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Today I found out that in an effort to scare people away from drinking alcohol, the American government once poisoned certain alcohol supplies; this resulted in the death of over 10,000 American Citizens. This, of course, was during Prohibition. The government became frustrated with the fact that despite the manufacture, sale, and transportation of alcohol being banned, the number of […]
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