Alcohol is AMAZING

0:00Alcohol is the most harmful substance on Earth. Every year it kills more people than terrorism,

0:06wars, homicides and car accidents combined. It injures tens of millions in accidents,

0:13violence and crime; while keeping hundreds of millions trapped in

0:16disease. If it didn’t exist already, inventing it today would be unthinkable.

0:22And yet, more than 2 billion people drink. Most of us can't imagine a barbecue without beer,

0:28a wedding without wine or a fancy soirée without champagne. We have

0:33a drink at the weekend because it's the weekend. But also after work. When we

0:37are stressed and when we are relaxed. Sad and happy. At home and outside.

0:43Alcohol is kind of a paradox. Why do we cling so much to the thing that harms us the most?

0:50You After One Drink

0:52Alcohol is a biological weapon that yeast produces during fermentation to wipe out its competition.

0:58In alcoholic drinks it’s mixed with water and flavored with everything from fruits to caramel.

1:03With just one sip, sextillions of alcohol molecules flood your stomach and small intestine.

1:10From there they head to your liver – your primary detox center, and to other organs like the brain.

1:15But your liver can only process about one sip of beer every 5 minutes. So unless you

1:20drink really slowly, it will become overwhelmed while an ever-growing swarm floods your brain.

1:25Here’s where the chaos begins. The legion of intruders fills your brain

1:30and starts messing with neurotransmitters and receptors. Their sabotage is so complex that

1:35scientists aren’t fully sure yet about all their mechanisms. But we know that

1:39alcohol numbs your neurons, making them slower and disrupts their communication.

1:45This has several effects. It sedates you, melting away tension and stress. It stuns your prefrontal

1:51cortex, your center for decision-making and self-control, making you more disinhibited

1:56and prone to say or do things that you normally wouldn’t. And it releases endorphins – “feel good”

2:02molecules deeply tied to human connection. The chemicals that we produce when we laugh,

2:07sing or dance with others, and which help us turn fleeting moments into shared memories.

2:13So after a drink or three, the world doesn’t only feel lighter. It feels lighter with others. The

2:19invisible walls of insecurity around us begin to soften and you find yourself becoming a little

2:24more… you. Less afraid to talk, laugh, sing or share joys and sorrows. Conversations flow easier,

2:32smiles last a little longer, and strangers can become friends or lovers more easily.

2:38So for a while, it feels like the weight of being human isn’t yours to carry alone.

2:44Alcohol sits at a sweet spot of gentle relaxation, mild courage and friendly

2:48companionship that makes it the perfect social lubricant. One that comes with quite a few costs.

2:56Your Body on Regular Drinking

2:58For billions, these rounds become more frequent over time. The occasional drink becomes a weekly

3:04habit, then a ritual every other day, catching up with friends or unwinding.

3:08And there's always this buddy who drinks way more and has a perfectly normal life.

3:13But as the rounds add up over years, the damage builds up. The alcohol molecule

3:17can dissolve in water and fat, which allows it to invade almost every cell and tissue.

3:22And when your body breaks it down, it transforms into acetaldehyde – a chemical that is even more

3:28toxic than alcohol itself and that wreaks havoc on your tissues, cells and DNA.

3:33In your brain, this shrinks your neurons and severs their connections,

3:37making it harder for different parts of the brain to communicate. As your brain withers,

3:41your memories fade, your thinking slows down and your risk of dementia increases.

3:46When and how you drink matters – the younger you are, the wider the damage;

3:51and the more you drink in one go, the worse you’ll make it.

3:54The human brain isn’t fully wired until your mid 20s,

3:57so drinking before that age is like smashing wet cement before it has set. In 20-year-olds,

4:03blackout drinking episodes have been found to cause mental problems for up

4:07to a year – forgetting why you entered a room or having difficulty learning new things. Binge

4:12drinking in late adolescence is also one of the highest risk factors for early-onset dementia.

4:18Then there is cancer. Just as smoking hits your lungs, alcohol causes 8 types of

4:23cancer – basically everywhere from mouth to bowel, plus breast cancer in women. Here risks start at

4:29an average consumption of less than 1 glass of wine per day. Beyond that, risks increase.

4:35Worldwide, alcohol causes around 740,000 new cancer cases per year, leading to 400,000 deaths.

4:44Another victim is your liver. Alcohol disrupts fat metabolism, causing fat to build up in your liver

4:50cells. But this often has no symptoms, so you may go on drinking as your liver slowly turns to fat,

4:56swells with inflammation and starts to fail. The final stage is cirrhosis – your liver is full of

5:02scars and barely functioning. This might take over 10 years, but once it appears it's largely

5:07irreversible. Every year, 600,000 people die because they have a liver destroyed by alcohol.

5:15Drinking also weakens your heart, raises blood pressure and increases the risk of

5:19stroke and thrombosis – leading to another 500,000 deaths from cardiovascular diseases every year.

5:25In terms of looks too, alcohol damages cells around your body, including your

5:30skin which looks older, sooner. And not only does alcohol contain a lot of calories itself,

5:36it also makes many people very hungry. Drinking is a huge source of weight gain and increases

5:42the risk of obesity, opening the door to a cascade of other health problems.

5:46When scientists crunch these numbers, they see that health problems can start

5:50at about 1 beer a day, and that the chances of premature death start

5:54rising significantly at around 3 beers a day for men, and less than 2 for women.

5:59If this sounds like a lot to you, maybe look around. In the EU,

6:03the average man drinks the equivalent of almost 3 beers a day. The average woman,

6:09almost 1. Similar figures apply to much of the world,

6:12especially the West. There is no other drug we consume that gets so close to the edge of harm.

6:19It Isn’t Only Your Body

6:22Alcohol is unique for another reason: its unmatched ability to destroy others.

6:27Alcohol causes a staggering amount of accidents. The numbness and disinhibition of a few drinks

6:33can morph you into a clumsy critter eager to take really stupid risks – on a balcony,

6:38at sea, or on the road. Every year, alcohol-fueled accidents kill 500,000 people;

6:44300,000 of them in car accidents. But more than half of the people who died

6:49in those crashes didn't drink. They just died because someone else did.

6:54Alcohol is also one of the major causes of violence, from fights at the pub to domestic

6:58abuse, other brutal assaults and murder. Figures differ by country, but essentially 50% of all

7:04violent crime and sexual assault is committed by drunk offenders. Each year, alcohol-fueled crime

7:10kills about 100,000 people. That's a city like Pisa being massacred every year by a drunk mob.

7:17And then you have all the non-lethal victims. In England alone, 500,000

7:22adults are injured every year in accidents caused by drunk people. Another 800,000 get

7:27hurt in violent attacks by drunk offenders. Zoomed out to the rest of the drinking world,

7:32this means that, every year, dozens of millions are physically harmed by someone else's drinking.

7:38The most innocent bystanders are the 600,000 babies born every year with fetal alcohol

7:44spectrum disorder, a devastating lifelong condition caused by drinking during pregnancy.

7:50Alcohol is nothing short of a global catastrophe.

7:54The Final Toll – The Hijacking of 400 Million Lives

7:59When your drinking escalates to a point that it causes real harm to yourself or others,

8:04you’ve crossed the invisible line to alcoholism. An estimated 400 million people, 1 in 14 adults,

8:11are in this territory. The line is very fuzzy and varies from person to person.

8:15But if you consistently drink 8 beers per week as a woman, 15 as a man, or 5 on the same day,

8:22you’ve either crossed the line or are dangerously walking towards it.

8:26Of those 400 million, more than half have fallen into an even deeper trap – dependence.

8:32When alcohol has become something that you physically or psychologically need.

8:37In Europe and the Americas, 1 in 20 adults are caught in this web.

8:42The stereotype of alcoholism is one of extremes. A homeless person clutching

8:46a bottle or an always-drunk father shouting at his kids. But it can be far more silent.

8:52A US study found that up to 50% of all alcoholics may fly under the radar. They

8:57come in two main groups: unproblematic young adults, and middle-aged professionals with

9:02successful careers and families. As one of them you’ll show no antisocial

9:06behavior. You’ll fulfill your obligations. You’ll probably have no diagnosed health

9:11conditions. But on average you’ll be having 4 beers a day and will get drunk every week.

9:17And neither you nor your family may notice. No one questions a drink at dinner, after work,

9:23or at a party. But it is exactly that that makes alcohol so dangerous. No

9:28other drug is so widely accepted, casually consumed and easily ignored.

9:33So OK – How did we come to this?

9:36A Pact With the Devil

9:38We made a pact with alcohol to help us solve one of the greatest challenges of being human.

9:44Human interaction is messy. We long for closeness. But we are also anxious, awkward, and wary of each

9:50other. “Am I talking too much?” “Do they actually like me?” “What if I say something stupid?”

9:56There are many ways to navigate this, alcohol is not “the” solution, but it is definitely one of

10:02them. It is a real and effortless solution to the problem of connecting with others.

10:07Studies confirm what we have known for millennia. Modest quantities of alcohol

10:11help strangers bond. And individuals who drink moderately and socially tend to

10:16have more friends, closer friendships, and higher levels of trust in others.

10:21So if we want to step away from alcohol, we need to be honest about what we gain from it.

10:25For millennia we’ve been giving it our health and years of our lives. And in return, alcohol gave us

10:31confidence, connection, and celebration. But right now this is changing rapidly.

10:37Younger generations and especially Gen Z are drinking far less than their parents did. In the

10:42US, the share of 18-year-olds who have ever tried alcohol has dropped by 25% in the last decades.

10:49Binge drinking in adolescents has plummeted by 50%. And even in countries like Germany or France,

10:55where beer and wine have always been part of the cultural DNA, alcohol consumption is falling. And

11:00that’s a victory. Fewer accidents. Fewer hospital beds filled. Fewer lives quietly derailed.

11:07But at the same time, other things have been falling too. The share of

11:11young people who see their friends almost every day has plummeted by

11:1450%. Attendance at parties has fallen by 30%. Dating and casual sex have fallen

11:20by a similar amount. All while loneliness and mental health issues have skyrocketed.

11:26There are many different reasons for this, from covid to social media. But the shift in which

11:31drugs we consume is probably not totally unrelated either. Drugs like weed have gained ground

11:37massively and in contrast to drinking, smoking weed tends to make many people less energetic

11:42and likely to do things, more socially awkward and especially if you use a lot of it, more lonely.

11:48Alcohol has been a powerful and influential tool for sharing, celebrating and enjoying life with

11:54others for thousands of years. If the West is on the path to drinking less, we might also be

12:00on the path to something completely new. A future where we connect and rejoice without a poisonous

12:06chemical crutch, or at least without this specific one. It’s up to us to figure out what comes next.

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