WEBVTT - Is It Time to Pour One Out for Drinking? 0:00:02.840 --> 0:00:05.120 Hey bessies, Hello Sunshine. 0:00:05.360 --> 0:00:08.080 Today on the bright side, the Surgeon General just released 0:00:08.080 --> 0:00:11.840 an advisory that links alcohol to seven different types of cancer. 0:00:12.360 --> 0:00:13.880 So what does that mean for all of us? 0:00:14.480 --> 0:00:17.959 Substance abuse expert doctor Rachel Saco Adams is here with 0:00:18.239 --> 0:00:21.439 everything we need to know before taking our next sip. 0:00:21.520 --> 0:00:23.480 Ooh, and we can't wait to break it all down 0:00:23.480 --> 0:00:26.840 for y'all. It is Wednesday, February fifth. I'm Simone Voice. 0:00:27.000 --> 0:00:29.800 I'm Danielle Robe and this is the bright side from 0:00:29.840 --> 0:00:35.120 Hello Sunshine, Simone. It's a new month, which means it's 0:00:35.159 --> 0:00:37.560 time for a new pick for Reese's Book Club. 0:00:37.960 --> 0:00:42.280 Yes, and February's RBC pick is Isola by Allegra Goodman. 0:00:42.640 --> 0:00:45.480 So Isla has been described as an epic of love, 0:00:45.840 --> 0:00:49.000 faith and defiance, and it tells the story of Marguerite, 0:00:49.040 --> 0:00:50.920 who is an heir to a fortune and she becomes 0:00:51.000 --> 0:00:53.960 orphaned and soon finds herself on this expedition with her guardian. 0:00:54.040 --> 0:00:56.600 But things take a turn when Marguerite is accused of 0:00:56.680 --> 0:01:00.400 betrayal and winds up punished and abandoned on any island. 0:01:00.920 --> 0:01:03.480 We will be speaking with author Alegra Goodman about this 0:01:03.520 --> 0:01:05.600 book later this month. So be sure to stay tuned 0:01:05.640 --> 0:01:06.360 for that conversation. 0:01:06.680 --> 0:01:09.399 I just saw Reese Witherspoon post that this is one 0:01:09.400 --> 0:01:12.800 of her favorite historical fiction reads yet, and you can 0:01:12.880 --> 0:01:15.480 imagine how much Reese reads, so for her to say this, 0:01:16.000 --> 0:01:17.480 I just really want. 0:01:17.280 --> 0:01:20.319 To read this book. Yeah that's high praise. Yeah, high praise. 0:01:20.440 --> 0:01:20.600 Right. 0:01:21.160 --> 0:01:23.520 Okay, Simon, are you a dry January girl? 0:01:23.880 --> 0:01:25.919 You know I have done dry January in the past. 0:01:26.000 --> 0:01:28.360 I found it to be so transformative. I actually stopped 0:01:28.400 --> 0:01:31.520 drinking for about two years because of Dry January. Wow, 0:01:31.680 --> 0:01:33.880 I felt so good. I was like, I don't really 0:01:33.880 --> 0:01:36.480 need this in my life anymore. Eventually I worked it 0:01:36.520 --> 0:01:38.760 back in in moderation, and that's where I'm at now. 0:01:38.920 --> 0:01:41.759 I've been on vacation for a few days and I've 0:01:41.840 --> 0:01:44.720 had some drinks with friends, and yeah, just moderation. 0:01:44.800 --> 0:01:49.720 How about you? One month turned into twenty four that's wild. Yeah. 0:01:49.840 --> 0:01:50.120 Yeah. 0:01:50.200 --> 0:01:53.080 I kind of go in phases sometimes. 0:01:53.200 --> 0:01:56.520 I if I'm like going out more, I like to 0:01:56.520 --> 0:01:59.760 to have a glass. But I've been working a lot lately, 0:01:59.840 --> 0:02:02.440 so so alcohol has not been on my mind. But 0:02:02.920 --> 0:02:06.640 the idea of drinking and how it affects us has 0:02:06.680 --> 0:02:10.160 been on my mind because the Surgeon General's Office released 0:02:10.160 --> 0:02:14.000 a pretty shocking advisory about alcohol consumption and cancer risk 0:02:14.400 --> 0:02:17.360 on January third, and a lot of us understand that 0:02:17.360 --> 0:02:19.799 there are risks associated with drinking. I certainly never thought 0:02:19.800 --> 0:02:23.920 of alcohol as a superfood, but I was really surprised 0:02:23.919 --> 0:02:27.080 to learn about the direct link that they found between 0:02:27.120 --> 0:02:32.760 alcohol and seven different types of cancer mouth, throat, breast, liver, 0:02:33.040 --> 0:02:37.840 and colon cancers. And this warning got everybody talking because 0:02:38.480 --> 0:02:40.760 I think we all don't know exactly what the true 0:02:40.919 --> 0:02:43.200 risks are, what we should be worried about, how to 0:02:43.280 --> 0:02:45.200 manage the risk when we do drink. There's just like 0:02:45.240 --> 0:02:47.040 a lot of questions left up in the air. 0:02:47.240 --> 0:02:47.680 For sure. 0:02:47.840 --> 0:02:50.800 And the thing is, so many social, professional, even romantic 0:02:50.840 --> 0:02:53.920 situations revolve around drinking. I was just talking about this 0:02:54.000 --> 0:02:55.800 with my friend because I was just at a conference 0:02:55.840 --> 0:02:58.280 and we went to one of those conference mixers and 0:02:59.040 --> 0:03:03.320 just impulsively, instinctually, I just needed to have a drink 0:03:03.320 --> 0:03:05.800 in my hand because it made me feel, I don't know, 0:03:05.840 --> 0:03:08.040 maybe like I was a part of something or kind 0:03:08.040 --> 0:03:10.640 of assuage some like it kind of helped me with 0:03:10.639 --> 0:03:13.560 my social anxiety a bit. So I think this is 0:03:13.600 --> 0:03:18.639 really an opportunity to rethink our relationship with alcohol, particularly 0:03:18.760 --> 0:03:21.720 if you're in the thirty five to forty year old 0:03:21.720 --> 0:03:25.400 age group as a woman, because that age group is 0:03:25.440 --> 0:03:28.680 at the highest risk for binge drinking and alcohol use disorder, 0:03:28.720 --> 0:03:31.560 which is actually something that I just learned. So today 0:03:31.560 --> 0:03:34.120 we're bringing it all down with doctor Rachel Saco Adams. 0:03:34.160 --> 0:03:37.000 She is a substance abuse researcher with a focus on 0:03:37.040 --> 0:03:40.320 alcohol and she's also a professor at Boston University School 0:03:40.360 --> 0:03:41.040 of Public Health. 0:03:41.600 --> 0:03:44.480 Yeah, I'm so curious to see what she has to say. 0:03:44.520 --> 0:03:47.800 We have so many questions, so let's bring her in, 0:03:48.320 --> 0:03:49.840 Doctor Rachel Seico Adams. 0:03:49.880 --> 0:03:51.160 Welcome to the bright Side. 0:03:51.560 --> 0:03:52.520 Thank you for having me. 0:03:53.280 --> 0:03:55.200 Rachel. We are so glad that you are here. 0:03:55.320 --> 0:03:58.400 You are an essential voice on the podcast today because 0:03:58.400 --> 0:04:00.760 we've been wanting to get a deeper understanding of the 0:04:00.760 --> 0:04:04.520 Surgeon General's advisory about alcohol consumption and the link to cancer. 0:04:04.960 --> 0:04:08.800 Everyone is freaking out about this. What is the top 0:04:08.880 --> 0:04:11.800 line takeaway that we should be paying attention to. 0:04:12.200 --> 0:04:16.320 I think the Surgeon General's guidance essentially sums up something 0:04:16.400 --> 0:04:19.480 that we've known for a while, but I think is 0:04:19.520 --> 0:04:23.159 not common knowledge in the United states is that alcohol 0:04:23.360 --> 0:04:27.080 is a carcinogen. There's a causal link between alcohol consumption 0:04:27.320 --> 0:04:33.360 and seven different types of cancers. And I think that information, unfortunately, 0:04:33.480 --> 0:04:35.440 is new for a lot of people, and it's also 0:04:35.560 --> 0:04:36.680 feels scary. 0:04:37.120 --> 0:04:41.120 This feels like a real turning point, or it feels 0:04:41.160 --> 0:04:45.360 like we've reached a critical mass in awareness around this, 0:04:45.560 --> 0:04:48.800 because obviously we all know that alcohol is not good 0:04:48.839 --> 0:04:52.120 for us. You know, we drink it for various different reasons, 0:04:52.160 --> 0:04:56.520 to help with social awkwardness, to celebrate. It's become this 0:04:56.680 --> 0:05:01.440 huge celebratory aspect of our culture. And so I'm I'm 0:05:01.440 --> 0:05:04.960 sitting here listening to you share these findings, and I'm 0:05:05.000 --> 0:05:09.040 just thinking about how this could really reshape society if 0:05:09.040 --> 0:05:12.039 people actually start to pay attention to this, right. 0:05:12.200 --> 0:05:15.480 I think for a long time, most people when they 0:05:15.520 --> 0:05:18.240 think about risks from alcohol, they think about the more 0:05:18.279 --> 0:05:21.440 immediate risks of like I'm not going to feel well, 0:05:21.520 --> 0:05:23.240 I'm going to feel sick the next day, i might 0:05:23.320 --> 0:05:26.159 have a hangover. You know, we all think of the 0:05:26.240 --> 0:05:28.960 obvious risk of developing addiction. But I think a lot 0:05:29.040 --> 0:05:30.880 of us think if we can just control the way 0:05:30.920 --> 0:05:34.320 we drink, or we can handle our liquor we drink reasonably, 0:05:34.920 --> 0:05:36.880 that's not going to happen to me. So those are 0:05:36.880 --> 0:05:39.960 the things that people have been very focused on. Even 0:05:40.080 --> 0:05:43.800 in the addiction research world, we've been focused on, you know, 0:05:43.880 --> 0:05:48.320 preventing injuries, preventing you know, reducing harm from sexual assaults 0:05:48.440 --> 0:05:52.080 or car accidents. There hasn't been as much attention on 0:05:52.640 --> 0:05:54.840 risk for developing cancer, which I think a lot of 0:05:54.880 --> 0:05:58.440 people might think is like a downstream risk, but I 0:05:58.440 --> 0:06:00.680 think most people actually didn't even know that it's a 0:06:00.680 --> 0:06:02.880 potential risk associated with alcohol use. 0:06:03.240 --> 0:06:07.440 The advisory outlines a number of ways alcohol causes cancer. 0:06:07.920 --> 0:06:10.200 For example, I read that it can alter levels of 0:06:10.240 --> 0:06:13.279 hormones in the body, and that change in hormone levels 0:06:13.320 --> 0:06:15.000 can cause cancer. Is that correct? 0:06:15.360 --> 0:06:18.560 Yes, So specifically for breast cancer, what they think is 0:06:18.600 --> 0:06:22.479 one of the contributing risk factors is that alcohol consumption 0:06:22.680 --> 0:06:26.760 can alter your hormone levels, specifically estrogen, and that is 0:06:26.839 --> 0:06:30.640 known to increase risk for breast cancer. So specifically that 0:06:31.760 --> 0:06:35.279 I think is playing a role in development of breast cancer. 0:06:35.960 --> 0:06:41.240 Is there any amount that is tolerable for the human body? 0:06:41.560 --> 0:06:43.960 Is there any amount that is like if you stay 0:06:44.000 --> 0:06:47.680 within this range, you're going to significantly reduce your risk 0:06:47.720 --> 0:06:48.279 of cancer. 0:06:48.920 --> 0:06:51.720 So this gets at the Surgeon General's report, so I 0:06:51.760 --> 0:06:55.880 think we should talk more about this specifically. The US 0:06:55.920 --> 0:07:00.000 dietary guidelines right now for the past years have recommended 0:07:00.120 --> 0:07:02.560 did no more than one drink per day for women 0:07:03.160 --> 0:07:05.680 and no more than two drinks per day for men, 0:07:06.560 --> 0:07:09.920 and they have essentially there's been a reason to believe 0:07:09.960 --> 0:07:13.360 that if you stay within these limits that your risk 0:07:13.480 --> 0:07:17.040 for developing adverse health problems will be you know, that's 0:07:17.040 --> 0:07:19.800 sort of the safe level. I think what we're learning 0:07:19.880 --> 0:07:23.640 now and what supported the development of this report, is 0:07:23.680 --> 0:07:27.360 that there is no actual safe level of alcohol use. 0:07:27.400 --> 0:07:30.400 So any level of alcohol use is associated with an 0:07:30.480 --> 0:07:35.360 increased risk for cancer, specifically three kinds breast cancer, throat 0:07:35.440 --> 0:07:39.080 and mouth cancer. However, what I think is the good 0:07:39.120 --> 0:07:42.320 news is that the less alcohol you have, your risk 0:07:42.480 --> 0:07:45.800 is lowered for those types of cancer. So it's not 0:07:45.960 --> 0:07:49.000 like any or none. Essentially that the more alcohol you 0:07:49.080 --> 0:07:52.520 consume your risk for these types of cancers may increase. 0:07:53.080 --> 0:07:55.840 I could talk in numbers which might illuminate the risk. 0:07:56.360 --> 0:08:00.560 So for women over their life, the absolute risk developing 0:08:00.600 --> 0:08:03.360 breast cancer is eleven and one hundred, so eleven and 0:08:03.440 --> 0:08:05.800 one hundred women will develop breast cancer. 0:08:06.360 --> 0:08:07.120 For women who are. 0:08:07.120 --> 0:08:11.000 Drinking two or more drinks per day, that increases for 0:08:11.160 --> 0:08:13.760 fifteen women out of one hundred would be diagnosed with 0:08:13.760 --> 0:08:17.520 breast cancer. So the risk is increasing slightly. However, I 0:08:17.560 --> 0:08:20.440 think any woman who's evaluating how they want to take 0:08:20.480 --> 0:08:23.120 this information and use it to make choices about their 0:08:23.160 --> 0:08:27.200 alcohol use also would want to consider family history and 0:08:27.320 --> 0:08:30.400 other factors that might affect the risk for breast cancer, 0:08:30.520 --> 0:08:35.160 such as density of breast age, family history. 0:08:35.200 --> 0:08:38.559 Again, why are we just talking about this now? 0:08:39.000 --> 0:08:40.640 I have some different ideas on that. I mean, I 0:08:40.679 --> 0:08:44.000 think that from what I've learned that the data supporting 0:08:44.280 --> 0:08:47.640 alcohol being associated with increased risk for breast cancer has 0:08:47.679 --> 0:08:51.600 been known since the nineteen eighties. I think since then 0:08:51.760 --> 0:08:57.360 there's been mounting evidence to support this information. However, it's 0:08:57.640 --> 0:09:00.680 first of all, it's not information that's welcomed. People don't 0:09:00.679 --> 0:09:03.520 really want to know this. This is a story that 0:09:04.080 --> 0:09:09.120 is upsetting, and it's in relation to a substance that's 0:09:09.240 --> 0:09:13.400 legal and that is part of our culture and all 0:09:13.480 --> 0:09:18.160 sorts of happy and sad rituals and customs. And I 0:09:18.200 --> 0:09:22.080 think that being able to share information like this in 0:09:22.120 --> 0:09:27.640 a way that is believable requires decades of really strong 0:09:27.679 --> 0:09:30.079 research to support it. So I think the evidence has 0:09:30.120 --> 0:09:33.000 been coming out over the past several decades, and now 0:09:33.040 --> 0:09:36.920 it's strong enough that the Surgeon General would make this 0:09:37.040 --> 0:09:41.079 recommendation to add these warning labels to alcoholic beverages. 0:09:41.640 --> 0:09:44.920 You said something earlier, Rachel, that I think we have 0:09:45.000 --> 0:09:48.160 to just we have to drive home this point. Up 0:09:48.240 --> 0:09:52.000 until now, up until the findings of this study, we 0:09:52.000 --> 0:09:54.959 were under the assumption that, you know, maybe about one 0:09:55.040 --> 0:10:01.040 drink a day was acceptable. But now after this, any 0:10:01.040 --> 0:10:03.280 amount of alcohol is carcinogenic. 0:10:03.559 --> 0:10:06.600 I think that within the five past five or ten years, 0:10:06.640 --> 0:10:09.920 we've known this information and it has been discussed, but 0:10:10.160 --> 0:10:14.320 I think it's not been talked about so definitively. And 0:10:14.400 --> 0:10:17.480 I think the fact that this report came out making 0:10:17.520 --> 0:10:21.079 this recommendation for warning labels really sort of changes the game. 0:10:21.720 --> 0:10:24.320 And it's drawing a lot of attention to the issue. 0:10:24.360 --> 0:10:27.000 And part of it is that perhaps the information was there, 0:10:27.080 --> 0:10:29.840 but it just wasn't being focused on enough. 0:10:30.040 --> 0:10:34.319 Yeah, I was interested to learn about the difference between 0:10:34.520 --> 0:10:38.480 men and women developing a risk in cancer. Women who 0:10:38.520 --> 0:10:41.240 have one drink a day have a nineteen percent risk 0:10:41.280 --> 0:10:44.000 of developing cancer, whereas men who have one drink per 0:10:44.080 --> 0:10:48.080 day have an eleven percent risk of cancer. What is 0:10:48.120 --> 0:10:49.560 the difference. Where's the disparity. 0:10:49.920 --> 0:10:51.360 It's the link to breast cancer. 0:10:51.520 --> 0:10:55.600 So, because breast cancer is one of the types of 0:10:55.640 --> 0:10:59.559 cancers that's known to be causally associated with alcohol use 0:10:59.640 --> 0:11:04.160 breast answer just affects women predominantly, so that therein lies 0:11:04.240 --> 0:11:07.040 why this is probably more serious for women, the stakes 0:11:07.040 --> 0:11:07.640 are higher. 0:11:08.000 --> 0:11:08.360 Wow. 0:11:08.840 --> 0:11:12.720 So, Rachel, when we talk about how alcohol affects us 0:11:12.840 --> 0:11:17.040 at different ages, what does this study tell us about 0:11:17.080 --> 0:11:20.840 the relationship between alcohol and aging for women? 0:11:21.440 --> 0:11:24.440 We know that your risk for developing breast cancer increases 0:11:24.480 --> 0:11:28.720 as you age, and it also increases for women who 0:11:28.800 --> 0:11:31.360 haven't had children by age thirty. 0:11:31.800 --> 0:11:36.000 Wait, what really something about being pregnant does something to 0:11:36.040 --> 0:11:36.800 lower cancero us. 0:11:37.280 --> 0:11:40.480 Yes, there are just different things that affect your hormones 0:11:40.600 --> 0:11:44.520 that can affect development of breast cancer. So as you age, 0:11:44.960 --> 0:11:48.000 you're just more likely to be identified as someone with 0:11:48.040 --> 0:11:50.559 breast cancer as you get older. I mean, one thing 0:11:50.559 --> 0:11:53.680 we're learning is that as you age, your body sort 0:11:53.720 --> 0:11:58.000 of processes alcohol slower. So that might be why when 0:11:58.040 --> 0:12:00.280 you're in your thirties and forties, you're like, oh, why 0:12:00.360 --> 0:12:02.520 is it that when I'm having one drink now, I 0:12:02.600 --> 0:12:04.000 already feel really tipsy. 0:12:04.080 --> 0:12:04.960 I don't feel well. 0:12:05.040 --> 0:12:08.480 I'm sort of you know, you're feeling very differently than 0:12:08.480 --> 0:12:10.280 you might have felt in college when you had a 0:12:10.280 --> 0:12:13.520 couple drinks. What is happening is that your liver is 0:12:13.760 --> 0:12:17.400 metabolizing the alcohol slower and it's staying in your body longer. 0:12:17.880 --> 0:12:20.800 Another thing to think about in terms of alcohol use 0:12:20.920 --> 0:12:23.440 for women in their thirties and forties is this is 0:12:23.480 --> 0:12:26.080 like sort of the prime of reproductive age or even 0:12:26.200 --> 0:12:29.520 even in your twenties, and we know that alcohol can 0:12:29.880 --> 0:12:33.800 you know, any level of alcohol is potentially harmful for 0:12:33.960 --> 0:12:37.559 developing fetus. So if women are thinking about being pregnant 0:12:37.640 --> 0:12:40.720 or trying to conceive, you know, alcohol during any phase 0:12:40.760 --> 0:12:45.640 of pregnancy can lead to fetal alcohol spectrum disorder risks. 0:12:45.679 --> 0:12:49.800 It can increase risk for a miscarriage. So it's just 0:12:49.880 --> 0:12:53.480 important to think about that, you know, as you're consuming alcohol, 0:12:53.559 --> 0:12:56.240 if you're thinking about trying to get pregnant. 0:12:56.160 --> 0:12:59.600 And what about menopause, can you tell us about what 0:12:59.600 --> 0:13:01.960 happened when we drink alcohol during menopause and how that 0:13:02.000 --> 0:13:03.000 affects cancer risk. 0:13:03.320 --> 0:13:06.520 When women are premenopausal are going through menopause, we know 0:13:06.600 --> 0:13:10.160 that alcohol can really make symptoms worse of that process, 0:13:10.160 --> 0:13:16.560 so it can increase hot flashes, night sweats, disrupted sleep, irritability, 0:13:16.760 --> 0:13:19.560 changes in mood. That time is a time where your 0:13:19.559 --> 0:13:23.000 hormones are naturally changing a lot, which increases your risks 0:13:23.000 --> 0:13:28.640 for cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis, weight gain, and it's believed that 0:13:28.679 --> 0:13:30.520 if you're consuming a lot of alcohol, you're going to 0:13:30.600 --> 0:13:33.000 have a harder time storm managing your weight, which can 0:13:33.040 --> 0:13:35.720 also contribute to development of those other conditions. 0:13:36.000 --> 0:13:39.440 Do the long term health effects of alcohol differ for 0:13:39.679 --> 0:13:42.400 occasional drinkers or heavy drinkers. 0:13:42.320 --> 0:13:45.160 Yes, for sure. I mean your risk is higher the 0:13:45.160 --> 0:13:50.719 more you drink. So if you're someone who's consuming alcohol 0:13:51.320 --> 0:13:54.160 every day, or you drink three four times a week, 0:13:54.200 --> 0:13:56.840 but you're having four or five drinks on each occasion, 0:13:57.760 --> 0:14:02.960 your risks are much greater in terms of adverse health outcomes, 0:14:03.400 --> 0:14:06.360 and also your risk for developing cancer is higher. 0:14:07.480 --> 0:14:09.040 We've got to take a quick break, but we'll be 0:14:09.160 --> 0:14:12.200 right back to wellness Wednesday with doctor Rachel Sego Atoms 0:14:22.480 --> 0:14:26.240 And we're back with doctor Rachel Sego Atoms. I know 0:14:26.280 --> 0:14:29.880 that you've done some really insightful research on alcohol and 0:14:29.920 --> 0:14:33.080 millennial women. What have you discovered about the ways that 0:14:33.120 --> 0:14:37.760 we consume alcohol, how alcohol is marketed to us, and 0:14:37.800 --> 0:14:40.520 how this whole dynamic has really evolved over time. 0:14:41.080 --> 0:14:44.040 So I've done a lot of thinking and work with 0:14:44.120 --> 0:14:48.880 colleagues thinking about the way alcohol is sort of portrayed 0:14:48.920 --> 0:14:51.720 to us as women of what i'll call middle age, 0:14:52.320 --> 0:14:56.480 So you know that spans millennials and you know some 0:14:56.680 --> 0:14:59.920 Gen xers as well. But I think that there's been 0:15:00.040 --> 0:15:02.800 a real shift over the past decade or so in 0:15:02.880 --> 0:15:06.640 terms of first social media coming onto the scene and 0:15:06.680 --> 0:15:10.160 what social media has created a place where we sort 0:15:10.160 --> 0:15:13.200 of are able to talk about alcohol a lot and 0:15:13.520 --> 0:15:18.840 share information, and alcohol is presented in social media from 0:15:19.000 --> 0:15:22.120 our peers and used as you know, it's lots of jokes, 0:15:22.200 --> 0:15:23.080 lots of memes. 0:15:23.720 --> 0:15:28.160 Emmy wine culture, mommy wine, the signs at hobby lobby 0:15:28.200 --> 0:15:31.000 and home goods. I mean, mommy wine culture is inescapable. 0:15:31.640 --> 0:15:34.800 It is, And so we've done some thinking about like, 0:15:35.040 --> 0:15:37.080 is there any potential risk of that. I mean, it's 0:15:37.120 --> 0:15:39.040 meant to be a joke, it's meant to be funny, 0:15:39.640 --> 0:15:45.280 but it's also promoting this this idea that women who 0:15:45.320 --> 0:15:48.840 are struggling, perhaps with motherhood and it's like exhausting and 0:15:48.920 --> 0:15:52.440 tiring and hard and feels isolating, that what we should 0:15:52.520 --> 0:15:54.440 do at the end of the day is you know, 0:15:54.560 --> 0:15:56.360 turn to a glass of wine and that that's going 0:15:56.440 --> 0:15:58.680 to make our problems. That's going to make us feel better. 0:15:58.720 --> 0:16:02.120 We deserve it and it's going to help. And in fact, 0:16:02.280 --> 0:16:06.720 like a woman in that situation who's struggling and rightly so, 0:16:07.080 --> 0:16:11.920 exhausted and tired and stressed, alcohol probably will make that 0:16:12.040 --> 0:16:16.360 night in the next morning harder because alcohol disrupts sleep, 0:16:16.960 --> 0:16:21.280 Alcohol can increase feelings of anxiety or depression. Alcohol can 0:16:21.360 --> 0:16:25.200 make you more irritable. So you know, once in a while, 0:16:26.240 --> 0:16:30.480 that's fine, probably, but if that's what you're doing repeatedly, 0:16:31.280 --> 0:16:34.200 that's that's not going to be helpful. So we've thought 0:16:34.240 --> 0:16:37.760 a lot about just those messages and how we need 0:16:37.800 --> 0:16:42.560 to try to bring in different, different information into the conversation. 0:16:43.200 --> 0:16:43.760 I think we. 0:16:43.760 --> 0:16:47.760 Can't ignore the alcohol marketing and how there's been a 0:16:47.800 --> 0:16:51.040 real shift and an explosion of products really that are 0:16:51.080 --> 0:16:55.080 targeting women. There's pink drinks, you know, rose has become 0:16:55.120 --> 0:16:59.040 extremely popular. We talk about rose all day. We have 0:16:59.720 --> 0:17:04.800 low calorie selzers and products and drinks that are all new, 0:17:05.000 --> 0:17:10.480 and those are targeting women predominantly, and all of that 0:17:10.760 --> 0:17:14.600 I think is playing a role in exposure. And I 0:17:14.640 --> 0:17:17.320 think that you know, people ask me a lot like 0:17:17.400 --> 0:17:20.720 how is it different than forty fifty years ago? Like 0:17:20.880 --> 0:17:24.280 women there were social pressures to use alcohol then too, 0:17:24.400 --> 0:17:27.439 But I think when you think about what's happening with 0:17:28.119 --> 0:17:31.320 social media and marketing today, those are some new factors 0:17:31.320 --> 0:17:33.840 that have come in that have potentially really changed things. 0:17:34.320 --> 0:17:34.840 Yeah. 0:17:34.880 --> 0:17:39.520 Completely, As a mom who is very intimately familiar with 0:17:39.560 --> 0:17:41.679 that feeling of like I have no one to talk to, 0:17:41.960 --> 0:17:44.200 no one cares about me and my needs, I'm gonna 0:17:44.240 --> 0:17:47.040 I'm on the verge of a breakdown in those moments, 0:17:47.080 --> 0:17:51.240 the cheaper, easier fix is, you know, a glass of 0:17:51.240 --> 0:17:54.320 wine or you know, whatever it may be that might 0:17:54.359 --> 0:17:59.160 be unhealthy, because unfortunately, the healthier fix, like let's say, 0:17:59.240 --> 0:18:02.200 hiring a mental health professional to talk to them, that's 0:18:02.200 --> 0:18:05.080 so much more expensive than you know, attend dollar bottle 0:18:05.119 --> 0:18:07.720 of wine. So I feel like we need to just 0:18:07.800 --> 0:18:10.639 get our priorities and check and provide women who are 0:18:10.640 --> 0:18:12.760 struggling with some of these things that you're talking about 0:18:13.560 --> 0:18:16.560 with resources that can actually help us. 0:18:16.840 --> 0:18:18.920 Yeah, and I think one of the things we can 0:18:19.000 --> 0:18:22.800 do is help each other out. So I think that 0:18:23.760 --> 0:18:26.679 part of this and part of what's so helpful about 0:18:26.720 --> 0:18:31.760 this new Surgeon General report is we can start talking 0:18:31.800 --> 0:18:34.080 about it a little bit more, and we can start 0:18:34.800 --> 0:18:39.000 thinking about our friends and our peers and know that, 0:18:39.600 --> 0:18:41.760 you know, maybe one of the best things we can 0:18:41.800 --> 0:18:44.800 do is when we're when we're together, when we're holding 0:18:45.160 --> 0:18:48.720 a social gathering and event that we can just normalize 0:18:48.920 --> 0:18:51.879 like we're going to have, you know, we'll have alcoholic drinks, 0:18:51.920 --> 0:18:54.240 but we're also going to have some fun non alcoholic 0:18:54.320 --> 0:18:59.000 drinks and just acknowledging that, like people might not always 0:18:59.040 --> 0:19:01.760 want to have a journey and that's okay. But if 0:19:01.760 --> 0:19:03.879 we don't like put it out there that this is 0:19:03.920 --> 0:19:07.239 a choice and we all have like the right and 0:19:07.280 --> 0:19:10.240 we maybe should be reflecting on our alcohol use, then 0:19:10.680 --> 0:19:12.639 it's just going to kind of continue where you go 0:19:12.680 --> 0:19:14.199 to an event, you go out to dinner with your 0:19:14.200 --> 0:19:17.720 friends and everybody's ordering drinks and you feel really awkward 0:19:17.760 --> 0:19:18.239 if you're not. 0:19:19.119 --> 0:19:22.399 That is such a good point that women have an 0:19:22.400 --> 0:19:27.640 opportunity to come alongside one another with this information and 0:19:27.800 --> 0:19:29.040 be each other's support system. 0:19:29.200 --> 0:19:31.560 I think so, And it's hard. I mean, we talk 0:19:31.640 --> 0:19:37.280 about peer pressure for adolescents and college students with substances 0:19:37.280 --> 0:19:40.160 with alcohol, but I think it is so real with 0:19:40.240 --> 0:19:43.440 women and women in their twenties and thirties and forties. 0:19:44.040 --> 0:19:46.239 It's hard to be the person that's going to not 0:19:46.760 --> 0:19:51.440 choose to drink because there's a lot of fears associated 0:19:51.480 --> 0:19:54.040 with that. You think that, you know, maybe your friends 0:19:54.080 --> 0:19:58.199 will think you're judging them, or that people will assume 0:19:58.200 --> 0:20:01.439 that you have a problem that you're you know, you can't. 0:20:01.640 --> 0:20:04.480 Why is she not drinking? She might you know, is 0:20:04.520 --> 0:20:09.280 she in recovery? You might burn friendships. So it's it's not. 0:20:09.359 --> 0:20:14.120 Easy, simone. Are you wanting to cut alcohol out entirely 0:20:14.160 --> 0:20:14.879 from your life? 0:20:15.000 --> 0:20:18.520 No, I'm not planning to. I actually have in the past. 0:20:18.800 --> 0:20:23.119 I stopped drinking for about two years and it was great, 0:20:23.320 --> 0:20:26.280 but I found a way to work it back into 0:20:26.320 --> 0:20:29.960 my life. That feels like a healthy level of moderation 0:20:30.080 --> 0:20:31.119 for me. How about you. 0:20:31.359 --> 0:20:33.080 I don't want to cut it out entirely either. 0:20:34.400 --> 0:20:39.159 I think most people are probably in the same lane. 0:20:39.200 --> 0:20:44.240 As we are, so I'm curious if there is anything 0:20:44.320 --> 0:20:46.960 that people like us should really be keeping in mind 0:20:47.000 --> 0:20:50.600 in order to partake in a way that is as 0:20:50.680 --> 0:20:52.520 healthy as possible. You know. 0:20:52.640 --> 0:20:55.480 One of the things that I started thinking about all 0:20:55.520 --> 0:20:58.600 of this was in twenty nineteen, the book Sober Curious 0:20:58.720 --> 0:21:03.480 came out by Ruby Arrington, and it's sort of I 0:21:03.480 --> 0:21:05.879 think one of the take home premises from that is 0:21:05.920 --> 0:21:09.199 just reevaluating your relationship with alcohol, which might mean you 0:21:09.320 --> 0:21:12.240 want to still continue drinking at times, but maybe not 0:21:12.480 --> 0:21:14.919 as much, and just be more thoughtful about when you 0:21:15.000 --> 0:21:19.040 want to drink and why. So I would encourage anyone 0:21:19.119 --> 0:21:22.840 really to perhaps for a period of time keep like 0:21:22.960 --> 0:21:27.119 a journal about just record when you're drinking and why, 0:21:27.280 --> 0:21:30.719 and who you're with, if you're alone, and how you 0:21:30.760 --> 0:21:34.320 feel after if you're you know, you have any regret 0:21:34.480 --> 0:21:36.960 or you think that that was a good experience, just 0:21:37.000 --> 0:21:39.719 to learn more about when you're drinking and why. And 0:21:39.760 --> 0:21:43.800 then I think that there's a lot of optimism about 0:21:43.960 --> 0:21:47.800 these new non alcoholic products that have entered the market 0:21:47.840 --> 0:21:49.959 and how you're starting to see them more at regular 0:21:50.000 --> 0:21:54.520 grocery stores and in restaurants and at Fenway Park in Boston, 0:21:54.640 --> 0:21:57.120 you know. I mean they have these non alcoholic beers, 0:21:57.200 --> 0:21:58.840 they have non alcoholic drinks. 0:21:59.240 --> 0:22:01.320 They've really and they're quite good. 0:22:01.480 --> 0:22:04.800 And they're sober bars too, they're sobertail. 0:22:04.880 --> 0:22:05.040 You know. 0:22:05.080 --> 0:22:08.360 That movement started really strong actually right before COVID hit, 0:22:08.440 --> 0:22:11.439 and COVID sort of like halted it pretty clearly. And 0:22:11.480 --> 0:22:14.480 then a lot of women in particular turned to alcohol 0:22:14.560 --> 0:22:17.800