Incredible facts
Hardly anyone would argue with the fact that drinking alcohol is the result of a way of life and thousands of years of tradition. However, have you ever thought about what determines your choice of alcohol?
Read also: What alcohol actually does to our brain and body
In order to better understand a person's needs, it is important to know the motives that encourage them to drink. This will help limit the consumption of alcoholic beverages, and, consequently, minimize the harm caused to them.
So, any person may have several personal reasons why they drink alcohol periodically, so this makes it difficult to understand the issue scientifically.
However, there is a special mechanism called the motivational model that says that everyone drinks to improve their emotional state and well-being.
This model was originally developed for the treatment of alcohol addiction. But the ideas described in it have helped scientists take a fresh look at the reasons that make people drink alcohol.
In other words, the motivational model says that we all drink to reduce our negative feelings and increase positive ones. The motive in this case may be internal reward (that is, a person begins to feel better) or external reward (that is, a person receives approval from society).
Reasons for drinking
As a result, any of the motives for drinking alcohol can be attributed to one of four categories:
– social motive (celebrating with others);
– compliance motive (you need to fit into the environment);
– improving mood (it's so exciting!) ;
– self-defense (a way to forget about troubles, worries and problems).
A drinker can combine all motivations in different degrees, he does not necessarily belong only to a particular type.
Read also: What drinks should not be mixed with alcohol
Thus, according to this model, all other components, such as personality traits, genes, or the environment, are what shape our motives. In other words, motives are the basis that controls any other factors of influence.
Motives for drinking alcohol
Now let's look at each of the motives better.
1. Social motive
Today, almost all studies on the causes of drinking alcohol are carried out on young people and adolescents. In a wide variety of cultures, social motives are still the leading reasons why young people start drinking.
In this model, social drinking is often associated with increasing the pleasure that a person experiences when talking to friends. This supports the idea that drinking is a social pastime. When social motives outweigh, as a rule, we are talking about a fairly moderate consumption of alcohol.
2. The motive for matching the environment
When a person drinks exclusively in company and in a special case just because they don't want to stand out, and not because this is their usual behavior, they tend to consume much fewer alcoholic drinks compared to those who do it for other reasons.
Such a person simply holds a glass of wine in his hand or drinks a small sip of champagne from a glass to a toast being made. He does this solely in order not to feel alienated in the company of a drinking environment.
In recent years, programs like Hello Sunday Morning have begun to appear that encourage people to stop drinking alcohol. These programs make this behavior acceptable in society, and also help get rid of the feedback that people who decide to stop drinking alcohol feel. However, this is still a theory that needs to be tested.
Man and alcohol
3. Motive for improving mood
In addition to drinking to facilitate communication, there are two other types of young people who combine rather risky drinking motives and an unusual personality.
The first ones drink to improve their mood. As a rule, these are extroverts with a rather aggressive and impulsive character.
The latter, more often men, are more likely to strive to get the feeling of intoxication itself, as well as many other extreme sensations. Among such people, there are very often risk-takers.
Read also: An alcohol substitute without the effects of a hangover has been developed
4. Self-defense motive
There is also a category of people who drink alcohol to protect themselves. Such people have a higher level of neuroticism, a negative perception of themselves, and a fairly low level of goodwill.
Such people drink to cope with problems in life, especially depression and anxiety. There are more women in this category. Unfortunately, as a rule, those who fall into this category drink a lot and also face more problems because of alcohol compared to drinkers from other categories.
Although many people think that alcohol is an effective way to solve problems, this is partly true only in the short term, because in fact drinking alcohol leads to extremely serious negative consequences.
This can probably be explained by the fact that the reasons that prompted a person to drink from the very beginning do not go away, and often even more serious.
Why does a person drink?
Why is it so important to know the motives?
Today, quite promising studies are underway that have already shown that knowing the causes and motives for drinking alcohol will definitely help develop effective measures, aimed at reducing global abuse.
For example, one study found that courses to educate young women about their reasons for drinking alcohol helped reduce drinking rates. However, these courses had little or no impact on men.
The effectiveness of the study is also limited by the fact that specialists are well aware of the reasons for drinking among adolescents and young people. However, understanding the reasons why an adult drinks is rather limited. But several research groups are planning to study this particular issue in the near future.
Read also: Famous psychiatrist: how alcohol actually affects the brain
The next time you grab a glass, think about why you're doing it. There are quite a few people who drink at night to be able to relax and fall asleep. However, if your goal is intoxication, your chances of seriously harming yourself are much higher. Remember that if you drink your difficulties and problems, you will have to face them again the next morning.
Interesting facts about alcohol
1. As a result of archaeological excavations, jugs that date back to the end of the Stone Age have been discovered. These findings suggest that fermented drinks were known for about 10,000 BC during the Neolithic period.
2. Almost all fruits and some vegetables contain some alcohol.
3. The United States is one of the countries with the highest legal drinking age. We're talking about 21 years. In some States, young people attain this achievement as little as 16 years of age.
4. Alcohol also exists in space.
5. Cocktails gained popularity during Prohibition. They were offered to people to hide the taste of bad alcohol.
6. Experts assume that 0.7 percent of the population is intoxicated every minute. So 50 million people are currently drunk.
7. The world's most expensive bottle of vodka costs just $3.75 million. The drink is first filtered through ice, then through coals obtained from Scandinavian birch wood, and finally the vodka passes through sand made from small diamonds and other gemstones. Alcohol is sold in a crystal bottle, which also contains rhodium and platinum, and is encrusted with diamonds.
8. Every year, approximately 5,000 young people under the age of 21 die in alcohol-related situations in the United States. For example, as a result of poisoning, domestic murder, accident, etc.
9. A person with a pumped up body is more resistant to alcohol than a fat man. Muscles saturated with water absorb alcohol more actively, preventing it from reaching the brain quickly.
10. A bottle of champagne has three times the pressure in a car tire. The traffic jam flies at a speed of 95 km/h, and if it hits someone, it often causes serious injury.
Read also: How long does alcohol take to be eliminated from the body
11. There is a mental disorder when a person is afraid of empty glasses. It's called sonoselicaphobia.
12. The Vikings also drank alcohol, not from ordinary vessels, but from the skulls of defeated enemies.
13. Japanese doctors talk about people with autobrewing syndrome. In this condition, the amount of candida yeast in the intestine is greatly increased, which produce such a volume of alcohol that a person can become drunk.
14. The Czech Republic is recognized as the world's most beer country There, on average, people drink 151 liters of beer per year. Thus, the Czech Republic easily left Germany, Ireland and the United States behind.
15. One of the most famous alcoholic beverages in Cambodia is Tarantula Brandy, whose main ingredients are freshly killed tarantula and rice liqueur.
16. The strongest beer in the world is Snake Vemon (snake venom) from Scottish producer Brewmeister. This killer has a strength of 67.5%, while the strength of regular beer is 5%.
17. Students can buy beer in high school cafeterias in European high school cafeterias.
18. The most popular alcoholic beverage in the world is vodka. Five billion litres of this alcohol are drunk every year.
19. Abraham Lincoln was licensed to sell liquor. He owned several taverns.
20. In the US state of Ohio, it is forbidden to give fish alcoholic beverages.
21. The word brandy comes from the famous Dutch word “brandevin”, which translates to “burnt wine”.
22. There are vineyards in France whose soil is considered so valuable and fertile that people working on the property must scrape it off their shoes before leaving their workplace.
23. Despite popular belief, there is no worm in tequila. The worm “appeared” in a lower quality drink, mezcal, solely as a publicity stunt.
24. A glass of vodka, half a liter of beer and a glass of wine — they have the same amount of alcohol in common.
25. The world's most famous sober man is Adolf Hitler, and the world's most famous drunkard is Winston Churchill.