Do you drink alcohol? If so, can you still remember your first alcoholic drink? The flavour? Did you like it? I can still remember as a young girl how I was sometimes allowed to taste the foam from my father's beer glass. It was a strange drink. The bitter smell. And then this fluffy foam that you could blow off the glass. But the flavour? The flavour was disgusting. How could adults prefer such a concoction to a cola or lemonade? When I later became a teenager and alcoholic drinks became an integral part of my club and party life, marking my entry into adulthood so to speak, my friends and I preferred to toast each other with Asti. It was so beautifully sweet and drinkable, tasting more like lemonade than Prosecco. So at first I had to get used to the bitter, tart flavour of alcohol with a bit of training. However, this is not difficult in the case of alcohol and succeeds very quickly with repeated consumption of alcoholic drinks. Our sense of taste simply adapts. I still don't like beer now, but I don't like sticky sweet Asti any more either.

We don't drink alcohol because it tastes so good. Pure alcohol has a bitter flavour and burns on the tongue. That's why it is diluted in drinks and flavoured with aromas and sugar so that we can enjoy it at all. No, we drink alcohol because of its intoxicating effect. The consumption of this drug has a direct effect on the messenger metabolism in our nervous system and thus triggers pleasant feelings. When we drink alcohol, various neurotransmitters are released in our brain. Neurotransmitters, also known as messenger substances, ensure the transmission of stimuli between the individual nerve cells in our nervous system. They are our neurochemical postmen, so to speak. The release of certain neurotransmitters has a direct effect on our mood and emotional state, our alertness and our sense of well-being. Alcohol primarily activates the neurotransmitters serotonin, dopamine and the GABA system. Serotonin and dopamine are also known as happiness hormones. The first warm rays of sunshine in spring, the heavenly smell of freshly baked cakes, compliments from our loved ones, recognition at work - all of these trigger the release of happiness hormones and we perceive these sensations as pleasant, beautiful and stimulating. But the drug alcohol in particular provides us with a veritable shower of serotonin and dopamine. In the case of my Asti Prosecco, it's sparkling joy from the bottle! 

The neurotransmitter GABA, on the other hand, ensures calm and relaxation in our nervous system. When we are stressed, anxious or tense, GABA brings us back down. Hand on heart, who of us doesn't recognise the relaxing effect that a glass of wine or a cold beer can have in the evening after a stressful day? The effect of alcohol is stored in our subconscious as a positive experience. And we are developmentally programmed to repeat positive experiences as quickly and often as possible. The repetition causes conditioning. We learn to give alcohol a positive meaning. So far, so good. Happiness hormones and the chill-out factor, what more could you want? Unfortunately, there is a big catch in the long term. Serotonin, dopamine and GABA are not the only neurotransmitters in our nervous system. There are also the antagonists, and that makes sense. We wouldn't have got very far as a species on this planet if we had always remained happy and relaxed in every situation. When the sabre-toothed tiger chased us across the steppe in the Stone Age, feelings of happiness and inner balance would not really have helped us. In the right situations, we also need to be able to feel fear, stress and all-arms readiness. So when we regularly consume alcohol and the associated excess of happiness hormones and GABA, our brain initiates appropriate countermeasures to restore the balance of the neurotransmitters. The receptors for serotonin and dopamine are down-regulated and the system for glutamate, the antagonist of GABA, is boosted. As a result, the happiness hormones and GABA no longer have such a strong effect. The feeling of peace and happiness is absent, which of course doesn't suit our subconscious at all! We are programmed for our usual load of happiness hormones. Bad feelings and a depressive mood, tension and irritability set in. We don't need that. Fortunately, there is a solution to this problem. We can simply drink more alcohol and more often to raise our happiness hormone levels again. No sooner said than done, and without realising it at first, we run the risk of consuming alcohol regularly and in ever-increasing quantities.  Of course, this also stimulates counter-regulation and we have to drink more again. And so on and so forth. Welcome to the vicious circle of addiction!

Of course, we don't all find ourselves in this spiral of addiction, and not all of us do so equally quickly. Some people are more susceptible to the effects of alcohol than others. Fortunate are those who can enjoy alcohol occasionally and in moderate quantities without becoming addicted and without their health and quality of life suffering as a result. These people should also be allowed a glass of vino with a nice meal. However, you should be aware that even then alcohol is not harmless. Alcohol is not healthy. It never is, regardless of the quantity. Alcohol is a cell poison and the list of organ damage caused by alcohol is long. If you avoid alcohol altogether, you are always on the safer and healthier side. But we humans don't just do things that are healthy. I don't eat strawberry ice cream with whipped cream to provide myself with a sufficient portion of antioxidants and good fats. Sometimes we just want to enjoy ourselves. And I think that's perfectly fine from a medical point of view, as long as we don't overdo it. However, I am referring here exclusively to adults and not pregnant women. Children and pregnant women should avoid alcohol without exception. I am categorical on this point and unfortunately cannot offer you any relativisation. In all other cases, as long as consumption is not harmful to others, it is a question of personal judgement.

And that's exactly the point. If you drink alcohol and suffer from a depressed mood, tension, anxiety and self-doubt, if you drink to switch off these negative feelings, or need alcohol to feel positive feelings, if you no longer feel well, if control is slipping away from you and you may even be noticing the first signs of physical damage caused by alcohol, then I recommend that you think about whether alcohol is the cause of your problems rather than the key to the solution.