Over the last several years, I have watched my mother’s memory come and go, lapse and return. She has had an MRI of her brain and does not have Alzheimer’s. As a matter of fact, her more-than-competent doctor has described her brain as “robust” for her age.

So, why then, at the age of 76, does my mother call me looking for my father when he’s been deceased for nearly four years? And why can’t she remember the names of her very close relatives? Although my mother is sober now, it seems that her on-and-off-again loss of memory is a result of a period of heavy drinking within the past ten years.

A new study conducted in Brazil focused specifically on cognitive problems caused by heavy alcohol use among 1,145 people who were 60 years old or older. The study found that 8.2 percent of the 419 men and 726 women studied were heavy drinkers, or drinking at levels that are considered high risk. (For women, heavy drinking is four drinks or more during a day or more than seven drinks a week.)

One of the more surprising findings of the study was that heavy drinking affects the cognitive function of women more than men. “The effects of heavy alcohol use on memory and other cognitive functions were more evident in women,” said Marcos Antonio Lopes, the author of the study. “Our findings suggest that alcohol use does not have a linear relationship with cognitive decline.”

In other words, women who continue to drink heavily into their senior years run the risks of losing cognitive function and are more prone therefore to falls and significant memory loss.

Photo Source

A couple of drinks can–particularly on a bad day–make things feel a little bit lighter. And of course, inhibitions tend to decrease as alcohol consumption increases. (I know my conversational Italian become nearly fluent after I’ve had a Chianti or two.)

It seems, though, that in addition to taking the edge off and making us feel a bit more risqué, perhaps, drinking also makes us see people as more attractive, according to an article by Gad Saad, Ph.D. on PsychologyToday.com called ”The More I Drink, the Prettier You Get.”

Two different studies, one in Addiction and one in Alcohol & Alcoholism, have come to a similar conclusion, reports Saad. In both cases, men and women who had drank alcohol gave higher ratings of facial attractiveness than did those who had consumed either no alcohol or a placebo.

Sadd writes that “it would thus appear that not only does alcohol serve as ‘liquid courage’ but also it alters our judgment of others in ways that perhaps increases the likelihood of our interacting with them (as we are more likely to interact with attractive individuals).”

What do you think–when you drink does it make people look more attractive to you?

Photo source

As temporary home to the Olympics, Vancouver has been crowded with throngs of tourists for the past two weeks. With the excitement and thrills come lots of celebrations in the city’s bars, many of which have been spilling out into the streets.

So it’s only fitting that drinking should also make its way onto the art scene. In a recent article in the New York Times, Charles McGrath describes a new exhibit at Vancouver’s Playwrights Theater Center on Granville Island (the artsy area of town), which looks at the fine line between drinking and “drinking” and between the “bar as mere watering hole and as self-activating performance space.”

The installation, created by British neo-conceptualist Theo Sims, is set in a 12-by-20 foot plywood box, and recreates the Candahar, an Irish pub in Belfast, fully equipped with beer taps, a brass rail, and a TV tuned to Irish horseracing. The bar is tended by two Irish men wearing fedoras and thick Irish sweater—two real bar men (and brothers) who are also scripted performers for the exhibit.

“The purpose of the installation,” said the artist in the Times piece, “is to stimulate social interaction, encourage people to re-examine their preconceptions and start cross cultural conversations.”

It all sounds so civilized when you look at it this way. And it makes me think about the purpose of bars and the community gathering that must’ve been so integral for communicating and sharing events years ago. Now with Facebook and Twitter, people can “gather” virtually and video chat while sipping ale in their pajamas. Not quite the same.

*Photo source: Kim Stallknecht for the NY Times

I don’t know about you, but I drank like a fish in college. Part of the reason was that alcohol was everywhere: free and cheap. The “campus pub” across the commons from my dorm (yes, the drinking age was lower then) offered one dollar kamikaze shots in little plastic shot glasses, so we’d line em up on the bar. Fraternity parties lured unsuspecting freshmen girls with free beer (even if it did taste like water).

So–does free and cheap booze lead to binge drinking? Which came first–the chicken (in this case, the eager freshmen) or the egg?

The UK is dealing with this problem in a big way, especially since the statistics about rising alcohol use are sobering. According to the Economist: “In the past 50 years Britons’ consumption of alcohol has more than doubled, though it remains somewhat lower than it was at the start of the 20th century. British livers are feeling the strain: cases of cirrhosis are on the increase, just as they are declining elsewhere in Europe. The national binge has at least in part been caused by low prices: although booze has got more expensive in real terms over the past 30 years, it has become a lot cheaper relative to earnings, and is about 70% more affordable now than it was in 1980.”

In some supermarkets in Great Britain (Sainsbury’s and Tesco, for example), beer is cheaper than bottled water. At Sainsbury’s, a two litre plastic bottle of alcoholic “cider” costs the equivalent of $1.94, according to the Economist. Also on the shelves: an even stronger variety of cider, with the incentive that the more you buy, the deeper the discount will be.

Does dirt-cheap alcohol cause people to drink more than they normally would? Supporters of a growing temperance movement in the UK, along with health experts, are saying it does, and they are seeking to end the sale of cheap booze. A compelling parliamentary report released in December detailed Britain’s growing alcohol problems, but the government has yet to approve minimum pricing laws.

Instead, on Tuesday, according to the Huffington Post, the government said it would ban “irresponsible promotions and boozy contests such as the “dentist’s chair”–where alcohol is poured directly into customers’ mouths – in an effort to tackle Britain’s binge-drinking problem.”

Some feel that it’s unfair to take away cheap booze during a recession, and they argue that if minimum pricing is enforced, responsible drinkers will be unfairly penalized. I say: As much as I love my ice cream and my wine, those are luxuries, so I don’t mind if they’re priced a bit higher. And I don’t really need a stockpile of cheap ice cream or wine in my fridge to tempt me.

So what do you think? Do you think cheap booze encourages drinking? Do you mind paying a bit more for your luxuries?  Can you imagine if stores did 2 for 1’s and promos on fresh fruits and vegetables instead of junk food and cheap liquor? I’m just saying..

From time to time, we will post short interviews with interesting people about their thoughts and feelings on women and drinking. There is such a wide array of perspectives about this topic, and we are excited to gain insight into as many as possible and to share them with you.

Drinking Diaries: When was your first drink?

Laurie Lindeen:  If you don’t count the pulls off of my dad’s Budweiser cans as a small child, or the Dixie cups full of daiquiris during my parent’s gourmet parties, I’d say it was on New Year’s Eve in 7^th grade in a scene I describe graphically in my memoir, Petal Pusher: A Rock and Roll Cinderella Story. A throng of girls took turns taking swigs from my parent’s dusty liquor bottles stored in a cupboard in the hallway next to my bedroom.

How did your family treat drinking?

I grew up in the ‘70s in Wisconsin, therefore my parents had a very casual attitude toward drinking.  Both of my parents were what we call “social” drinkers.  I do remember in about middle school making an association between acting like an adult and drinking and smoking.

How do you handle the subject of drinking with your kid?

My son has a thicket of alcoholic branches in his family tree unfortunately, so we started talking to him about drinking and alcoholism when he was in first grade.

Was there a phase in life when you drank more or less?

I drank a lot more in college and when I was in a band.  Nowadays, I need to tone down the “sailor on furlough” in me that emerges whenever I’m sprung loose from domestic duty and out on the town.

When was the best time drinking ever?

The best time drinking ever happened when I was a sophomore in high school and Patty Vaughn, a junior, had an unsupervised New Year’s Eve party at her parents’ house and I drank beer, but not too much, and I made out with everybody.  Little did I know, I peaked early and should’ve hung it up, or at least toned it down, so I was a more productive young adult.

When was the worst time drinking?

I actually topped my “Mrs. Roper” story that I submitted to Drinking Diaries last spring in New Orleans this past November.  Had I gone back to the hotel instead of to the Absinthe House…I lost an entire day in an amazing city nursing my self-inflicted wounds.

Has culture or religion influenced your drinking?

I’m Catholic and I’m from Wisconsin.  You do the math.

What is the best movie about drinking?

I love the scene in the ballet movie “A Turning Point” when Shirley MacLaine’s and Ann Bancroft’s characters tie on one and get into a purse bitch slap fight.

I also adore Frank Sinatra and Big Crosby getting hammered while singing “What a Swell Party It Was” in the movie “High Society.”

Laurie Lindeen’s essay, “Uncool, Not Cute,” was posted on Drinking Diaries in July, 2009. Her work has appeared in Rolling Stone’s anthology Altarockorama and the online magazine, The Morning News. Find her on the web at www.laurielindeen.com

Last weekend, the New York Times ran a piece called “Baby Barflies,” by Risa Chubinsky, in the “Complaint Box” column of the Metropolitan section. In 500 words, Chubinsky, a 20-something who recently moved to Park Slope, Brooklyn, rants about her visits to neighborhood bars, where she and her friends are frequently faced with toddlers grabbing at their drinks while the moms chat away, and babies crying right up against the bar next to their martinis.

She argues enthusiastically that bars are not for kids, and how aghast she was to see a dad changing his kid’s diaper right there on a vacant table at the Bohemian Bar and Beer Garden. Why, she wonders, are parents not leaving their kids home with a babysitter when they feel the need or want to drink at a bar?

After her piece ran, 376 comments followed (mine is comment #154), with readers defending the author’s tirade, telling her to chill out, or shedding light on all kinds of ways for peace to ensue for bar-loving moms/dads and booze-loving non-parents alike.

As both a parent and social drinker, I love the idea of being able to be at a bar with my kids nearby (if I’m not trying to escape from them, that is), and so was immediately drawn to the notion of neighborhood pubs in England, where many have play areas for young children to stay in sight of mom and dad and vice versa. But with our country’s Puritan ideals and school campaigns teaching children as young as nine years old that drinking is ALWAYS bad, I don’t think that idea would fly.

What are your thoughts on kids frequenting bars?

You can take away our meals out, you can take away our fancy clothes, you can even take away our fancy coffee, but please don’t take away our booze. At least that’s what the world–and especially America–seems to be saying.

According to new research, as reported on emailwire.com, wine consumption hasn’t really gone down in the recession. If anything, it’s gone slightly up. Although there was a slight drop in sales when the financial crisis first hit, wine sales increased by 3% in 2009, and are expected to increase, according to the U.S. Wine Market Forecast to 2012, a report put out by RNCOS, a market research company.

The report also says that, although the U.S. is one of the fastest growing wine markets in the world, developing countries like Russia, China, Australia and India aren’t too far behind.

The recession may not have impacted how much we drink, but it’s certainly affected how and where we drink. According to the forecast, “while restaurant volume declined, the U.S. food store wine volume increased,” which means more people are saving money by buying their own wine and drinking it at home.

But is wine really the cheapest alcoholic beverage? Anyone interested in drinking on the cheap might want to check out Cheap Booze: A Guide to Drinking Through the Recession by Christine Sismondo on the blog, Gremolata.

Has the recession changed your drinking habits at all? If so, how? If not, why not? These days, I’m not enough of a drinker to switch over to cheaper wine, so when I go out, I still like to have a decent glass or two…but I’m sure I’d feel differently if I were 20 and just starting out in the world. How about you?

To let your teens sip, or not to let them sip champagne on New Year’s Eve? That is the question. 

Perhaps you’ll be sitting at home with your family, having a glass of champagne and watching the ball drop. Or maybe you’ll be having a party, or out at a party, or on vacation, where there’s drinking aplenty.

Maybe you’re not a parent, but you probably have an opinion, nonetheless. So do you approve or disapprove of teens sipping champagne along with their parents on New Year’s?

There are two camps: the loosen-up it’s New Year’s camp, and the it’s illegal and unhealthy to drink underage–even a sip–camp. Which camp are you in?

Here at drinking diaries, we have previously come down on the side of let your teen have a sip; what harm can it do? If alcohol is made to be forbidden or taboo, then it becomes desirable to a teen. Letting them have sips of champagne teaches moderation, and let’s face it, most kids have tried alcohol before 18. But there’s another side that’s equally compelling, as we read in a recent article on the Canadian newswire.

John Lieberman, director of operations for Visions Adolescent Treatment Centers in Malibu and Brentwood, California, is opposed to introducing kids to alcohol at home. According to Lieberman, “The studies show that the earlier someone has their first experience with drugs or alcohol or R-rated movies or sex, the earlier somebody does that, the more apt they are to have an addiction or a problem or consequences as a result of that behavior.”

Even in France, where the attitude toward drinking is perceived as laissez-faire, they’ve raised the drinking age from 16 to 18, due to increases in binge drinking and alcohol-induced hospitalizations.

Consider the words of Jeffrey Wolfsberg, head of a company that offers seminars to students and parents on drug and alcohol use and prevention: “When we look at who struggles with alcohol-related problems in college, it’s not the kids who go off with no drinking experience. It’s the kids who have established drinking patterns in high school.”

Interesting, but that wasn’t the case with me. I had no drinking experience whatsoever when I went off to college, and I went nuts. I had no idea how to drink; no idea of my limits. I was like a kid in a candy store.

So perhaps there’s no easy answer. When asked the question, “should parents let their teens have sips of champagne on New Years?” even Wolfsberg says maybe…maybe not:  ”Both approaches are fine..it’s not so much what’s being done–it’s the meaning [behind it] that matters most.”

So what will your approach be this New Year’s Eve? What is your opinion?

While visiting my in-laws in Florida, I started thinking the Sunshine State should be re-nicknamed the All-You-Can-Eat-and-Drink State or The Buffet State. Last night at dinner (another buffet), I asked for a glass of chardonnay and got–a fishbowl–the entire bottle in a glass. One would think this would make me drink more, but it only made me take one sip and leave the rest. Since I’m past my drinking-to-get-drunk days, I actually prefer a small glass of decent wine to a humongous glass of Ernest and Julio Gallo.

Here in Florida–life is a smorgasbord, and while I’m thankful for all that abundance in a time of recession and widespread suffering, I started wondering what it’s like in other states and cities, which led me to this: America’s Top 10 Most Sober Cities, and America’s Booziest Cities. Not surprisingly, Florida made the top 10 three times, and just as many warm states as cold states made the list, dispelling the myth that people drink more in cold climates.

Here’s the list, courtesy of U.S. News and World Report:

America’s Top 10 Booziest Cities:

1. Reno, Nevada (Big surprise there)

2. Palm Bay-Melbourne, Florida

3. Boulder, Colorado (huh? I thought those people were obsessed with fitness. Maybe it’s all the post-workout beers)

4. Austin, Texas

5. Charleston, South Carolina

6. McAllen, Texas

7. Naples, Florida

8. Riverside, California

9. Cape Carol, Florida

10. Barnstable Town, Massachusetts

America’s Top 10 Most Sober Cities

Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention