reports suggest that for many people alcohol consumption increased during the pandemic especially because most of us were ripped from a structured way of life we did not have to rush anywhere there was no one who could tell you were suffering from a hangover and alcohol became the thing many looked forward to but sometimes the line blurs between drinking for a reason and getting dependent on alcohol we spoke to doctors to know the differenceaccording to dr dinika anand clinical psychologist blkmax super speciality hospital in terms of substance use disorders dependence and addiction in terms of substance use disorders are terms that are associated with a lot of confusion simply speaking dependence is associated with aspects of tolerance and withdrawal and addiction is when continuous consumption alters biochemical changes in the brain in terms of intake and consumption acceptable is the occasional 12 glasses which translates to mindful moderate consumptionexcessive consumption of alcohol will impact a persons life in every way from the number of daysweek they drink to the amount of alcohol consumed poor sleep frequent headaches putting on weight blackout drinking episodes inability to socialize in the absence of alcohol can all be signs of a developing problemis beer or wine better than other drinkspeople who are classifying beer or wine as good alcohol or not alcohol are definitively walking a slippery slope wine may be the secret to longevity but so is a healthy diet exercise and good sleep consuming either wine or beer in excess is a recipe for gloom after all both have alcohol and therefore rules of moderation apply there as well adds dr anand red wine is touted as a healthy heart drink owing to which people feel its a safer drink to have consumption of red wine was once considered as one of the possible reasons of the french paradox nearly 3 decades earlier where french people were seen to have a relatively low incidence of coronary heart disease while having a diet relatively rich in saturated fats a natural polyphenol reveratrol in red wine has been considered to carry some possible health benefits this is obtained from the skin of grapes and is also present in other natural foods like blueberries and cranberries similar benefits may be available by consuming these in a natural form a study conducted across 195 countries which was published in the lancet in 2016 observed that even very small amounts of alcohol raise a drinkers risk for cancer and early death adds dr gopalakrishnadr dwivedi further adds wine per se is another alcoholic drink while you drink wine it is also necessary to understand that it is a part of a culturally acceptable mediterranean diet how much of that diet contributes to ones health is anyones guess also flavonoid antioxidant and cardioprotective compounds in red wine have been talked about without any actual proven support so the message of responsible drinking needs to be propagatedhow much is safe to drinktalking about signs