When a person drinks, he may do things he might not otherwise do. this is not because alcohol is a stimulant, but rather because it is a depressant. The first area of the brain alcohol affects is the area which regulates inhibitions, judgment and self-control. It is the lack of such restraints that causes the apparently "stimulated" or uninhibited behavior.

Alcohol does not normally increase physical or mental skills. What it may do is increase confidence and decrease judgment and self-criticism. The drinker may feel as if his performance has improved when in reality it may have declined.

Alleged methods for sobering up range from hot coffee to cold showers, from food to fresh air. The only effect of these treatments can have is to produce a wide-awake drunk. An awakened drunk, feeling he has sobered up, may attempt to perform tasks, such as driving, of which he is no more capable than the sleepy drunk. Time is the only method of sobering up. There is no way to increase the oxidation rate--the rate at which the body eliminates alcohol.

The depressant action of alcohol lowers inhibitions. Therefore, the drinker may respond more freely to sexual stimulation. But, like other activities, too much alcohol reduces performance abilities.

When alcohol is used in cooking, little remains in the food as the alcohol evaporates when heated. Even if the alcohol is not heated, not enough is used to have any effects except for taste.

Only the consumption of ethyl alcohol, the ingredient common to all alcoholic beverages, causes intoxification, not the mixing of drinks. A person may tend to consume more when there is a variety of drinks, but it is still only the total amount of ethyl alcohol that counts.

Alcoholism show no favorites. It is found among all classes of people. It has been estimated that only three percent of all alcoholics are on skid row. Furthermore, it seems that only a minority of those living on skid row are alcoholics.

Although there are still people who disagree, alcoholism has been medically and legally classified as an illness. An alcoholic is no more responsible for his drinking than a tuberculosis patient is for his coughing.

Although the craving for a morning drink is a common symptom among chronic alcoholics, there are those who don't display it. It is not when drinking occurs, but the lack of control over it when it does occur that defines alcoholism.

Even though the percentage is relatively low (2 percent - 5 percent), beer still contains the potentially addicting ingredient--ethyl alcohol. The alcoholic who drinks beer merely has to drink more of it to get drunk than he would wine or whiskey.

Some alcoholics drink only on weekends, some abstain for months. Alcoholism is not determined by how often a person drinks, but whether or not he can control his drinking once he starts.

Women do become alcoholics, but are not as likely to be diagnosed as such, since they are more easily camouflaged by the protective setting of the home. During recent years, the estimated ratio of men to women alcoholics has dropped from 6:1 to 4:1. The increase in the number of women alcoholics has been explained both as an increase in the willingness to be treated, and therefore "discovered", and as an increase in the actual number of cases.

Maybe you just don't know you know any alcoholics. Some of your best friends may have drinking problems. They don't seem "different". An they usually try to hide their illness, even from themselves. About 1 of every 10 executives has a drinking problem.

Maybe if we weren't all so "polite", we wouldn't have so many friends with drinking problems.

You know that's silly. Yet many of us are a little nervous around people who don't drink.