Menu

In the News

‘Quarantinis’ and Beer Chugs: Is the Pandemic Driving Us to Drink?

Alcohol sales have soared as people use drinking to relax during the COVID-19 crisis, and experts—including Dr. Priscilla Martinez, a scientist studying the health effects of drinking at PHI’s Alcohol Research Group—are raising concerns.

Whatever day you read this – at whatever hour – you can bet that someone in the Facebook group Quarantined Beer Chugs is shotgunning a beer or swigging a bottle….

“We know that drinking can increase under stressful conditions – that’s well-documented in the literature,” said Dr Rajita Sinha, director of Yale University’s Interdisciplinary Stress Center. “But the broader question you have is: Is that okay? And I would be wary. I would ask, are there alternative ways to cope with stress that are healthier?”…

Those sorts of questions are critical now, said Dr Priscilla Martinez, a scientist studying the health effects of drinking at the Alcohol Research Group, a federally funded research center. Heavy drinking is not good for human health, under any circumstances – and recent research by Martinez, Sinha and others has shown that alcohol disrupts the immune system and compromises the brain’s stress-coping mechanisms.

Read the full article on The Guardian.

Originally published by The Guardian


More Updates

Work With Us

You change the world. We do the rest. Explore fiscal sponsorship at PHI.

Bring Your Work to PHI

Support Us

Together, we can accelerate our response to public health’s most critical issues.

Donate

Find Employment

Begin your career at the Public Health Institute.

See Jobs

Rise Up girl leaders

Close

We Are All Public Health

When we are all public health, a healthier, more equitable world is within our reach. In our 2022 annual report, we share some of the unique roles we each play in making public health stronger, reach farther and connect better.

Read our 2022 Annual Report

Continue to PHI.org