Health aNd Fitness Guide

Drinking alcohol to drown your sorrows only makes your grief linger. Ethanol, an intoxicating agent in alcohol, does not diminish distress, but locks it in place, according to a study at the University of Tokyo. Researchers induced fear in lab rats by giving them mild shocks. The rodents were then put into cages and injected with ethanol or saline. The rats that received alcohol remained frozen with fear longer, even for a fortnight, compared to rats that did not. In humans, too, unpleasant memories will remain strongly even if they drink alcohol to forget it and be in a merry mood, the study said. And they won’t remember the merriness the following day.