Drinking a Glass of Wine While Studying

[Nano-Passion]

Has anyone tried it? Do you feel that it helps you relax and focus or does it get in the way?

For others who may not know, red wine has many health benefits and it is recommended to drink a glass or two a day.

 

[gravenewworld]

Every once in a while.

 

[Nano-Passion]

Every once in a while.

You benefit every once in a while is what your saying, correct?

 

[DaveC426913]

You benefit every once in a while is what your saying, correct?

I think he means he partakes every once in a while.

 

[Nano-Passion]

I think he means he partakes every once in a while.

But I was more interested in knowing if someone felt that a glass or two of red wine got in the way of studying, had no effect, or helped. Which would explain my confusion.

 

[denks]

A few double vokda red bulls and I think I am the next Einstein.

(when I go over my work the next day I don't feel so clever though...)

 

[Poopsilon]

I can't imagine studying something like math or physics with any alcohol in me, maybe if you're a writer or something, but not something quantitative.

 

[Mmm_Pasta]

A glass or two, doubt it has much effect. The more I drink, though, the longer it takes me to think about what I'm studying. Three or four beers has a small effect on me. The fifth one I begin to notice my thinking is quite a bit slower. Even then, though, I find myself waking up in the middle of the night. I get poorer sleep as a result.

 

[lisab]

Solving physics or engineering problems requires me to think several steps ahead. Even a small amount of alcohol makes it difficult to do that. I'll get going down a path and then think, Wait a minute, why was I integrating that?

For me, the benefits of being relaxed don't nearly outweigh the downside of not being able to think clearly. Besides, problem solving is so enjoyable, it usually makes me very relaxed anyway, so stress isn't a big deal (unless I'm working under a hard deadline or taking an exam - then there's lots of stress!).

 

[moouers]

Alcohol gets in the way for me. If you want to relax and focus, I highly recommend doing some meditation or sensory deprivation techniques. And no, you don't have to sit with your legs crossed while humming!

Red wine is great, but even better when not trying to study.

 

[fluidistic]

I dislike wine in the first place so I would never try.

 

[Moonbear]

It might help relax, but not to focus. A glass of wine makes me sleepy, so would not help with getting any kind of work done. Don't let popular press stories fool you either. The potential health benefits of red wine are small and don't outweigh the health risks. If you eat whole grapes (with the skin on), you'll get most of the same benefits without the risk.

 

[MissSilvy]

For others who may not know, red wine has many health benefits and it is recommended to drink a glass or two a day.

See, this is why sciences like biology make me incredibly angry soemtimes. Red wine is a cotentious issue in terms of its health benefits. When you see a study that says 'red wine reduces cancer' it doesn't mean that they gave wine to a test groups and followed their progress, in most cases. It's 'we dribbled this chemical, extracted from the skin of red grapes, onto a clump of cells in a laboratory and found that it did some small thing that may be construed as a benefit'. Also there are studies that also say that red wine does not have health benefits and may actually contribute to cancer. If you want to be a scientist, you should at least read these studies briefly instead of espousing weird stuff that you hear on the news. The studies are far, far from conclusive.

If it pleases you to believe that drinking wine will help you with homework, go ahead but I don't see the point of this question.

 

[sweetpotato]

For others who may not know, red wine has many health benefits and it is recommended to drink a glass or two a day.

It is not recommended for many groups of people, including, but not limited to:
-those who have had addiction issues with alcohol or other drugs
-those with liver problems
-pregnant women
-those taking certain medications
That said, if you do not have a condition that is worsened by alcohol, slowly sipping 1 glass of wine will likely neither help nor hinder your studying.

 

[niklaus]

It's 'we dribbled this chemical, extracted from the skin of red grapes, onto a clump of cells in a laboratory and found that it did some small thing that may be construed as a benefit'.

Either that, or "We made 1000 people fill out these questionnaires about their drinking habits and their health and then we ran it through this statistics package, which came up with the following correlations."

 

[Moonbear]

See, this is why sciences like biology make me incredibly angry soemtimes. Red wine is a cotentious issue in terms of its health benefits. When you see a study that says 'red wine reduces cancer' it doesn't mean that they gave wine to a test groups and followed their progress, in most cases. It's 'we dribbled this chemical, extracted from the skin of red grapes, onto a clump of cells in a laboratory and found that it did some small thing that may be construed as a benefit'. Also there are studies that also say that red wine does not have health benefits and may actually contribute to cancer. If you want to be a scientist, you should at least read these studies briefly instead of espousing weird stuff that you hear on the news. The studies are far, far from conclusive.

If it pleases you to believe that drinking wine will help you with homework, go ahead but I don't see the point of this question.

Don't blame the scientists. That's NOT a conclusion from a research paper. Blame the scientifically illiterate journalists who sensationalize the story and in the process mislead the public.

 

[netgypsy]

Caffeine actually suposedly enhances thinking a bit unless you're terrified in which cause it makes you more nervous. I know I perform better after a small amount of caffeine than without it.

Wine on the other hand makes you sleepy and alcohol sedates the thinking brain and supposedly causes sludging in the blood vessels (very interesting study quite a while ago. I think they looked at the blood vessels in the eye - University of South Carolina did it) Wine seems like a poor choice during studying. I've read that red grape juice works just as well. I wonder about a comparison between red and dark blue grapes?

The other thing I've observed is that I can not study physics or mathematics when I'm sleep deprived. Just can't do it. But I can study history or lit. Anyone else notice this??

 

[Hobin]

I like to be somewhat relaxed when starting on a difficult problem, so drinking a cup of tea sometimes helps a great deal. Wine, not so much. Like some other people here have said, alcohol + analytical thinking != good idea.

Also, @Moonbear, which health risks of wine are you talking about? As far as I'm aware, ethanol (which is the type of alcohol found in red wine), when consumed in moderation, is no bad thing. Or am I mistaken?

@netgypsy, I don't think it's particularly surprising that you can still study history or lit. Me, I've never tried to learn such a thing, but since most of this kind of learning is about trying to remember facts and technicalities, you will probably remember *something* even when sleep-deprived. Studying physics or math, however, requires you to solve problems. And solving problems when sleep-deprived == l'infern. I experience the same thing when I'm really hungry. While I can still force myself to do something simple such as reading and trying to remember, performing more complex operations gets annoying.

 

[Adyssa]

I'm studying programming and I don't care for alcohol while I'm working on something, it inhibits my thought process and slows me down.

Coffee, on the other hand! :P

 

[turbo]

In engineering school, I partook of coffee, tea, and tobacco while studying. Drinking a beer or two was not productive to my studies, but maybe that was just me.

 

[Moonbear]

I like to be somewhat relaxed when starting on a difficult problem, so drinking a cup of tea sometimes helps a great deal. Wine, not so much. Like some other people here have said, alcohol + analytical thinking != good idea.

Also, @Moonbear, which health risks of wine are you talking about? As far as I'm aware, ethanol (which is the type of alcohol found in red wine), when consumed in moderation, is no bad thing. Or am I mistaken?

Of course the biggest risk is it will become more than moderate drinking. In addition:
Periodontitis
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/22092940/?i=33&from=moderate alcohol consumption risks
Breast Cancer
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/22045766/?i=38&from=moderate alcohol consumption risks

Keep in mind that moderate drinking is defined as 1-2 drinks per day, and heavy drinking 3 or more per day, and heavy drinking has far more substantial risks. Those two glasses of wine a day can turn into 3 drinks if they are large glasses or the wine has a higher alcohol content.

My concern is that it is the people who have a drink to relax who then need two to relax, then three, etc. That's really the big risk.

I'd also remind you that you're not going to be able to have a drink to help relax or focus when you have job or when you're taking a test, so if you're having trouble focusing on your studying, you might want to look into methods more likely to help you learn to focus in more generalized situations.

 

[netgypsy]

^ Taylor B, Rehm J, Gmel G (2005). "Moderate alcohol consumption and the gastrointestinal tract". Dig Dis 23 (3-4): 170–6. doi:10.1159/000090163. PMID 16508280

Alcohol at moderate levels has some positive and negative effects on health. The negative effects include increased risk of liver diseases, oropharyngeal cancer, esophageal cancer and pancreatitis. Conversely moderate intake of alcohol may have some beneficial effects on gastritis and cholelithiasis

 

[Nano-Passion]

^ Taylor B, Rehm J, Gmel G (2005). "Moderate alcohol consumption and the gastrointestinal tract". Dig Dis 23 (3-4): 170–6. doi:10.1159/000090163. PMID 16508280

Alcohol at moderate levels has some positive and negative effects on health. The negative effects include increased risk of liver diseases, oropharyngeal cancer, esophageal cancer and pancreatitis. Conversely moderate intake of alcohol may have some beneficial effects on gastritis and cholelithiasis

Sorry I didn't read the article. I would guess that this article doesn't specifically target wine; wouldn't it differ quite a bit from alcohol to alcohol?
I honestly have little to no knowledge of good study methodology, especially when it comes to this field. But there were a couple articles that I found which held a title name that I can at least comprehend.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9434658

And probably not very conclusive at all - http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/014067369291277F

 

[Nano-Passion]

Alcohol gets in the way for me. If you want to relax and focus, I highly recommend doing some meditation or sensory deprivation techniques. And no, you don't have to sit with your legs crossed while humming!

Red wine is great, but even better when not trying to study.

Sensory deprivation techniques?

Meditation never really worked out for me that much. Tell me a bit about meditation though, I was under the impression that sitting with your legs crossed is the best state because your not too relaxed and your not too uncomfortable at the same time.

It might help relax, but not to focus. A glass of wine makes me sleepy, so would not help with getting any kind of work done. Don't let popular press stories fool you either. The potential health benefits of red wine are small and don't outweigh the health risks. If you eat whole grapes (with the skin on), you'll get most of the same benefits without the risk.

What risks?

See, this is why sciences like biology make me incredibly angry soemtimes. Red wine is a cotentious issue in terms of its health benefits. When you see a study that says 'red wine reduces cancer' it doesn't mean that they gave wine to a test groups and followed their progress, in most cases. It's 'we dribbled this chemical, extracted from the skin of red grapes, onto a clump of cells in a laboratory and found that it did some small thing that may be construed as a benefit'. Also there are studies that also say that red wine does not have health benefits and may actually contribute to cancer. If you want to be a scientist, you should at least read these studies briefly instead of espousing weird stuff that you hear on the news. The studies are far, far from conclusive.

If it pleases you to believe that drinking wine will help you with homework, go ahead but I don't see the point of this question.

Well, I kind of trusted website journals to have done the research for me. I'm not familiar with biology. I'm used to physics/science journals, which convey a certain amount of conclusive material.

 

[netgypsy]

Sorry I should have put quotes on this statement which was noted to have come from the article.
^ Taylor B, Rehm J, Gmel G (2005). "Moderate alcohol consumption and the gastrointestinal tract". Dig Dis 23 (3-4): 170–6. doi:10.1159/000090163. PMID 16508280

"Alcohol at moderate levels has some positive and negative effects on health. The negative effects include increased risk of liver diseases, oropharyngeal cancer, esophageal cancer and pancreatitis. Conversely moderate intake of alcohol may have some beneficial effects on gastritis and cholelithiasis"

ethanol is ethanol. The additional ingredients have their own health effects. You want to make wine healthier - put it in food and cook off the alcohol. If you drink a glass of wine once month I suspect your body can detoxify it with not a lot of trouble unless you have other issues but ethanol really isn't very good for you.

 

[lisab]

^ Taylor B, Rehm J, Gmel G (2005). "Moderate alcohol consumption and the gastrointestinal tract". Dig Dis 23 (3-4): 170–6. doi:10.1159/000090163. PMID 16508280

Alcohol at moderate levels has some positive and negative effects on health. The negative effects include increased risk of liver diseases, oropharyngeal cancer, esophageal cancer and pancreatitis. Conversely moderate intake of alcohol may have some beneficial effects on gastritis and cholelithiasis

When I tell people that alcohol is a known carcinogen (group 1 carcinogen, according to IARC), they're often shocked. It's not common knowledge.

 

[Nano-Passion]

Sorry I should have put quotes on this statement which was noted to have come from the article.
^ Taylor B, Rehm J, Gmel G (2005). "Moderate alcohol consumption and the gastrointestinal tract". Dig Dis 23 (3-4): 170–6. doi:10.1159/000090163. PMID 16508280

"Alcohol at moderate levels has some positive and negative effects on health. The negative effects include increased risk of liver diseases, oropharyngeal cancer, esophageal cancer and pancreatitis. Conversely moderate intake of alcohol may have some beneficial effects on gastritis and cholelithiasis"

ethanol is ethanol. The additional ingredients have their own health effects. You want to make wine healthier - put it in food and cook off the alcohol. If you drink a glass of wine once month I suspect your body can detoxify it with not a lot of trouble unless you have other issues but ethanol really isn't very good for you.

So wine doesn't seem so overwhelmingly good for the body after all. Biological phenomena and chemical interactions are much more complex than I once thought. Everything seems to come with good and bad effects on the body.

 

[JDGates]

Takes me back to the first year of grad school -- going out to a bar with classmates on Friday evenings, then back to our offices to work on the monster problem sets due Monday morning. I had to check my work very carefully the next day...

I don't remember ever trying to grade student work after (or while) drinking, but it could only have improved the experience.

 

[mege]

I have tried to do homework or read while having a beer - it slows things down too much. I can't do it.

I generally eat before studying for something important and definitely find that a stimulant of some sort helps (sugar, coffee, pop)

 

[Jasongreat]

It is not recommended for many groups of people, including, but not limited to:
-those who have had addiction issues with alcohol or other drugs
-those with liver problems
-pregnant women
-those taking certain medications
That said, if you do not have a condition that is worsened by alcohol, slowly sipping 1 glass of wine will likely neither help nor hinder your studying.

- which immplies extreme use, or it wouldn't be an addiction
- those with a problemic liver shouldn't drink liquer that needs the liver to digest it.
- it is commonly known not to drink alchohol while pregnant, however a new study suggests chemotherapy is not detrimental to fetuses. If the chemicals in chemotherapy are not bad, even in the high doses administered, a small amount of chemicals shouldn't be too bad,imo.
- Every medication says not to use with alchohol, atleast everyone I have seen.
And I agree, anything in moderation is ok, anything in excess can be bad.

 

[jim hardy]

Ballmer effect?


http://xkcd.com/323/

 

[chiro]

See, this is why sciences like biology make me incredibly angry soemtimes. Red wine is a cotentious issue in terms of its health benefits. When you see a study that says 'red wine reduces cancer' it doesn't mean that they gave wine to a test groups and followed their progress, in most cases. It's 'we dribbled this chemical, extracted from the skin of red grapes, onto a clump of cells in a laboratory and found that it did some small thing that may be construed as a benefit'. Also there are studies that also say that red wine does not have health benefits and may actually contribute to cancer. If you want to be a scientist, you should at least read these studies briefly instead of espousing weird stuff that you hear on the news. The studies are far, far from conclusive.

If it pleases you to believe that drinking wine will help you with homework, go ahead but I don't see the point of this question.

This is something that is going to exist in science for quite a long time.

Apart from issues like trying to isolate the actual 'causes' for a particular process being a source of constant debate providing criticism in both 'positive' and 'negative' ways, the other important to thing to realize is that pretty much most of science is inductive.

When people do an experiment to test something, usually what happens is that an inductive theory is generated from the results of that. It might work and it has in great ways for people like Isaac Newton on different levels and for this reason people will keep doing this because of the successes of people like this.

If you think about though, with its shortcomings I can see that this is a good mindset to have despite the humongous possibility of getting it even mostly wrong because it allows us to have those moments like Newton and Maxwell, even if they are only a handful of the total population.

If we didn't have this mindset, I can't see us really getting much done or anywhere nearly as much done as what we have accomplished so far.

 

[Office_Shredder]

It should also be noted the guy who did all that red wine research might have just made it up

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/12/us-red-wine-heart-idUSTRE80B0BH20120112

 

[ThomasT]

Has anyone tried it? Do you feel that it helps you relax and focus or does it get in the way?

For others who may not know, red wine has many health benefits and it is recommended to drink a glass or two a day.

Wine (or beer or a cocktail) won't help you study or learn, imho. The best condition for learning is to be totally sober. Maybe a little coffee or tea. Better is just water and some sort of snack for energy. This might not be the best recipe for you, but it's what I've come to believe is best for me via years of ... experimenting.

 

[Dembadon]

A glass of wine is enough to inhibit my reasoning ability, making it difficult for me to work through tough problems.

Talking about mathematics/physics/engineering while buzzed is one thing; actually doing it is another matter, so I don't drink while studying.

 

[Pythagorean]

I often found during my freshman and sophomore years that a bit of a buzz helped immensely with my english classes. It increases my ability to bs 10-fold. Otherwise, I was in a permanent state of writer's block.

 

[netgypsy]

No everything in moderation is NOT fine. Ethanol is not good for you even in moderation. (Yes I'll have a beer or a glass of wine on occasion) The study I posted was done on alcohol consumed in moderation. Increased the risks for several cancers and so on.

Eating during studying is also not a good idea. Eat, get over being sleepy and sluggish, then study. You absolutely can't concentrate when you're hungry either. When I taught a 7am class I used to send one student to get food for all the ones who wanted it because most hadn't bothered to eat and were starving. And when I had evening tutoring sessions I did the same thing. You just can't learn when you're really hungry.

You wonder just how many people do badly in courses because they just haven't figured out their optimum study needs?

 

[Loren Booda]

Alcohol and thinking don't mix.

 

[mathwonk]

I agree. It only helps if you are too stressed out to work at all when sober. If you are able to work, you will probably work much more effectively sober. In the first 50 years at least of my life, the one thing that I had to be careful about, was not to take a single drink while trying to do mathematics. If I broke that rule, it always guaranteed that I would soon lose concentration and even fall asleep. It definitely put a short limit on the time I could spend working.

 

[Pythagorean]

I think Christopher Hitchens did wonderful work on scotch.

 

[mangaroosh]

Has anyone tried it? Do you feel that it helps you relax and focus or does it get in the way?

For others who may not know, red wine has many health benefits and it is recommended to drink a glass or two a day.

Just purely going on the logic that we learn a lot by association, I would think that if you can't drink a glass of wine in an exam, then it might affect your ability to recall.

 

[BobG]

Has anyone tried it? Do you feel that it helps you relax and focus or does it get in the way?

For others who may not know, red wine has many health benefits and it is recommended to drink a glass or two a day.

Depends what you're studying.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5VZcY1B8iPM

That just shows a stationary wineglass. Rotating the wineglass is more interesting.

http://www.es.northropgrumman.com/solutions/hrg/assets/hrg.pdf

 

[genericusrnme]

Personally, I chug down a glass of cod liver oil before I study - dem omega-3's

.. Not really, I usually just have a cup of green tea before I study
Not a clue if it helps or not though.

 

[deluks917]

Even 2 shots/glasses and I can't focus on math the rest of he day.

 

[nitsuj]

It raises the question doesn't it? Which drug would be helpfull for studying something as logical as math / engineering / physics ect.

I wonder if there is ginsing and other herbs marketed as "studying aids".

 

[Loren Booda]

Too much Ritalin can make one psychotic.

 

[vorcil]

http://xkcd.com/323/

Ballmer peak is real

Drinking alcohol proven to help

 

[TheStatutoryApe]

Just purely going on the logic that we learn a lot by association, I would think that if you can't drink a glass of wine in an exam, then it might affect your ability to recall.

My friend was working in CogSci and found studies indicating that one's mental state can affect recall. Theoretically if you do your homework while intoxicated and then go to class sober you may not remember it as well. Of course the effects of intoxication may well hinder recall in the first place.

 

[netgypsy]

My friend was working in CogSci and found studies indicating that one's mental state can affect recall. Theoretically if you do your homework while intoxicated and then go to class sober you may not remember it as well. Of course the effects of intoxication may well hinder recall in the first place.

I have some good friends who are fairly functional alcoholics. They work hard and are good people but I pretty much ignore anything they say after dinner because they won't remember it the next day. They are also quicker to anger, more emotional and quite prone to saying things that they would never say without the alcohol. They've tried repeatedly to stop drinking but since they have no idea what they are like after imbibing, they don't think they change at all, but they do - a LOT. It's impacting their health and nearly destroyed one of their businesses as it requires them to be normal for about 18 hours a day and they can't do that. And friends can do nothing because it's LEGAL.

 

[Nano-Passion]

It raises the question doesn't it? Which drug would be helpfull for studying something as logical as math / engineering / physics ect.

I wonder if there is ginsing and other herbs marketed as "studying aids".

My psychology professor used to vow for Ginga Biloba aiding your thinking processes. For one he said that it helps lower stress and thins the blood, allowing for better blood flow to the brain.

Can anyone confirm this?