I'll Drink To That

Interesting little article out of Reuterville about alchohol and head injuries which illustrates a belief I've held for years:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Alcohol is to blame in many accidents that cause major head injuries, but it also might help people survive after they get hurt, researchers said on Monday. Researchers examined data on 1,158 patients treated at a Toronto hospital for severe brain injury due to blunt trauma from 1988 and 2003.

Those with blood-alcohol levels up to 0.23 percent -- nearly three times the common legal limit of 0.08 percent -- were 24 percent more likely to survive their injuries than patients entering the hospital with no alcohol in their bloodstream, the study found.

But patients with even higher alcohol levels in their blood were 73 percent more likely to die than those with none, the study also found.

In other words, while heavy boozing is bad, one should try to live one's life in
a general state of squiffiness. Works for me.