THE ESSENTIAL
- According to the recommendations of Public Health France, you should consume a maximum of two glasses of alcohol per day, not every day and, at most, 10 glasses per week.
- Alcohol consumption is responsible for more than 200 illnesses and various attacks in France each year.
According to a study recently published in the journal Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, reservists are more likely to become alcoholics within a year of returning home than other members of the military. Researchers cite two main reasons for this phenomenon.
A feeling of emptiness compensated by alcohol
First of all, the return home is quite violent for these people who are not professional soldiers because they go from a dangerous, unusual environment where they are very stressed to a much calmer universe. It can be experienced as a shock, a feeling of emptiness to which they are not psychologically trained. The other reason given by the researchers is therefore that having lived through the war is a trauma in itself that can haunt these people… And drinking alcohol sometimes helps to soothe and reduce these negative emotions.
Stimulation of the endorphin system
The reason is simple: alcohol stimulates the endorphinic system. In general, when the individual has pain or feels stress, the endorphinic system secretes endorphins which give him a feeling of well-being and relaxation. In a way, endorphins decrease the negative effects of pain or stress on our body. This effect is the same with the psychological problems encountered by soldiers. And alcohol soothes them.
Declarative questionnaires
To arrive at these results, the researchers analyzed the answers to questionnaires of more than 4,500 soldiers of the American National Guard who returned from Iraq in 2010. In them, there are of course asked for data relating to the consumption of alcohol and narcotics, but also psychological information. Then the scientists compared them with those of professional military personnel and former work carried out on the National Guard.
More alcoholism among reservists at the front
Result: The reservists who were at the front had a higher rate of heavy alcohol consumption when they returned home (29.9%), compared to those who had not been deployed on this war ground (24, 1%) or to career military personnel. Finally, according to the scientists, this risk was higher throughout the year following the return home. They therefore plead for these reservists to have better training before going to the field but also better psychological monitoring when they return.