Alcohol vs THC
10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.
It’s Q&A Day at 10almonds!
Have a question or a request? We love to hear from you!
In cases where we’ve already covered something, we might link to what we wrote before, but will always be happy to revisit any of our topics again in the future too—there’s always more to say!
As ever: if the question/request can be answered briefly, we’ll do it here in our Q&A Thursday edition. If not, we’ll make a main feature of it shortly afterwards!
So, no question/request too big or small 😎
❝Can you do the pros and cons of thc vs alcohol?❞
We can!
First let’s note: this is certainly a case of “the lesser evil”, as both come with health risks.
As for the benefits, for both the main reason people take them is for relaxation—or to frame it the other way around: for relief from stress, anxiety, or other psychological woes. In more overt cases of self-medication, it can be in pursuit of alleviating physical pain.
Taking the “pros” in isolation, it’s reasonable to say that THC is, for most people, the winner. Enjoying the positive effects requires much smaller doses than alcohol, as it’s much more potent, mg for mg.
It’s also worth noting that for some people (such as those in great pain), it may well be that the benefits subjectively outweigh the risks, and in a subset of those people (such as those with terminal illness and a life expectancy being measured in weeks or days), the benefits may outweigh any risks.
Writer’s anecdote: once upon a very long time ago, my grandfather was dying—in hospital, and the prognosis was “it’s going to be today or maybe tomorrow”. He (a lifelong lover of Scotch whisky) wanted a Scotch; the hospital staff forbade it. There is a kind of logic there—if it made him sick, they could be blamed for making his last hours miserable and I’m sure they imagined headlines of being blamed for making a dying man sick with strong alcohol. Nevertheless, some Scotch was smuggled in for him by a member of his family. Was he fine? Well, no, he died. But that was already expected, and respecting his choice was deemed more important by the family. Was it the right choice? Who’s to say? But it was certainly an understandable, and contextually rational one, in a “what’s the worst that can happen” setting.
All this to say, for some people the pros may subjectively outweigh any potential cons.
See also: Science-Based Alternative Pain Relief: When Painkillers Aren’t Helping, These Things Might
The other “pros” of THC are more a matter of “it’s less bad than alcohol”, so let’s look at the cons:
The lesser evil?
There is a wealth of scientific evidence that alcohol is very bad for pretty much everything. Yes, even for heart health, yes, even the famous “small glass of red”: Can We Drink To Good Health?
For how that myth got started, see French biochemist Jessie Inchauspé’s explanation: Are You Making This Alcohol Mistake?
Alcohol also increases all-cause mortality at any dose (even “low-risk drinking”): Alcohol Consumption Patterns and Mortality Among Older Adults
…and the World Health Organization has declared that the only safe amount of alcohol is zero: WHO: No level of alcohol consumption is safe for our health
But what of alcohol and cancer? According to the American Association of Cancer Research’s latest report, more than half of Americans do not know that alcohol increases the risk of cancer, which you can read more about here: How Much Alcohol Does It Take To Increase Cancer Risk?
Meanwhile, there is a paucity of high-quality evidence for THC (good or bad). That’s not to say that the science hasn’t been done at all, but it is to say that while decades of “the war on drugs” might have done nothing to curtail drug use, the illegality of such in many places (especially the US) really slowed down scientific research to a crawl. So, we have to make do with much weaker evidence, and a lot of unanswered questions.
One thing we can say is that the risk of developing a substance use disorder is much lower for THC than for alcohol:
See: Prevalence of Marijuana Use Disorders in the United States Between 2001–2002 and 2012–2013
If you prefer just the stats without the science, here’s the CDC’s rendering of that: Addiction (Marijuana or Cannabis Use Disorder)
So, that’s a point in THC’s favor.
What about heart health? Both substances are popularly considered relaxing, and as such, by “common sense”, good for the heart. We’ve shown above how the opposite is true in the case of alcohol, so how does THC stack up?
We discussed, a little while back, new research that showed that cannabis users have a higher risk of heart attacks, even among younger and otherwise healthy individuals. This is based on analyzing data from 4,636,628 relatively healthy adults.
Specifically, the data showed that even young healthy cannabis users get:
- Sixfold increased risk of heart attack
- Fourfold increased risk of ischemic stroke
- Threefold increased risk of cardiovascular death, heart attack, or stroke
There’s nuance to this (and none of it is favor of cannabis), and you can read about that here: Cannabis & Heart Attacks
Nevertheless, those numbers are worse than the numbers for alcohol, so that’s a point in alcohol’s favor.
How about brain health? Well, neither are fabulous in the long-run, but putting them head-to-head in this category is essentially a matter of “it destroys neurons” (alcohol) vs “cannabis use disorder can cause problems especially if for example someone is already prone to psychosis, but occasional use is not* significantly associated with such problems” (THC).
*On a big data level, anyway. Of course anything can happen for an individual, and science rarely speaks in absolutes in this regard.
Learn more about each of these: How Does Alcohol Cause Blackouts? vs Cannabis & Mental Health: Good Or Bad?
So that’s another point in THC’s favor.
How do they compare for sleep disruption? Since both are used by many people to help get to sleep, but both disrupt the quality of that sleep once there, this can be an important consideration.
The short version is: alcohol is bad for all aspects of sleep, while THC increases delta-wave deep sleep (restorative rest), but does this at the cost of REM sleep: Sweet Dreams Are Made of THC (Or Are They?)
So, given that’s “all bad” for alcohol and “mixed bag” for THC, we’re going to say THC wins on this one.
Yes, there’s a lesser evil:
On balance, this means that for most people, THC has somewhat more potent benefits, and relatively fewer/lesser risks, than alcohol.
If you’d like to quit alcohol, check out: How To Reduce Or Quit Alcohol
If you’d like a reassuring timeline of how long it takes for various body parts/systems to recover from alcohol, see: What Happens To Your Body When You Stop Drinking Alcohol
Finally, before you take up the use of THC, if you haven’t already, you might want to swing by: Cannabis Myths vs Reality
…for some important considerations not covered above as they didn’t change the head-to-head comparison.
Take care!
Don’t Forget…
Did you arrive here from our newsletter? Don’t forget to return to the email to continue learning!
Recommended
Learn to Age Gracefully
Join the 98k+ American women taking control of their health & aging with our 100% free (and fun!) daily emails:
-
Muir Glen Organic vs First Field Original – Which is Healthier?
10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.
Our Verdict
When comparing Muir Glen Organic Ketchup to First Field Original Ketchup, we picked the First Field.
Why?
This one was a little unfair to you, as you can’t turn them around to read the ingredients here. But the point we want to share the most today is: you have to turn them around and read the ingredients! You absolutely cannot rely on appearances!
While the Muir Glen Organic may have a very “greenwashed” aesthetic going on and the word “organic” is more eye-catching than any other word on the label, it contains 4x as much sugar and 4x as much sodium.
Side-by-side, they have, per tablespoon:
First Field Original: 1g sugar, 60mg sodium
Muir Glen Organic: 4g sugar, 240mg sodiumBut what about the importance of being organic?
Well, we have one more surprise for you: the First Field ketchup is organic too, non-GMO, and contains no added concentrates either.
This isn’t an ad for First Field (by all means enjoy their products or don’t; we’re not invested), but it is a heartfelt plea to always check the backs of products and read the labels, because fronts of products can’t be relied upon at all.
I’m sure we all get caught out sometimes, but the less often, the better!
PS: we write this, of course, before seeing the results of your voting. Maybe it won’t be a “Muir Glen Organic” sweep in the polls. But either way, it’s a call to vigilance, and a “very good, carry on” to everyone who does this already
Share This Post
-
10 Skin Warning Signs You Should Never Ignore
10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.
Do you have armpits? Don’t ignore them!
Heed the signs:
Without further ado, they are:
- Acanthosis nigricans: dark, velvety brown skin thickening on the neck, underarms, backs of the hands, or sides of the face can signal insulin resistance, prediabetes, or PMOS. The good news, however, is that despite common concerns of such, sudden widespread onset is rarely associated with cancer.
- Unexplained bruising: bruises appearing without remembered injury may be linked to platelet disorders, clotting disorders, vitamin deficiencies, liver disease, certain cancers, or medications such as blood thinners and corticosteroids; bruising accompanied by nosebleeds, bleeding gums, or large purple patches is especially concerning and merits medical attention.
- Yellowing of the skin or eyes: jaundice can indicate liver disease, bile duct obstruction, or increased breakdown of red blood cells; yellowing often appears under the tongue and inside the mouth before becoming obvious elsewhere. It’s worth knowing that unlike harmless carotene-related skin discoloration (i.e. you drank a lot of carrot juice and turned orange), jaundice also affects the eyes and mouth.
- Severe itching without a rash: persistent whole-body itching lasting more than six weeks with no visible rash can be associated with liver disease, kidney disease, thyroid disorders, iron deficiency, or cancers such as Hodgkin lymphoma. Itching triggered by showering is another warning sign.
- Thick, waxy, or tight skin: swollen, shiny, waxy skin on the shins may occur with Graves’ disease, while skin tightening on the fingers may suggest diabetes or Scleroderma, particularly when hand mobility becomes restricted.
- Butterfly rash on the face: a rash across the cheeks and nose that spares the folds beside the nose famously may indicate systemic lupus erythematosus, especially if it worsens with sun exposure and is accompanied by fatigue or joint pain.
- Dark streaks under the nails: a new dark band in a single nail, particularly one that widens, contains multiple colors, or extends onto the surrounding skin, can be a warning sign of melanoma and should be evaluated for such.
- Sudden hair shedding: rapid diffuse hair loss, known as telogen effluvium, often occurs about three months after a physical stressor and may be associated with thyroid disease, iron deficiency, infection, surgery, trauma, nutritional deficiencies, pregnancy, or rapid weight loss.
- Non-healing wounds or recurrent infections: cuts, scrapes, or ulcers that remain open for more than four weeks generally suggest poor circulation, vascular disease, diabetes, or impaired immune function.
- Yellow, thick, or crumbly nails: commonly caused by a fungal infection, but when accompanied by respiratory symptoms and leg swelling, they may indicate bigger problems and should be checked out.
For more on all of this plus visual illustrations, enjoy:
Click Here If The Embedded Video Doesn’t Load Automatically!
Want to learn more?
You might also like:
What Your Skin Texture Says About Your Health
Take care!
Share This Post
-
Ex-Cyclone Alfred has left flooding in its wake. Here’s how floods affect our health
10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.
Ex-Cyclone Alfred is bringing significant rainfall to southeast Queensland and the Northern Rivers of New South Wales. Flooding has hit Lismore, Ballina, Grafton, Brisbane and Hervey Bay, which received 150 mm of rainfall in two hours this morning.
Tragically, a 61-year-old man died after being swept away in floodwaters near Dorrigo in northern New South Wales.
More heavy rain and flash flooding is expected in the coming days as the weather system moves inland and weakens.
Climate change is making these weather events more intense and frequent. Earlier this year, far north Queensland experienced major flooding. As residents of the Northern Rivers, this latest disaster is especially tough because only three years ago we faced the catastrophic 2022 floods.
We’ve studied the impact of floods on human health and wellbeing, and found floods are linked to a range of physical and mental health effects in both the short- and long-term.
So what might you experience if you live in an area affected by these floods?
We reviewed the evidence
We recently reviewed research on the physical and mental health impacts of floods across mainland Australia. We included 69 studies in our review, published over 70 years. The majority were from the past ten years, examining the effects of floods in Queensland and NSW.
These studies suggest people can expect a range of health impacts. Immediate physical health effects of floods include drowning, falls and injuries.
Chronic diseases such as diabetes or renal disease can also worsen due to factors such as reduced access to transport, health-care services, medications and hospitals.
Exposure to contaminated floodwaters can lead to skin infections, while respiratory problems can occur due to mould and damp housing in the aftermath of floods.
Floods also create ideal conditions for mosquito borne infections such as Ross River virus and Murray Valley encephalitis, while also spreading infectious diseases including leptospirosis, a bacterial infection from contaminated soil.
There are mental health consequences too
Our review showed floods also affect mental health. The more you’re exposed to floodwaters in your home or business, the worse the mental health impacts are likely to be.
The After the Flood study examined mental health and wellbeing outcomes six months after the 2017 flood in the Northern Rivers. It found people who had floodwater in their home, yard or business, or who were displaced from their home for a more than six months, were much more likely to have probable post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety or depression, compared to those who didn’t experience flooding or weren’t displaced.
Repeated natural disasters could compound these mental health consequences. Southeast Queensland and the Northern Rivers in NSW have experienced multiple disasters over recent years. The Northern Rivers faced major flooding in 2017, bushfires in 2020, further major floods in 2022, and now Cyclone Alfred in 2025. These repeated disasters have taken a toll on our community, creating a seemingly never-ending cycle of recovery, rebuilding and preparation for the next disaster.
Our understanding of the unique challenges faced by communities which experience multiple disasters is still growing. However, a recent Australian study showed exposure to repeated disasters has a compounding effect on people’s mental health, leading to worse mental health outcomes compared to people who experience a single disaster.
Mums and babies
The health effects of floods extend far beyond the initial emergency and beyond the infections and mental health consequences you might expect.
The Queensland Flood Study tracked pregnant women exposed to the 2011 Brisbane floods. Researchers assessed mothers’ stress related to the flood and tracked them and their children at six weeks old, six months, 16 months, 2.5 years, four and six years. It found some links between prenatal stress and developmental outcomes in children.
Some evidence suggests maternal stress from floods can affect children’s development. Nastyaofly/Shutterstock While the health effects after flooding are diverse, the research to date is not comprehensive. We need to learn more about how floods contribute to or exacerbate existing chronic illnesses, disability and long-term mental health issues.
The impacts are inequitable
Flooding exposes and worsens existing inequalities. Socially vulnerable groups are more likely to be exposed to flooding in their homes and have less access to resources to respond and recover from these events, putting some groups at higher risk of negative health impacts afterwards.
Some research has looked at the disproportionate impacts on people with disabilities and their carers, First Nations communities and people from disadvantaged backgrounds.
After the 2017 Northern Rivers floods, for example, people with disability and their carers were more likely than others to:
- experience disrupted access to food, support networks and essentials such as health care and social services
- continue to be distressed about the flood six months after it happened
- be at relatively high risk of post-traumatic stress disorder six months after the flood.
However, targeted flood research exploring the experiences of these vulnerable groups in Australia is limited.
Moving forward, it’s vital we examine the varied impacts of flood events for more vulnerable groups, so we can better support them in the wake of devastating events such as Cyclone Alfred.
If this article has raised issues for you, or if you’re concerned about someone you know, call Lifeline on 13 11 14.
Jodie Bailie, Senior Research Fellow, The University Centre for Rural Health and The Centre for Disability Research and Policy, University of Sydney; Jo Longman, Senior Research Fellow, The University Centre for Rural Health, University of Sydney; Rebecca McNaught, Research Fellow, Rural and Remote Health, University of Sydney, and Ross Bailie, School of Public Health, Honorary Professor, University of Sydney
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
Share This Post
Related Posts
-
How Exercise Rewires Your Brain for Better Mental Wellbeing
10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.
Dr. Tracey Marks, psychiatrist, explains what happens immediately, and what happens over the long term:
For now and for later
First of all, a single workout can already alter brain chemistry and protect against stress. In the longer term, exercise promotes neurogenesis, primarily in the hippocampus, improving memory and reversing brain aging. It also strengthens the prefrontal cortex, which is critical for decision-making, focus, and emotional regulation.
In more general terms, exercise boosts brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) levels, which in turn boost neuron growth and connectivity.
Exercise also promotes angiogenesis (blood vessel construction), improving oxygen and nutrient delivery to the brain.
Timeline of benefits:
- Immediate: increased blood flow and temporary BDNF spike.
- Weeks: new neurons, connections, and blood vessel growth.
- Months: visible brain volume changes and better brain connectivity.
Dr. Marks’ Timing Tips
- Morning: boosts energy and helps regulate the circadian rhythm.
- Midday: resets stress levels (specifically: to low)
- Evening: helps process emotions (but it’s still recommended to avoid high-intensity exercise close to bedtime)
For more on all of this, enjoy:
Click Here If The Embedded Video Doesn’t Load Automatically!
Wondering what kind of exercise is best?
You might also like to read:
The Neuroscientist In The Gym: Dr. Wendy Suzuki Explains The Exercise That Protects Your Brain
Take care!
Don’t Forget…
Did you arrive here from our newsletter? Don’t forget to return to the email to continue learning!
Learn to Age Gracefully
Join the 98k+ American women taking control of their health & aging with our 100% free (and fun!) daily emails:
-
But First, Inner Peace – by Case Kenny
10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.
Thinking positively and vividly imagining a Ferrari parked in your driveway will not, in fact, cause it to manifest there.
You know what that method does work for, though? Feelings.
This book is essentially a guided thought-and-feeling modelling system that, consisting of 60 chapters to be taken one-per-day, aims to rewire your mind for inner peace.
This is not, however, just a matter of “imagine peacefulness”, or nice-sounding platitudes. Rather, at the end of each chapter there is an exercise and journaling prompts; effectively, work to do along the way.
Weighing in at 438 pages, this is a sizeable book, but part of that is because of the space to write answers to journaling prompts. Still, it’s not exactly a pamphlet, either—there is serious and extensive content here too.
Like any daily reader, you can zip through it all at once if you like, but a benefit to doing the chapter-a-day approach is that it sets a habit of mindful reflection, and gives you a chance to implement each thing, one per day, building up new habits in that regard, too. In contrast, reading it all in one sitting wouldn’t give that.
Bottom line: without inner peace, we don’t have much. Treat yourself—you deserve it.
Click here to check out But First, Inner Peace, and enjoy inner peace!
Don’t Forget…
Did you arrive here from our newsletter? Don’t forget to return to the email to continue learning!
Learn to Age Gracefully
Join the 98k+ American women taking control of their health & aging with our 100% free (and fun!) daily emails:
-
How The FDA Can Let Potentially Dangerous Chemicals Into Your Food
10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.
If you’ve been paying attention to the news, you might have noticed the FDA being more than a bit beleaguered this year, for example:
After The Recent Wave Of Food Recalls…
So, it’s not the all-powerful regulatory titan it was once popularly considered, and its resources are getting thinner.
This is part of why we are seeing such stories as: Is Your Medication Made in a Contaminated Factory? The FDA Won’t Tell You.
So, what’s going on with food ingredients?
Hear no, see no, speak no…
The crux of this comes in two parts:
- Companies rely on the “generally recognized as safe” (GRAS) labelling system, created in the 1950s, which allows ingredients considered obviously safe (such as salt or vinegar) to be used without formal FDA review.
- Manufacturers can declare their own ingredients safe without notifying the FDA, meaning regulators may never examine the scientific evidence behind some additives.
So in other words, there are a lot of cases where FDA didn’t find a problem with the ingredients because they simply didn’t look!
You may be wondering whether this is more of an issue for obscure brands, but as it turns out substances lacking FDA review appear in foods from brands sold at retailers such as Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods.
So, how much of an issue is this?
It can vary wildly. For example, food products containing tara flour, previously treated as GRAS, were linked to more than 300 illnesses and 113 hospitalizations over the course of a year.
And there are a lot of mysteries, for example, a review of US regulatory records by the Environmental Working Group (EWG) found 111 food substances used in common products that were never reviewed for safety by the FDA.
Of those, cross-referencing with the USDA FoodData Central database (that’s what we use for our “This or That” comparisons, by the way, we pull the numbers from that database), found that 49 of those 111 substances had not even been reported to regulators. That is to say, they went a level lower than liberally self-certifying as safe, and just went with a “what they don’t know can’t hurt them” approach, and just proceeded as if they weren’t putting them in their foods.
Sometimes, the ingredient itself is not the problem, ontologically. Rather, it’s what’s happened to it along the way!
For example the EWG report identified 22 plant extracts—themselves perfectly innocuous and even healthful things such as green tea, mushroom, cinnamon, cocoa, and aloe vera—whose extraction processes can alter their chemistry and can introduce solvents or toxins.
So it matters not just what the thing is, but also how it got to be there.
You can read about this from the EWG itself, here: Secret GRAS: How 100+ food chemicals bypassed government safety review
And for background context: Almost all new food chemicals greenlighted by industry, not the FDA ← this is from last year
Want to keep yourself safe?
Or for a much deeper dive into the broader topic of avoiding the toxins the industrial world is keen to throw our way, you might like this book that we reviewed a little while back:
Healthy Living in a Contaminated World – by Dr. Donald Hoernschemeyer
You might also consider this simpler, practical guide: Unprocess Your Life – by Rob Hobson
Take care!
Don’t Forget…
Did you arrive here from our newsletter? Don’t forget to return to the email to continue learning!
Learn to Age Gracefully
Join the 98k+ American women taking control of their health & aging with our 100% free (and fun!) daily emails:
