There are many reasons why people drink alcohol, it could be an escape from the real world, to feel powerful and forget our problems or simply to enjoy ourselves at a social gathering and have fun with friends and acquaintances.

There are many common assumptions about the benefits of alcohol which are not true. Some of them are listed below:

Most of us believe that if we have drunk alcohol, it is not harmful as long as you are still in your senses. This is not true, research has shown that alcohol is absorbed by the blood and causes changes in our physical behaviour, in fact, the lack of visible effects on the body is a sign that something is wrong and an indicator that all is not well.

Another common misconception is alcohol reduces the effects of cholesterol and helps to fight heart problems, studies show that the drinking alcohol increases the cholesterol in your body and causes the arteries in your heart to get blocked, leading to fatal heart attacks.

There are many who wrongly believe that alcohol does not affect the brain, research has shown that alcohol has harmful effects on the brain, it prevents you from making rational decisions, it makes you feel weak, numb and is the major cause of road accidents due to drunk driving.

Alcohol makes you feel alive and energetic is the most common myth that has been handed down to us from generation to generation. Studies have proven that alcohol has a negative effect on your bones, causes damage of the skin cells and gives one an appearance of wrinkles on the skin and premature ageing.

It is said that alcohol improves your immunity, although alcohol does have healing properties, drinking it as a mixture of alcohol with other beverages, has a negative impact on the immune system and it's ability to protect the body and fight life threatening diseases.

Drinking is believed to help us improve our social lives, make new friends and helps us to express ourselves, the reality is drinking alcohol can have just the opposite effect, speaking the truth and expressing yourself without thinking of the consequences, can actually break up relationships and cause people to stay away from you.

Teenagers think that by drinking alcohol, it makes them cool and be popular among their friends, unfortunately drinking alcohol can disrupt their ability to learn, cause behavioural problems such as engaging in anti social activities and alcohol addiction.

Coffee is believed to fight sleepiness, but they do not contribute anything to improving your focus and concentration after a night of heavy drinking.

People think that drinking alcohol can help you to sleep better, there is no research to prove that drinking alcohol improves the quality of sleep.

When we are desperate and are suffering from either mental or physical problems, we turn to alcohol to reduce the pain, this is not good, mixing alcohol with medication, can make the pain worse and have disastrous effects on your health.

To conclude, happy hours sound like fun in the here and now, long term you will not be so happy about the choice you made, know the facts, do not allow alcohol to control the way you behave, enjoy life to the fullest and take care of your health.