Research, explained
Every article stands on its own: one study, one clear takeaway you can use today.
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Teen hours on Snapchat and TikTok track with drinking. YouTube hours don't
A year-long study of 1,522 teens finds Snapchat, TikTok, and Instagram hours track with substance use, while YouTube hours don't.
Why the NoLo boom isn't reaching the people who need it most
New research from Britain shows why people who drink to cope with depression don't switch to NoLo drinks, even when they drink heavily.
Alcohol-free hobbies predicted less heavy drinking after treatment, especially in poor areas
A study of 1,726 people in alcohol treatment found sober activities cut heavy drinking more in low-income communities.
Korean students who just logged their drinking drank less - advice didn't help
A Korean study found that simply tracking your drinking with a smartphone app worked as well as adding personalized feedback and genetic reports.
A brain pathway linked to binge drinking runs in opposite directions for men and women
A 593-person brain scan study links a hippocampus-to-reward-circuit pathway to binge drinking, with opposite effects by sex on one side.
A purpose-built snack bar dropped peak blood alcohol by 30% in a tiny trial
A small RCT tested a snack bar designed to blunt blood alcohol before drinking, cutting peak levels by about 30 percent.
16% of Billboard hits mention alcohol - and the sound tells you which ones
Researchers analyzed 6,110 Billboard hits and found the audio fingerprint that predicts alcohol references in song lyrics.
Stress doesn't push most young drinkers to drink. Impulsivity does.
Negative mood reduces drinking in the moment. Impulsivity overrides it, and the mechanism shifts with how heavily you drink.
Cutting back on alcohol can move your liver disease into a lower-risk category
A 2.7 million person Korean study finds liver disease risk drops significantly when people cut back on drinking, even after heavy use.
Drinking with dinner may cut stroke risk by 43%, a genetics study suggests
Mendelian randomization links alcohol with meals, dried fruit, and cheese to lower stroke risk. The 43% figure for the alcohol habit is the surprising part.
Two in three heavy drinkers already wanted to change. The app worked only for them.
A digital alcohol tool cut high-intensity drinking, but only among users who had set a change goal. What an RCT on 156 young adults found.
The most intoxicated people were the worst at estimating how drunk they were
At high BAC, people underestimate their intoxication the most. A new RCT shows that estimate - not felt impairment - predicts the decision to drive.