Dr. Jacqui Barker

Sure.

Yeah.

I mean, I think one of the challenges is being informed.

And I think it's really awesome that you're starting this conversation because being able to have the information to make a smart choice about whether you want to enjoy a beer or two beers, or maybe you make that near beer decision, it starts with that information.

And I think there's a growing appreciation that even small amounts of alcohol do impact our brain, do impact behavior.

But so do a lot of other things we do, eating lunch meat, sodas, living in a city where you have to rely on cars.

And so we're all making choices across our lives about which rewards are valuable enough to us to maybe take some risk alongside them.

Jackie, do you drink?

I do.

Well, I think that the answer to this is yes and no.

Right.

So I hope Tom will weigh in as well.

But I think part of this is that the way we drink different alcohol is often very different.

Tequila shots might look like a very different night than red wine on your couch.

And the speed that you consume that alcohol, whether you're eating with your alcohol or having a night out dancing, whether you're staying hydrated alongside that is going to have a variety of different effects on that next morning and on how you associate learned experiences and environmental outcomes with

that particular alcohol.

And so I think a lot of people I hear also, you know, I have a really fun time.

I get, we used to call it getting wheels when I was in college, when I have tequila, or I always feel really relaxed and want to read a book when I have red wine.

That's not necessarily the difference of the alcohol.

It's the context and how you've learned to consume those alcohols.