Gott að vera hæfileg hífaður?

Samkvæmt þessari frétt í Globe and Mail er það góð varúðarráðstöfun að vera hæfilega hífaður.  Hæfilegt magn áfengis verndar heilann í alvarlegum áföllum.

Eða eins og segir í fréttinni:

"The researchers say this suggests alcohol-based fluids might be a helpful treatment in head trauma cases, once accident victims have been well stabilized.

Trauma specialists from Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto and the Department of National Defence studied the records of severe head trauma victims that Sunnybrook had cared for from 1988 through 2003.

They found that those with low to moderate blood-alcohol readings were 24 per cent less likely to die in hospital of their injuries than patients with no alcohol in their blood."

Hitt ber svo reyndar á að líta, að hættan á alvarlegum áföllum eykst við það að vera "hæfilega hífaður", eins og segir reyndar einnig í fréttinni:

"Lead author Dr. Homer Tien said the findings send a signal that alcohol may be protecting the injured brain, but more study is needed before doctors could even think about testing alcohol-based fluids as a treatment for severe head trauma.

And the director of trauma at McGill University Health Centre in Montreal warned that alcohol raises the risk of having an injury in the first place. So Dr. Tarek Razek said if the choice is no drinking and no accidents versus moderate drinking and better chances of surviving head trauma, people should pick the former."

Þetta verður því dálítið eins og með hænuna og eggið.  Það er ef til vill betra að vera dulítið hífaður ef til óhapps kemur, en að sama skapi eykur það líkurnar á því að til óhapps komi. 

Það er vissulega vandlifað.