Host: How does having a drink help a person relax?
Judith W. Cousins: When a person has a drink, what happens to them physiologically, is that their nervous system starts to slow down a bit and chemically the front part of their brain, the prefrontal cortex that s the place where we regulate our emotions and regulate our behavior and when we start to drink then our inhibitions start to calm down a bit, start to loosen up. So, that helps people to relax.
The other piece of that is psychological. When people are in a situation where they are having a glass of wine or a beer, just the idea of being with friends or just the idea for sitting down and having a beer watching a football game, that helps them to relax as well. So, there is a psychological, social and physiological reason.
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How does having a drink help a person relax?