Alcohol plays a pivotal role in the history of human civilization. True or not? I don’t know. But what is true is it has been used to preserve food, ceremonial purposes, kind of currency in medieval England. That what I found recently in one of the sociology book that I read.
Alcohol beverages were first drunk after humans abandoned their hunter-gatherer lifestyle and started farming. Probably coincidental, it started as a fortuitous accident when grapes or other fruit that were collected for eating fermented in their storage containers. While the liquid produced by fermenting plant matter would have been decidedly beneficial, the art of producing alcoholic beverages spread rapidly.
Historically, beer and wine were both produced in Egypt at least 4000 BC while rice wine was produced in China 9000 years ago. Beer was the main beverage among the Babylonians, who lived in present-day Iraq.
Alcohol is absorbed directly into the blood stream through the stomach and small intestine. reaching the brain within a few minutes. Although it acts as a stimulant i.e it reduce inhibition and relax people, alcohol is also a depressant that slows down the central nervous system and brain function. The combined suppression and stimulation slows down the brain’s response rate.
I have seen my colleagues while in Japan after drinking ‘sake’ which is Japanase-made alcohol, developed euphoria, talkativeness and heighten self-confidence, to the extend that she spoke much more than the Chairman who host our dinner. If she just add a few glass more, she surely will develop disorientation, slurred speech and memory loss.
Muslim are prohibited from drinking alcohol for the same reasons. Qur’an outlines that it is the intoxication, which makes one forgetful of God and prayer, which is harmful. Over the years, the list of intoxicating substances has come to include more modern street drugs and the like. Wallaualam.
Idea-logy 