It’s usually fairly easy to justify even the most esoteric of scientific research in terms of improving our fundamental understanding of the universe etc etc. But, when a press release pops up announcing that drinking [alcohol] can be dangerous and that “People who drink alcohol are up to four times more likely than non-drinkers to be hurt from physical injuries such as a fall or punch…” you begin to wonder about your convictions. Apparently, this astounding discovery was made by researchers at the University of Queensland, Australia, who found that, “any alcohol consumption quadrupled the risk of injury for the first six hours after drinking alcohol and this risk remained at 2.5 times that of a non drinker for the next 24 hours.”
Do you have to have had a drink to be punched, I guess the inhibition inhibiting effects of alcohol can make some people say more provocative things that might offend someone and land them in a fight, but what about someone having a few “tinnies” alone in an armchair watching Aussie soap opera Neighbours or listening to Kylie? Are they more likely to suffer an injury or more weirdly get punched.
Some people might say that if they’re really watching Neighbours or listening to Kylie they deserve all they get, but Kerianne Watt earned her PhD for also discovering that, “people who sustained serious injuries were more likely to have consumed beer and have been drinking in a licensed premises” and “Binge drinkers were more at risk of being injured than regular drinkers”.
“My findings suggest that it’s not a property of the beverage that increases aggression and risk of injury, it’s more a personality characteristic that is attracted to a certain type of alcohol,” Watt says.
I suppose the research can be justified in terms of understanding the nature of alcohol abuse and how it relates to injury rates and it probably is quite useful to know what kinds of drink are most associated with injury, but strewth this still feels like this should have been published in the Australian Journal of the Bleedin Obvious (Aus J Bleed Obv), don’t you think?
You can read the complete press release here.