You don’t have to be a scientist to realize that a drink at the end of a long, stressful day makes everything a bit better (or bedtime easier to face, for parents). The reason? A release of feel-good brain chemicals like endorphins, dopamine, and norepinephrine.
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Also? You can take that experience to the next level if you take that drink into the shower, NYC surgeon Dr. Christopher Hollingsworth told Fatherly.
“The shower beer is actually a great way to improve productivity and creativity. Showers are a great way to release dopamine, and adding one drink to that can assist your creative juices due to your relaxed mindset.”
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Note to self: also try this the next time writer’s block rears its ugly head.
Science has been aware of the brain’s reward centers for decades, but it wasn’t until recently that we learned how alcohol floods the brain’s pleasure centers with endorphins.
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Now, this isn’t an endorsement of alcoholism, friends (though it could help explain it), but rather the act of enjoying a drink or so a day responsibly in order to reduce stress and keep your brain as happy as possible.
Neurology professor and study co-author Jennifer Mitchell said about the mechanism by which alcohol releases endorphins, “This is something that we’ve speculated about for 30 years, based on animal studies, but haven’t observed in humans until now…It provides the first direct evidence of how alcohol makes people feel good.”
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Having that drink a day in the shower could as much as double the typical shower benefits of deep thought, creativity, and relaxation – there’s even a subreddit and advertisements dedicated to the idea!
“The extra release of dopamine from the shower, added with the initial benefits of the ‘one drink a day’ philosophy, can actually help reduce stress a lot,” promises Hollingsworth.
Drink responsibly, my friends, but if you can combine showers and beer to lead a more relaxed, creative life there’s almost zero chance you’ll regret it.
