You shouldn’t drink wine while stressed

It might be the only thing that gets us through a crappy work day sometimes, but research claims having a glass of wine to relax could be doing more harm than good.

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While it’s tempting to seek solace in some Shiraz after a stressful day, a study from the University of Pennsylvania examined the effects of stress drinking in rats – with interesting results.

Scientists exposed a group of rats to stress and then gave them a mixture of sugar water and ethanol, measuring how much they drank.

The stressed rats not only drank more than the non-stressed control group, but they continued to drink more for several weeks afterwards.

Researchers believe the rats natural pleasure response was weakened by stress, meaning drinking alcohol didn’t have the same effect – which in turn saw them drink more.

Ah, the vicious cycle of sad drinking – now we know there’s an actual scientific reason for it!