{"id":4516,"date":"2010-08-12T14:18:50","date_gmt":"2010-08-12T19:18:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/?p=4516"},"modified":"2010-09-03T10:29:27","modified_gmt":"2010-09-03T15:29:27","slug":"hot-topic-drinking-and-hot-weather","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/2010\/08\/hot-topic-drinking-and-hot-weather\/","title":{"rendered":"Hot Topic: Drinking and hot weather"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Dan

Brock expert Dan Malleck says it's understandable that hot temperatures send more people to the pub.<\/p><\/div>\n

Yes, hot summer weather makes us drink more. But Dan Malleck says that\u2019s not necessarily a bad thing.<\/p>\n

The associate professor in Community Health Sciences studies alcohol and drug regulation and prohibition. Recent media reports show hot and humid temperatures have sent people to bars and liquor stores.<\/p>\n

The Toronto Star<\/em> reported Aug. 3<\/a> that the Liquor Control Board of Ontario sold 2.4 million more litres of beer and cider than the same period last summer, the equivalent of more than 1 million six packs. The St. Catharines Standard<\/em> reported last week<\/a> that local bars and restaurants are seeing double-digit increases in liquor sales.<\/p>\n

Malleck is not surprised. But alcohol may be getting a bad rap in this analysis, he said. Where there are people convening on patios, there is more likely to be drinking. And people could be drinking more diet cola too, said the professor, who appeared on CKTB<\/em> last week to discuss the issue.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s interesting how we frame a problem,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Is it true that there\u2019s a correlation between warm weather and alcohol consumption?<\/strong><\/p>\n

There seems to be. I don\u2019t know whether it\u2019s just with alcohol though. Maybe we drink more Coke as well. It could just be because it\u2019s hot and we want fluids when it\u2019s hot. People might be consuming more of those fluids on patios. Also, when it\u2019s hot, we tend to work less. If we\u2019re taking time off work and spending it with friends, chances are there\u2019s going to be drinking. That\u2019s a centuries-old practice.<\/p>\n

Is there a down side?<\/strong><\/p>\n

People would probably make a lot of the societal and public order downsides, such as impaired driving. If you\u2019re sitting on a patio in Port Dalhousie and you live in Thorold, you have to get home somehow. But if you\u2019re doing that safely, mostly it\u2019s just the downside of doing anything in excess.<\/p>\n

Why do we like to drink alcohol when it\u2019s hot?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I haven\u2019t dug through the last few years of literature, but people drink more in the summer. People drink more on holidays. All of it is about people socializing. Our bodies need more fluids when it\u2019s hot. If we looked at water consumption, there may be a correlation there too. It\u2019s not necessarily something to be worried about. As long as people are drinking responsibly, not driving and not drinking to excess, they’re not really harming anyone.<\/p>\n

Link:<\/strong>
\n\u2022 Dan Malleck \u2014 faculty profile<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

“Hot Topics” is a new segment where Brock experts comment on current events in their areas of expertise. To suggest a Hot Topic item, contact campusnews@brocku.ca<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dan Malleck discusses recent media reports about warm temperatures and alcohol consumption.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[27,175],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4516"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4516"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4516\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4519,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4516\/revisions\/4519"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4516"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4516"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4516"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}