Not to say this is useless research, but I was interested to see the ages and quantity involved. Surprised to see none of that was mentioned in the article. Feels like this article is giving false anxiety to people.

Unfortunately it doesn't work as well nowadays while the world became more idiotic.

> After a history of stress and drinking, the brain simply works differently

I agree with this. You can generally tell who is/was a drinker by their personality.

> one's ability to think on one's feet and adapt to new and challenging situations—is markedly reduced

I disagree and believe the exact opposite is usually true. I have observed so many alcoholics seem to be on a different level of insight and experience than everyone else. It's as if the stress of trying to stay composed while being drunk all the time brings its own adaptive behaviors and introspection.

I'm not saying alcoholism is a good thing, but you have to give credit where it's due. The smoothest talkers and most likely to pull a plan out of their ass that actually works are/were all drunks. That's not luck. That's a lot of hard won knowledge.