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Recently, we wrote about the health benefits of dark chocolate, which sent positive shockwaves to our readership and blew your minds. We shined a light on the superfood qualities of the tasty treat, and people shouted from the rooftops, “I can eat chocolate and not feel guilty!” 

Well, we’ve got more good news, so hold onto your hats: red wine can be healthy, too!

Go ahead, grab a bottle of pinot, merlot, malbec, or whatever varietal you prefer, kick back, and read about how it can improve your health.

Caveat

Before diving in, we need to begin with the caveat that drinking too much wine is not healthy.  Wine intake should be governed by many factors, including health history, age, height, and weight. When in doubt, ask your doctor. 

Now let’s get to the good stuff. 

Red Wine is Packed with Antioxidants

Wine derives from grapes, and grapes contain many antioxidants. Free radicals, which are bad because they attack your cells, are warded off by antioxidants (who knew that a scientific process could sound like a political revolution?). The antioxidant cast features resveratrol, catechin, epicatechin and proanthocyanidins. It doesn’t matter that you’ve never heard of these and can’t pronounce them. What’s important is that respectively, they can help prevent heart disease, cancer, and dementia, and enhance the body’s response to injury, and combat inflammation and blood clots. 

Let’s now break down how the crimson drink lowers these risks. 

Heart Disease

Apparently, drinking one to two glasses of red wine per day may lower the risk of heart disease. All credit goes to those awesome antioxidants that do the heart good in the following ways:

• Protect the lining of blood vessels in your ticker
• Reduce bad cholesterol (LDL) levels
• Raise good cholesterol (HDL) levels

According to Healthline, “People who drink approximately 150 ml (5 oz) of red wine a day seem to be at about a 32% lower risk than non-drinkers.” 

But they are also careful to point out that higher rates of consumption dramatically increase the risk. 

Cancer

The jury is still out on the role resveratrol in red wine plays in mitigating the risk of cancers. More evidence in lab versus human studies bears this out. However, there are studies, including this one by New York’s Stony Brook University that found that imbibers showed lower risks of colon and prostate cancer.

Dementia

More good news: other studies reported that drinking red wine could prevent dementia. What makes this more interesting is the link to heart disease, as the findings note:

“Light-to-moderate alcohol consumption reduces the risk of coronary heart disease and stroke. Because vascular disease is associated with cognitive impairment and dementia, we hypothesised that alcohol consumption might also affect the risk of dementia.”

Skin in the Game

What about white wine? Red wine is healthier because of its grape skins. During the fermentation process, white grape skins separate, while red grape skills remain intact with all their antioxidants.

At the end of the day, moderation is the name of the game, and if you don’t drink alcohol, health experts recommend not starting at all. The bottom line is that if you play your cards right, you can enjoy your favorite glass of red while reaping the health benefits.

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If you’ve ever wondered how people choose the gifts they send, you’ve come to the right place. Previously, we’ve written about moments that trigger gift-giving, and how giving makes you happier. 

We’ve taken it one step further in this blog post to share some research behind the psychology of gift-giving. 

“They study this stuff?” you may ask. 

Indeed they do. In fact, there are studies about everything to the point where it’s impossible to make one up. I’ll demonstrate: I bet there’s never been a study concluding that mosquitoes don’t like the musical stylings of the DJ, Skrillex. Except there has been, and we now know that the blood-sucking insects aren’t fond of the track “Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites.”

You’re welcome. 

Back to gifts. Let’s take a closer look at the psychology that influences the generous folks who think of others. 

1) Picking Gifts for The Picky is no Picnic

Humans are nothing if not stress magnets, and we drive ourselves crazy seeking “the perfect gift” for people. Our stress ramps up when we shop for the picky among us. Science Daily summarized study findings on this and determined that often people would rather throw in the towel and “forget” to buy something altogether than struggle to find the right gift. 

That’s not cool. 

2) Gift Cards are a Safe and Effective Choice

Gift cards may be construed as impersonal gifts, and that’s the beauty of them. As the same article points out, “Gift cards, it seems, hit a sweet spot–they have the flexibility of cash, but are given and meant to be spent as gifts.” 

And spent as gifts they are. The majority of gift card-recipients treat themselves to something they normally wouldn’t use for with cash. These items are referred to as hedonic purchases because they often fall under the consumed-for-luxury-purposes category.  

3) It Feels Better to Personalize a Gift

Personalized gifts are kind, demonstrate empathy, and show that you’re an all around thoughtful person. To make them really count, though, put forth the effort to understand what makes the recipient tick.

Citing the lead researcher, the article mentions, “Givers tend to focus on what recipients are like rather than what they would like. This can lead them to gravitate toward gifts that are personalized but not very versatile.”

For example, if you’re a business owner searching for a personalized gift for a client who you know enjoys red wine, we might be able to help you with an elegant wine and cheese gift basket (wink, wink). 

It’s important to note that these findings are from one study, and if you’ve established a tried and true method of gift-giving, then stick to it. But it does pull the curtain back on how we make purchasing decisions, and hopefully this blog post will help make your process less stressful and more enjoyable. 

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