Joy,

I wasn't saying that you'd search the vanagon archive for info about
caffeine, but I was just referring to your not infrequent comments about
coffee while traveling in Matilda, not so much research on caffeine.
Don't think I need Google for that.   Doubted that you meant an all out
ban on caffeine intake since you like coffee so much.

Obviously, I wouldn't search the vanagon archives for scientific data
about biological functions of any sort.

However, if you'd Googled alcohol effects on blood vessels, you'd have
found that what I wrote about alcohol and blood vessels was correct.
You should have stopped when you said you didn't know much about the
effects of alcohol on the body and searched Google as you suggested.

For example, within the first two pages of Google hits from a rather
general search term, I came up with the following.

*The Skin*

Alcohol causes small blood vessels in the skin to widen, allowing more
blood to flow close to the skin's surface. This produces a flushed skin
colour and a feeling of warmth.
http://www.gurney.co.uk/drinksense/factsheets/effects.htm

*2. Alcohol in low and moderate doses causes a dilation of blood vessels
in the skin.*

This is why drinkers sometimes have a flushed face and heavy drinkers a
red nose.

As well as causing the skin to turn pink, alcohol also makes the skin
feel warm, which is why one of its traditional uses has been to treat
people who have been exposed to the cold. Brandy especially is supposed
to warm the body.

The fact is, alcohol has the opposite effect. This dilation of vessels
actually causes heat loss from the extremities, which makes you more
vulnerable to the cold. The vessels constrict in the first place to
conserve heat, a defence the alcohol undoes.
http://www.abc.net.au/quantum/poison/alcohol/alcohol.htm

Firstly the effects of alcohol on human heart rate are not due to direct
effects on the heart, but due to the activation of a reflex response.
Alcohol is a vasodilator, which means that it makes the peripheral blood
vessels relax allowing more blood to flow through the skin and tissues.
This is why people who have had a drink look red faced and feel warm.
This means that the blood flows round a larger volume of the body, which
results in a drop in blood pressure. Therefore, to maintain sufficient
blood flow through the organs of the body the heart rate increases to
accommodate for the increased volume that it has to send the blood round.
http://www.madsci.org/posts/archives/apr2001/986422881.Gb.r.html

Sam

--
Sam Walters

Baltimore, MD