DavidWolfe.comLadies and gentlemen, today I bring you news you’ll probably wanna drink to: 
It turns out your pride and self-confidence are not the only things you lose on those heartbreak-filled nights spent with a glass of your favorite red wine and Netflix.
According to a recent study headed by Jason Dyck, you could lose a couple of pounds as well.
The study finds that red wine improves the quality of life and lifespan for people who are “unable to exercise.” I guess that description sort of excludes us lonely chuggers but hey – tomato, tomatah, right?
The key ingredient making this possible is resveratrol, a natural phenol found in the skin of grapes. This ingredient, as the Central European Journal of Urology states, has many health benefits, one of which is its antioxidant properties.
Back to the study headed by Jason Dyck from the University of Alberta — Researchers found that high doses of resveratrol can improve physical performance, heart function, and muscle strength.
“We were excited when we saw that resveratrol showed results similar to what you would see from extensive endurance exercise training,” Dyck said.
Excited? Yeah, I am pretty stoked, too.
However, don’t toss that elliptical out just yet. These are still recent findings, and the researchers conducted their tests on rats.
Also, red wine is not the only place you can find resveratrol. You can also get a healthy dose from blueberries, peanut butter, red grapes (in their non-intoxicating form), and dark chocolate.
In fact, it is probably best if you do not get all of your resveratrol intake from a wine bottle. In addition to being expensive (and irresponsible in excess), it would lead to an extremely imbalanced diet. Besides, a documented in the US National Library of Medicine, you would need to go through several bottles of red wine a day to get the amount of resveratrol that would maximize the benefits.
In terms of moderate red wine consumption, there are several other benefits involved, including a reduction in the risk of inflammation and blood clotting, as well as heart disease and cancer, as the Cardiovascular Research Center for the University of Connecticut School of Medicine found.
So what should you take away from all this?
First, a glass of red wine, in addition to being an excellent way to relax, can benefit your health by improving the condition of your heart and muscles.
This may prove valuable for those who cannot exercise conventionally, such as the elderly or impaired. For the rest of us, it is an added benefit of an activity we already enjoy.
Did you know that red wine isn’t the only alcoholic beverage that brings health benefits? I wrote an article a while back about the benefits of drinking a shot of whiskey a day. In that piece, I discuss how alcohol was actually originally used as a medicine before it became the sometimes soul-crushing beverage we all know and love today.
Alcohol, in my opinion, can teach many lessons in the art of moderation. It can bring incredibly powerful health benefits when used wisely but terrible self-destruction when treated carelessly.
And with that, I urge you to respect the bottle.