If you read health news regularly, you’ll quickly start to notice that there’s a lot of research about what drinking alcohol does to the body. It’s not because researchers are trying to put together a definitive list of pros and cons for drinking, though it can sometimes feel that way. Often, it’s simply that alcohol’s popularity makes it a stellar entry point for learning more about the biological processes it impacts.

That’s the case in a new study out this week that aims to determine why alcohol has long been linked to better heart health. A team at Massachusetts General Hospital used a massive database to collect information about 50,000 casual drinkers. What they found, in part by looking at some participants’ brain scans, was that even while sober, people who drink a light-to-moderate amount had subdued activity in the amygdala, the region of the brain responsible for sending out stress signals. They also had a lower risk of cardiovascular issues. For people with a history of anxiety, the decrease in cardiovascular risk was doubled.

Still, there are better ways than alcohol to take advantage of this stress-reducing pathway. Dr. Ahmed Tawakol, a study author and co-director of the Cardiovascular Imaging Research Center at Massachusetts General Hospital, hopes to find simpler and safer pharmacological options to reduce activity in the amygdala. For an all-natural option, consider exercise. It's more difficult than drinking a beer, but it benefits the heart using the same mechanism.

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