The Benefits of Italian Red Wine for the Body and the Mind

Italian red wine is like a nectar from the Gods! It’s a mortal ambrosia that we simply can’t get enough of.

…Too hyperbolic?

Maybe. However, it’s not like this idea without precedent. Many ancient civilisations, including the Greeks and Romans, had gods dedicated to wine. For centuries, this idea of wine being a product of the gods has permeated society.

And let’s be honest…it’s a lot more fun than drinking water.

Sure, we need water to survive, but we need Italian red wine to truly live!

But we’ve waxed lyrical about wine for long enough. Now, it’s time to get a little more practical. For as poetic as we can be about Italian red wine, the simple truth is that this godly nectar has a whole host of very real benefits that you can experience from today.

We’re going to get into those in a little bit. First, let us just give you a caveat…

Every benefit that we’re about to discuss is one that you will experience if you drink Italian red wine in moderation. Overconsumption of anything is a recipe for disaster and red wine is not exempt from that rule. So, we recommend sticking to a glass per day (two if you’re feeling saucy) to experience these benefits.

Benefit #1 – Red Wine is Great for the Heart

We’ve written at length about red wine and the many health benefits that it has to offer, so we won’t spend too much time writing about it here. Instead, we’ll hit the main bullet points.

Red wine contains a powerful compound called resveratrol. This is an antioxidant that has remarkable effects on the body. As with all antioxidants, it takes the fight to the free radicals in your body that are responsible for damaging your cells. This damage occurs all over your body, which means that drinking Italian red wine can actually have an anti-ageing effect. But it’s in regards to your heart that these antioxidants become really important.

Red wine improves circulation and helps to protect your heart against dangerous free radicals. As a result, you’re at a lower risk of heart disease if you drink red wine on a regular basis.

But of course, we must come back to our caveat here. In fact, it is here that the caveat is of the most importance. When we say drinking wine regularly, we mean small amounts every day. Drinking more than a couple of glasses daily could actually have the opposite effect on your heart as the volume of alcohol you consume undoes the good work of your antioxidants.

Benefit #2 – Stress Relief

How many of you look forward to that glass of red wine at the end of a stressful day?

That alone is enough to show you how effective this drink is as a stress relieving tool. In fact, we’re already thinking about slipping into a nice warm bath with a glass of red as we’re writing this.

Just the thought relaxes us!

Never underestimate the power that a nice glass of wine has when it comes to relaxing you. And of course, it’s not something that you have to enjoy on your own. Sharing a glass or two with friends while you all put the world to rights is one of the greatest therapies for the mind that one could ask for.

Benefit #3 – Amazing Skin

Again, we come back to this wonderful compound of resveratrol. 

To understand how red wine helps your skin, you need to understand what happens to your skin over time. The cells that make up your skin get damaged over time, which is what leads to wrinkles. Of course, this is a process that takes many years. But it’s still one that you would want to delay as much as possible.

Now, the general wear and tear of daily life has a damaging effect on skin cells and there’s not a lot that you can do about it. However, the free radicals roaming around your body definitely accelerate the process!

As we’ve already established, antioxidants take the fight to free radicals in the heart. And they do the exact same thing for your skin. Red wine isn’t going to help your skin to repair alone. Instead, it’s going to tackle one of the key damaging factors, which gives your skin the chance to repair itself faster and more regularly.

Benefit #4 – The Taste

Okay…so this isn’t exactly a health benefit.

However, it is one that benefits the mind. You may recall that we recently wrote an article about the scientists who discovered that drinking red wine is more effective for strengthening your brain than doing math puzzles.

That’s because red wine causes your brain’s electric signals to snap into action. The key conceit here is that taste is not a tangible thing. Each of us has our own sense of taste that’s influenced by the patterns that your brain picks up on. When you drink a glass of wine, you’re essentially challenging your brain to fill in a bunch of flavour gaps to deliver the taste that you experience.

In that sense, the taste of red wine, or at least your brain’s attempts to create that taste, keep your mind active and healthy. Perhaps it is this, as much as red wine’s antioxidant content, that leads to red wine being able to offer protection against memory-related conditions.

The Final Word

We have most definitely not covered every single benefit that Italian red wine has to offer for your mind and body. However, a browse of our blog’s history will reveal several other articles that we’ve written on the subject, if you’d like to do some further reading.

But even without all of these benefits, we’d still drink Italian red wine regularly. We just love it so much!

We think that you might just share that love with us. That’s why we’ve carefully curated a collection of amazing red wines that you’ll find today in the Xtrawine catalogue.