But as a passionate consumer of wine, research over the years seems to indicate that I need at least a couple of "alcohol free" days a week, and any more than four or five drinks a day isn't good for you.
This I find problematic, not in a ... I can't not drink ... kind of way, but in a way that has me permanently conflicted.
I am one of those people who likes to do the right thing, but my fear is we've become so buttoned down around health matters we can no longer drink coffee, drink wine, sit in the sun, eat chips ... pick a vice, it's researched into the ground and the fun's been extracted.
So God bless the former WHO head who at least for now furnished me with hard data for the next time my wife says, is that your fourth or fifth glass?
Speaking of which, the two other pieces of research.
The value of a partner who stays at home; that particular study out of the States put a number on it, and that number is $98,000 a year.
I am in a position to comment, some might say a luxurious position, and they'd be right. I can tell you 98 grand is cheap at the price, the mistake in the research is to isolate out the individual tasks and give them a bill.
My wife does so much more than "tasks". We could hire people for everything Katie does and it would get done, but it wouldn't be anything close to the same thing.
Which of course brings me to the third piece of research from the Washington University, entitled "The long reach of one's spouse".
In a nutshell it says if you want to succeed in life, you need a partner who is conscientious and hard working.
The old saying is true, behind every great man is a great woman.
Now before you start bothering your email with abuse, I am not saying I am a great man nor a great success, nor am I saying the exact same doesn't apply to a woman with a great man behind her.
But here is what I know about my kind of success.
I am happy. I am one of the happiest people you will ever meet.
I am one of the most upbeat and positive people peddling a trade in the public eye.
Being upbeat and happy and positive has served me well, and the more it's served me well, the more upbeat I have become.
I am shockingly positive, ask any of those around me in my workplaces, they find it a mix of endearing and infuriating. They find it that way after they've got past the bit where they don't believe me.
It is a truism that if you ask most people how they are, they won't reply like I do. I answer with, "I am brilliant, I am living the dream, I have never felt better." All of which is a statement of fact.
This is brought about largely because what the people behind the "long reach of one's spouse" say is true.
Having a conscientious partner leads to greater job satisfaction, higher earnings, and increased likelihood of promotion.
Not that any of that specifically matters to me, either at home or work.
What matters is you are loved and love back.
What matters is you are best friends.
What matters is you have each other's back, and would do anything for each other.
What matters is they come first.
If you have that in your life, all else falls into place, which I think the report is trying to suggest.
When you are surrounded by love, friendship, kindness, care and loyalty, you are bullet proof, and even if you're not, you feel like it and if you feel like it then all things are possible.
In my game I was told very early on a lot of what you do is a performance and as such no one cares if things aren't going well. That's easier said than done, because I have been through bits of my life when things weren't going well, not remotely well, and I can tell you turning up each day at weird times to pretend all is good is quite a hard trick to pull off.
The study puts it this way, "people bring their whole selves to work."
The theory is we don't or shouldn't, but we do, you can't escape it. "They don't leave their personal life when they walk into the office."
So the study is right, inescapably right, success or at least the success I enjoy, which by the way is not literally money success or ratings success or headlines ... the success I enjoy is the little things, the thrill of each day.
The small pleasures of walking the dog, chatting to the kids, laughing with my wife, plying a trade.
The sense of satisfaction that each day you made some sort of contribution that might have made someone think or laugh or occasionally get rarked up.
The secure sense of entering into each day feeling good about your lot in life, and that maybe putting a bit of yourself out there is no bad thing.
And the vast majority of that comes from the "long reach of one's spouse".
The research is frighteningly accurate, Katie is worth 98 grand and more, she is a profoundly large part of how I feel about myself, my work, my life.
To paraphrase sports agent Dicky Fox in the Jerry Maguire movie, "I wish you my kind of success."
I might even have a drink to it.
