While alcohol has often been linked with the risk of having a stroke at any point of life, a new study has shown that middle aged people are more prone to having this kind of health problems if they indulge in more than 2 drinks a day, as they might have strokes up to five years earlier than they'd have to due to genetics and other lifestyle choices.

For those who are reaching middle age or have been there for a while, it seems like taking more than 2 drinks a day may potentially increase their risk in having a stroke, regardless of family tendencies or even factors from early-life decisions.

According to Science Daily, the latest American Heart Association study regarding how 2 drinks a day might affect people's chances for the disease is called "Heavy drinking in middle-age may increase stroke risk more than traditional factors" and was published in the association's journal Stroke recently, after following 11,644 middle-aged Swedish twins for 43 years, seeing the different effects on their lifestyles, including heavy versus light drinking.

As NBC News reports, the results were staggering: the people who had more than 2 drinks a day had a 34 percent higher risk of suffering a stroke than those qualified as "light" drinkers, which is to say, those who consumed less than half a drink daily.

This tendency is stronger than any other health habits from before or during the period of the middle age drinking; regardless of any other lifestyle choice, the people who indulged in heavy drinking were prone to suffering strokes five years before they should due to their genetics.

As the American Heart Association's Newsroom states, this is the first time that an investigation has related the effects of heavy drinking on stroke tendencies to age, as it further proves that more than 2 drinks a day could potentially harm the body a great deal.