Alcohol Abuse Consequences

Did you know alcohol has 23 different effects on the body? When you drink alcohol, it soaks up a person’s bloodstream and affects every part of their body. Drinking a quantitative amount of alcohol has a major effect on the body. If you drink more alcohol than you can handle, you result in being drunk. Drinking alcohol can cause physical and emotional changes that can be injurious to the body. Alcohol has a major effect on the body’s system and their functions. Alcohol affects the excretory system, nervous system, digestive system, circulatory system, sexual reproductive health and the immune system.

4) The general effects of alcohol on the brain are blurred vision, weakened motor skills, blurred vision, slurred speech, slowed reaction times and impaired memory. In the liver alcohol causes fat deposits to develop in the liver and cause inflammation even eventually liver disease. Similarly, in the pancreas prolonged use can cause inflammation which yields vomiting, fever, weight loss, and is potentially fatal. Lastly, in the kidneys alcohol can increase the risk of high blood pressure developing in chronic kidney disease.

Drinking heavily and binge drinking leads to short-term as well as long-term health consequences in males and females. Both women and men can suffer the short-term

Alcohol affects every organ system in the body either directly or indirectly. The effects are not the same for everyone. Some people, for genetic or other reasons, have a much stronger reaction to alcohol than others do (Berger 27). "Anyone can die from just one drink" (Graeber 51).

As a result of extreme alcohol usage, the body becomes impaired. The physical effects come in a wide variety of types, but all shorten the life of the user considerably. Internally, alcohol mutilates organs such as the heart and liver while externally, alcohol causes weight gain and the dehydration of your skin causing it to look blotchy. In the heart, alcohol weakens the muscles which can cause heart failure. Additionally, high blood pressure or hypertension often occurs which increases the risk of a heart attack or stroke. Because of long term alcohol use, arrhythmia or an irregular heartbeat can occur. Sudden deaths are often the result of an arrhythmia. Another organ affected is the lungs. Oftenly, alcoholics are more likely to get pneumonia because of the increased amount of

While many people view consuming alcohol as charming, it is indeed detrimental to a person’s health and well-being. “[As of] 2013, 86.6 percent of people ages eighteen and older have drank alcohol at some point in their lifetime…56.4 percent reported that they drank in the past month” (NIAAA). Drinking is the cause of many accident inflicted hospital visits, increases the risk for a plethora of illness, and is a leading cause of preventable death in the United States (NIAAA).

Alcohol consumption leads to much damage to the body. Damage to the body depends on how much alcohol one is drinking, size, age, gender and other ways. The way alcohol goes into ones body is the same for everyone. It goes into the body by first, through the stomach and small intestine. After, going through the stomach and small intestine it goes into the blood stream, and towards ones body organs such as the liver, brain, heart, and others. According to NIH(2012), “Alcohol is metabolized in the liver” (p. 1). The liver is what cleans and also removes toxins from the blood. Ethanol, the intoxicating substance will now be inside ones liver when consuming it. Once someone keeps on consuming alcohol overtime, it can lead to liver failure and it will also not be able to metabolize alcohol anymore. This then can lead to diseases such as cirrhosis, cancer, and others. Next, the brain is one of the most important organs of the body. This is because the way someone can be considered dead is by being brain dead. According to NIH(2012), “Alcohol can damage the parts of the brain that control ones memory, speech, and movement. It can also damage the brain by shrinking frontal lobes, which is in charge of thinking, memory, personality and more” (p. 1). Moving on to the heart, the organ assosicated with the number one leading cause of death in the United States. Alcohol

Emotional and physical health can be greatly harmed by drinking alcohol. “Excessive alcohol use among women and girls accounted for an estimated average of 23,000 deaths and 633,000 years of potential life lost in the United States each year during 2001–2005” (Morbidity & Mortality Weekly Report 36). Just drinking alcohol alone throughout your life can shorten your life by a lot. “Even a small amount of alcohol has an affect on your body. When you drink, alcohol is absorbed into your bloodstream and distributed throughout your body. A tiny amount of alcohol exits your body in your urine and your breath.You absorb alcohol more slowly if you eat, especially if the food is high in fat. However, if you drink more than your body can process, you’ll get drunk. How quickly alcohol is metabolized depends on your size and gender, among other things. Alcohol consumption causes physical and emotional changes that can do great harm to your body. The long-term effects of alcohol abuse are many, putting your health in serious jeopardy and endangering your life”

The Department of Health estimates that the harmful use of alcohol costs the National Health Service around £3.5 billion a year and 8% of all hospital admissions involved alcohol- related conditions. Heavy episodic drinking or binge drinking can lead to over 40 medical conditions including getting into fights, problems at school or work, passing out and having unsafe sex (Wechsler & Nelson, 2001). Other long term effects are: liver damage, depression, brain impairment and alcohol problems later in life (McCambridge, McAlaney, & Rowe, 2011; Wechsler, Davenport, Dowdall, Moeykens, & Castillo, 1994).

The physical effect of alcohol is irreversible, vital organs and body systems are severely damaged. For example, the pancreas sends enzymes to the small intestine in order to metabolize food. After consuming alcohol excessively over a long period of time, the pancreas will send out its

Alcohol is one of the leading causes of death in the United States; it affects the entire body, including the brain, nervous system, liver, heart, and the individual’s emotional well-being. Alcohol assists in making bad decisions, cancer, injuries, chronic illness, and of course hangovers. Some people believe drinking in moderation and sometimes regularly is alright, but that is definitely not the case.

Alcohol is one of many dangerous substances that effects our bodies. The effects of this drug can be very harmful. Alcohol is a potent non-prescription drug sold to anyone over the national legal drinking age, 21. Unlike other deadly drugs it is easy to access. This makes it easy to over-consume and create a tragic accident, even death. It can damage a person not only physically but also mentally and emotionally. Many people each year become more and more addicted to alcohol and soon experience all of it?s dangerous effects. Even if alcohol use is discontinued, some of these damages can not be cured, because the scars have been left on those that drink and those that surround them. The only hope

Alcohol has no beneficial attributes on a person’s health. Alcohol can have several harmful effects on human organs. Some organs in the human body that are damaged by alcohol consumption are the brain, kidneys, and liver. The human liver is the one organ that suffers the most damage. As stated in an article published by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, “Because the liver is the chief organ responsible for metabolizing alcohol, it is especially vulnerable to alcohol – related injury” (NIAAA, 2005). Regular use of alcohol can lead to alcoholic liver disease (ALD). The severity of ALD can vary based on several different factors. Some of these factors include gender, age, the amount consumed, and how often alcohol is used. “ALD includes three conditions: fatty liver, alcoholic hepatitis and cirrhosis” (Alcohol Alert, 2005).

The physical effects of alcoholism are somewhat gruesome. Excessive in take and prolonged use of alcohol can cause serious disturbances in body chemistry

Effects of alcohol include difficulties making desicoions, and a slow reaction time. However, this is just a portion of the dangerous things alcohol can do to you. Alcohol also affects your liver, nervous system and heart - this happens when ethanol enters your bloodstream. When ethanol enters your bloodstream, it slows you down - increasing your risk of accidents, attacking others - and even pregnancy as you may make extremely unsafe decisions.