Alcohol Consumption And Your Health: Why You Should Avoid It To Live Healthy
Alcohol is a big part of people’s lives. It is a staple at every party, event and special occasion. People often drink during social gatherings. It is a way to unwind and have a good time after a long day. Sometimes, one can wonder if people simply invent an occasion just to have an excuse to drink.
Too much alcohol, like sweet desserts and salty treats, is bad for the body. Alcohol consumption and your health should have a certain balance. Too much consumption has long-term effects. You may end up regretting the nights you consumed alcohol like there was no tomorrow.
Mind Your Consumption
Watching how much you drink is important. Your very first sip of alcohol can already have its effects on your mind and body. As you consume one-third of your drink, the alcohol will already enter your bloodstream. Once your blood alcohol concentration reaches 0.020, you will already feel some effects such as sleepiness and relaxation. At a BAC level of 0.060, there is a chance of exhibiting aggression to others, memory impairments, slurred speech and impairment in your driving skills.
Alcohol and Your Health
Alcohol abuse can cause several health risks that have long-term effects such as:
1) Liver. As the body’s biggest internal organ, it has many functions that keep the body up and about. Sadly, it is one of the main organs that most people often neglect when binge drinking. Some high risk liver conditions include:
a) Alcoholic hepatitis. Alcoholic hepatitis is a condition where the liver becomes tender and inflamed. It is one of the early stages of alcoholic liver diseases.
b) Fatty liver. Too much drinking leads to fatty liver. As you consume alcohol, your liver will eventually build up fat. This results to liver inflammation as well as developing fatty liver diseases.
c) Cirrhosis. Cirrhosis is the excessive scarring of the liver. This is caused due to chronic liver inflammation that damages the liver cells. Once healed, these cells are replaced with scar tissues. Cirrhosis increases your risk of developing liver cancer.
2) Lungs. Alcoholic lung disease is a condition where a person suffers lung diseases due to his or her alcohol abuse. Those who are chronic alcohol drinkers are susceptible to developing ARDS of acute respiratory distress syndrome. This condition is the widespread lung inflammation that is often triggered by sepsis, trauma and pneumonia.
3) Brain. When you drink, you may not be aware of how much alcohol affects your brain. However, as you consume more, it can do so much damage to the brain:
a) Movement. Drunk people cannot walk straight because their balance and movement are already impaired due to too much alcohol consumption.
b) Nerve centers. Drinking alcohol may lead you to feel sexual arousal. However, it affects your nerve centers, which leads to poor sexual performance.
c) Behavioral sensors. Alcohol causes your sensory organs to act up. As a result, the information from them is also slowed down. This will cause you to have problems with your thinking and comprehension.
d) Sluggish feeling. Consuming alcohol lowers your body’s temperature. It also slows down your breathing. Excessive drops in body temperature and breathing may lead to death.
4) Heart. Regular alcohol consumption can also affect the heart. The health risks include:
a) Blood pressure. Alcohol can raise unhealthy levels of blood pressure. Having a few drinks at a party can cause an increase in blood pressure. However, increased blood pressure can become a long-term condition due to chronic drinking.
b) Heart rate. Consuming too much alcohol may cause your heart to beat irregularly. Heavy drinking may lead to a condition called tachycardia, which is the increase of your heart rate due to the problems in the heart’s electrical signals that are responsible for producing heartbeat.
5) Bones. Accelerated bone deterioration is sometimes due to chronic alcohol abuse. Calcium absorption is interfered as you drink alcohol. This can lead to a lower bone density. Your body’s Vitamin D production is also interfered when you drink alcohol regularly. This puts you at risk of developing osteoporosis and increases your chances of having bone fractures.
6) Skin. A few months of regular drinking may cause your skin to break out. You might feel bloated and flushed. Alcohol is a dehydrating force to the skin. It also lowers the skin’s antioxidant defenses. This makes your skin vulnerable to harmful substances such as the sun, chemical byproducts, cigarette smoke and free radicals.
Control and Moderation
There is nothing wrong with wanting to drink and celebrate. Drinking is already a part of people’s social culture. However, it is best to do it in moderation. Controlling how much you drink can help you avoid developing health issues along with terrible slip and fall accidents that will affect you in the long run.
Minimize your drinking to a tolerable level. This way, you can still enjoy the rest of the party without the added drama. Do not forget to read up on SARMs Facts and take care of your body as well. Live healthy so you can keep your body running like a well-oiled machine. Fuel it with healthy food and keep it running through regular exercise.
Janine Penn
Janine Penn has been a law writer for more than a decade. She hopes to impart some of her wisdom to others through her written works. She is often reading a new book whenever she has the time.