Alcohol effects on our body

Most of us must have drunk alcohol before throughout their lifetime – well except for those Muslims friends. We might not drink it daily or regularly but the fact that we did drink it once in a while in some occasion like wedding dinner, friends or relative get together, New Year celebration and etc. I agreed that if you consume it once in a while are somehow good for health – or I can say at least won’t affects your health. What about those regular drinkers? Will their health deteriorate due to regular drinking? Well it obviously does affects our body if drank too much. Refer to America National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), here’s how alcohol can affects our body if consume too much in a long run.

Brain

The affects on brain will be in short term and long term. Difficulty walking, blurred vision, slurred speech, slowed reaction times, impaired memory – these impairments are detectable after only few drinks and quickly resolved after drinking stops. Exactly how alcohol affects the brain and the likelihood of reversing the impact of heavy drinking on the brain remain hot topics in alcohol research today. A number of factors influence how and to what extent alcohol affects the brain;

Drinking a lot over a long time or too much on a single occasion can damage the heart, causing problems including:
Heavy drinking takes a toll on the liver, and can lead to a variety of problems and liver inflammations including:
Alcohol causes the pancreas to produce toxic substances that can eventually lead to pancreatitis, a dangerous inflammation and swelling of the blood vessels in the pancreas that prevents proper digestion.
Drinking too much alcohol can increase your risk of developing certain cancers, including cancers of the:
Drinking too much can weaken your immune system, making your body a much easier target for disease.  Chronic drinkers are more liable to contract diseases like pneumonia and tuberculosis than people who do not drink too much.  Drinking a lot on a single occasion slows your body’s ability to ward off infections – even up to 24 hours after getting drunk. That’s what I mention earlier that I felt my body getting weaker when I drink too much.

·         How much and how often a person drinks;

·         The age at which he or she first began drinking, and how long he or she has been drinking;

·         The person’s age, level of education, gender, genetic background, and family history of
           alcoholism;

·         Whether he or she is at risk as a result of prenatal alcohol exposure; and

·         His or her general health status.

I myself am a drinker (at least 1 time a week) – at times I did drink for a consecutive of 3-4 days and find myself very fatigue and felt that my body is getting weaker. Not to mention about my memory lapse – my parents always said that my memory was like an old man, worst than them. Well I can tell too because I’m really forgetful – I can’t even remember where I put my mobile phone at times until I have to call my phone to know the location. I hope things can improve if I cut down my consumption.

Heart

·         Cardiomyopathy – Stretching and drooping of heart muscle

·         Arrhythmias – Irregular heart beat

·         Stroke

·         High blood pressure  

Research also shows that drinking moderate amounts of alcohol may protect healthy adults from developing coronary heart disease.

Liver

·         Steatosis - fatty liver

·         Alcoholic hepatitis

·         Fibrosis - formation of excess fibrous connective tissue in an organ

·         Cirrhosis - lumps that occur as a result of a process in which damaged tissue is regenerated

Pancreas

Alcohol causes the pancreas to produce toxic substances that can eventually lead to pancreatitis, a dangerous inflammation and swelling of the blood vessels in the pancreas that prevents proper digestion. 

Cancer

·         Mouth

·         Esophagus

·         Throat

·         Liver

·         Breast

Immune System

For man drinking too much will cause what we call alcohol stomach, which is not nice and unhealthy. Might consider to cut down to become a moderate drinker or occasional drinker – will help your health too. Don’t drink and drive – not to be harsh on my words, it doesn’t matter if you die because you ignore the advice, but think of those innocent souls you might take with you.