Drinking

1. Long and short term effects Drinking

2. The negative short term effects of drinking too much alcohol are loss of judgment, loss of coordination, blurred vision, slurring of speech, and loss of balance. These negative effects can cause you to make bad decisions while you are drunk, and these effects are also the reason that you never want to drive when you have been drinking. If you drink too much alcohol you can experience some extreme negative effects. These include unconsciousness, coma, and even death. • Not only can drinking too much alcohol cause negative short term effects, but it can also cause negative long term effects. These long term effects include loss of brain cells, liver failure, stomach ulcers, high blood pressure, and certain types of cancer, epilepsy, nerve damage, and heart failure. • Drinking too much alcohol is not a good idea, because as you can see it can cause serious problems in your life. If the abuse of alcohol does not cause immediate problems, then excessive use over a period of time can cause major problems down the line. Everyone deserves to have a drink now and then to relax if they want to, but alcoholism is a very serious problem that should not be taken lightly.

3. Increased consumption • However, can lead to dehydration, coordination problems, blurred vision, and a great number of health, medical, and social issues and other drinking problems caused by alcoholism. • As articulated above, excessive alcohol consumption can lead to drunkenness.  One of the short term effects of intoxication is the lowering of an individual's inhibitions.  As a consequence, when people are intoxicated they frequently do things they normally would not do while sober, often ignoring legal, ethical, social, and moral or religious norms. • While blurred vision, slurred speech, dehydration, and coordination can be labeled as "alcohol short term effects," other health problems such as alcohol related heart disease, liver disease, and cancer, on the other hand, can be labeled as long term effects of alcohol abuse and alcoholism. • This, however brief, is an overview of the effects of alcohol.  What remains to be discussed, however, is what Paul Harvey calls "the rest of the story."  Essentially, "the rest of the story" is a more detailed analysis of how excessive alcohol affects an individual's life and the lives of those around him or her when the person becomes an alcoholic and suffers from alcoholism. • Perhaps the most logical way to discuss this complex topic is to focus first on the classic alcoholic behaviors and effects of alcohol in the four states of alcoholism; then examine some of the "social effects" of alcohol and alcoholism and finally, discuss the medical conditions, health issues, and drinking problems that are caused directly or indirectly by alcoholism.

4. Short term health effects of alcohol on the body. • • Nausea, Vomiting, Dizziness, Hangovers - excessive alcohol consumption can result in the body trying to protect itself by getting rid of the alcohol and vomiting. • Alcohol and health and the central nervous system are related since alcohol affects a person's sense of balance and orientation, leading to a feeling of nausea and/or dizziness. Hangovers are partly due to the body's dehydration caused by alcohol consumption, and hangover effects of alcohol on the body may be felt a few hours after consuming alcohol. • • Loss of Muscle Control - slurred speech is one of the effects of alcohol on the body. Impaired judgement and poor coordination are alcohol and health effects that can lead to falls and accidents. • • Adverse Interactions with Medications - alcohol is known to interact negatively with at least 100 medications. For example, antihistamines taken with alcohol can increase the drowsiness that this medication by itself can cause. Large doses of the painkiller acetaminophen taken together when consuming alcohol increases the risk of liver damage. • • Pregnancy Risks - alcohol can cause numerous birth defects, the most serious being fetal alcohol syndrome. Babies born with fetal alcohol syndrome will have physical abnormalities, mental impairment and problems with behavior. To avoid negative alcohol and health effects during pregnancy, do not drink alcohol during pregnancy as no one knows exactly how much alcohol causes birth deffects.

5. Long term alcohol and health effects of alcoholism on the body... • Because alcohol and health effects can involve many organs in the body, long-term heavy drinking puts you at risk for developing serious health conditions and illnesses. Here are examples of long term effects of alcohol on the body: • Liver Inflammation and Cirrhosis of the Liver - liver inflammation symptoms include abnormal yellowing of the skin, eyeballs and urine, fever and abdominal pain. And in the case of cirrhosis, as many as one in five heavy drinkers will develop cirrhosis of the liver. Alcohol is especially damaging to the liver since the liver is needed to metabolize alcohol. Alcohol destroys liver cells, and it destroys the ability of the liver to regenerate new cells. • • Cancer - long term heavy drinkers increase their risk for certain forms of cancer such as cancer of the mouth, throat and esophagus and colon. • • Heart disease - long term heavy drinking increases a person's risk for developing high blood pressure and heart disease. • • Pancreaitis - long term heavy drinking can result in the development inflammation of the pancreas, called pancreatitis. The pancreas are needed for food digestion, and pancreaitis symptoms include severe abdominal pain and weight loss. Pancreaitis can be life-threatening. • Additional long term negative alcohol and health effects on the body include damage to the brain, nerve damage, bleeding in the esophagus, erectile dysfunction in men, insomnia and depression. • Perhaps you, a family member, a friend or someone you know may have felt that it would be better to cut down on drinking. Maybe there have been incidents of driving when drinking. Or there may have been missed work or school days due to excessive alcohol consumption. • If you'd like to learn more about alcoholism stages and warning signs, there are proven resources available that can help better understand the disease of alcoholism. It is never too late to begin recovery from alcohol addiction.