Excessive alcohol consumption: consequences for the body

For some people, alcohol is an indispensable attribute of any party or celebration. Quite often, drinking another glass of strong alcohol or a glass of wine, a person does not even think about the fact that besides pleasant sensations, this heady liquid can also cause harm. Excessive alcohol consumption can cause irreversible consequences, for example, at a certain stage of alcohol dependence, pathologies of the nervous system, as well as other body systems, are found in a person. This is what we will talk about in this article.

Alcohol

Before considering the excessive use of alcohol and its consequences for the body, it is necessary to familiarize yourself in more detail with what alcoholic beverages are in general. Seen from a scientific point of view, alcohol is ethyl alcohol. The same liquid, which has no color, does not have a specific smell and taste. This type of alcohol is obtained by fermentation or by artificial means. The substance is used as a disinfectant, solvent, fuel. In everyday life, alcoholic beverages are those that contain ethanol in various concentrations.

Danger of alcohol

Now we can begin to consider what is fraught with excessive drinking. Once in the human body, these drinks act as solvents, while destroying the fatty membrane of red blood cells. For this reason, blood cells begin to stick together. Such formations can block the flow of blood in small capillaries. The described process leads to the fact that the human brain receives an insufficient amount of oxygen, nutrients, and the cells begin to die. Failures in the central nervous system contribute to disruption of other organs in the body. Excessive alcohol consumption will provoke irreversible chronic pathologies.

What happens if you drink?

The consequences after drinking alcohol are explained by the toxic effects of ethyl alcohol on the body, and the severity of side effects of such drinks is related to strength, frequency of drinking and quantity. Drinking a small dose of alcohol at some event will not cause much harm to the body. But the Ministry of Health warns: "Excessive drinking threatens the formation of dependence, the development of alcoholic encephalopathy, impaired function of internal organs, degradation, as well as other negative consequences."

Moderate drinking

Some experts say that moderate consumption of alcoholic beverages in the amount permitted by the World Health Organization will not do much harm to the human body, will not form dependence, and will also not lead to a state of extreme intoxication. In addition, small amounts of alcoholic beverages can be useful for the prevention of certain diseases, since ethanol makes all protective systems work. However, it should be remembered that this method of preventing the disease is very dangerous for humans, especially for those people who have a genetic predisposition to addiction.

Daily use

The Ministry of Health warns: "Excessive drinking is strictly prohibited." If a person drinks every day, then he runs the risk of becoming addicted and addictive over time. It’s not just that on drinks there is an inscription “Excessive alcohol consumption is harmful to your health”. There is a risk of losing control, as well as a desire to systematically increase the dose. This will be a direct path to alcoholism, as well as to the acquisition of physical and mental health disorders. It is recommended that you take breaks for several days so that all toxins can be eliminated from the body.

Abuse

So, we have found out that the inscription “Excessive alcohol consumption is harmful to your health” on the bottles is a warning about very serious consequences. The human body requires increased doses of alcoholic beverages, which is why you can harm yourself, even if you drink very rarely. Large doses of alcohol negatively affect the work of the brain, liver, gastrointestinal tract and cardiovascular system. Constant excessive consumption of alcohol harms the body, causing persistent dependence, which can cause irreversible consequences.

Dependence

When alcohol enters the human body, its increased concentration can provoke a persistent dependence. This can be explained by the toxic properties of alcohol. Alcoholism is a disease characterized by uncontrolled, constant consumption of alcohol-containing drinks, a pathological attraction to communication, and a change in tolerance to such drinks. Thus, it becomes clear that excessive drinking is harmful to human health. Specialists identify signs of dependence on alcoholic beverages:

1. Withdrawal alcohol syndrome. With this ailment, after refusing to drink alcohol, patients experience psychological and physical negative changes in the body.
2. The desire to drink alcoholic beverages appears at any moment; it has strong emotional significance for the addict.
3. There are changes in the patient's behavior: aggression, memory lapses, lack of desire to chat with friends and relatives.
4. The lack of a specific system. In this case, the use of alcoholic beverages can last more than a day, which is commonly called binge.
5. Increasing tolerance to alcoholic beverages, increasing the threshold for ethyl alcohol rejection.
6. A constant hangover, the appearance of a desire to drink, so as to remove unpleasant symptoms.
7. The presence of some external manifestations, for example, thickening of the veins, bruising, rapid aging of the skin.

When can a person be considered an alcoholic?

So, we figured out that excessive drinking is harmful to your health. Experts recommend limiting household drinking from alcoholism. In the case of domestic drinking, a person allows himself to drink systematically, but if he stops drinking alcohol-containing drinks, then this does not have any serious consequences, aggression, and everything happens as desired. This condition is not considered a disease. An alcoholic is a person who suffers from alcoholism. He cannot control his own desire for a drink, is prone to binges, and also can not control the amount of alcohol consumed.

Reasons for addiction

Since childhood, many people know that excessive drinking is harmful to human health. One possible consequence is addiction. But what are the causes of such an addiction? Absolutely any person can suffer from this ailment if he ceases to control himself, because some features of the culture provoke the population to drink light, heady drinks during sadness, joy, on holidays. Specialists distinguish two groups of people who are particularly prone to addiction to ethanol. The reasons are as follows:

1. Hereditary predisposition. Those people who had addicts among their ancestors can also adopt this genetic material, which is responsible for the risk of getting used to alcohol.
2. The psychological factor. An emotional experience, for example, when you lose your job, unhappy love, death of loved ones can cause a strong addiction to alcoholic beverages. In this case, people try to drink alcohol in order to avoid moral trauma and relax. As a result of such actions, a constant craving for ethanol is acquired.

It is these reasons that cause excessive alcohol consumption, as well as dependence on alcohol.

Development of alcoholism

Dangerous factors for the development of addiction are that persistent addiction can occur completely invisibly to humans. The patient begins to drink alcohol in companies on some holidays, periodically drink, soothe the nerves. At this stage, alcohol may not provoke any negative consequences.

A sense of fun and relaxation leads to the fact that such alcohol consumption becomes more frequent over time. As a result, a person begins to become addicted, symptoms of alcoholism begin to appear. Over time, there is a complete decomposition of the personality, as well as a physical craving for alcohol. Thus, excessive drinking leads to addiction.

Stages of alcoholism

We continue to consider the effect of alcoholic beverages on the human body. The consequences of excessive alcohol consumption can be very dire for health. At the same time, specialists distinguish three degrees of alcohol dependence. Each of them is characterized by specific factors, which are as follows:

1. First degree. At this stage of the development of the disease, the patient often shows a desire to drink alcohol. If it is not satisfied, then after a while it will simply disappear. When the patient drinks, there is a sharp loss of control over the dose of alcohol consumed. The patient becomes irritable, aggressive, episodes of memory loss are observed. Each such booze has a specific reason, which is a kind of excuse for the patient. Alcoholics cease to evaluate drunkenness as a negative phenomenon. Therefore, the inscription "Excessive alcohol consumption is harmful to your health" is not just a phrase, but a kind of warning and a call to a healthy lifestyle.
2. Second stage. This stage is characterized by an increase in tolerance to alcoholic beverages. A physical dependence begins to form, manifesting itself in the form of withdrawal symptoms, headache, thirst, irritability, tremors of the hands and body, sleep disturbance. In the case of a sharp interruption of binge, very serious complications can occur.
3. Third stage. At this stage, the craving for drinking alcoholic beverages increases. The psyche is disturbed. Physical, social and personal degradation is growing rapidly. Drinking provokes a rapid depletion of the body, if its interruption occurs without the intervention of specialists, medalcoholic psychosis may appear.

How often can I drink alcohol?

Excessive alcohol consumption - how much? How often can it be consumed? The World Health Organization sets a certain dose of alcoholic drinks per day. However, if you drink intoxicated drinks every day, then there is a risk of a malfunction of some functions in the human body. To prevent any pathological conditions, it is necessary to take breaks between the use of alcoholic beverages. Specialists recommend drinking alcohol no more than once every 3-4 days, while it is necessary to do with minimal doses. It is also worth abandoning excessive alcohol consumption during the holidays.

Safe dose

The standard dosage of alcohol, which was established by the World Health Organization, is about 10 g of pure ethanol. This portion is available in approximately 330 ml of beer, 45 ml of strong alcohol, 150 ml of dry wine. Safe doses of alcohol that can be consumed per day have also been established:

1. For men: 100 g of vodka, 3 glasses of dry wine, two cans of beer.
2. For women: 2 glasses of dry wine, one bottle of beer, 80 g of vodka.

Possible consequences

So, we found out what it means to drink too much alcohol, how addiction develops. Now it’s worthwhile to examine in more detail the possible consequences for the human body from consuming a large amount of alcohol. Alcohol can provoke the following unpleasant consequences for humans:

1. The toxic effects of alcohol on nerve cells, as well as brain structures. This begins even if a small amount of the substance enters the human body. Specialists note the malfunctioning of the control center, failures in the regulatory mechanism of the cerebral cortex. These processes can cause a quick change of mood, a partial loss of control over actions, irritability, severe aggressiveness, and the occurrence of mental disorders.
2. The pathological process in neurons adversely affects the work of the senses, memory, and intellectual abilities. With excessive alcohol consumption, chronic encephalopathy appears, as well as a risk of cerebral infarction. The duration of exposure to alcoholic beverages provokes Parkinson's and Alzheimer's disease.
3. Cerebral vessels, in the case of frequent use of alcohol, become too brittle, aneurysms can form, which subsequently burst. There is a risk of developing atrophic phenomena of the optic and auditory nerves, blood clots, ischemic stroke of the brain, spinal cord, and circulatory disorders. Over time, chronic alcoholism becomes the cause of irreversible mental illness, as well as the complete degradation of the patient.
4. There are also consequences for the cardiovascular system, which include cardiomyopathy with the development of heart failure, hypertension with a tendency to rupture of arteries, veins, the occurrence of ischemia, myocardial infarction, arrhythmia and blockade.
5. The negative impact of excessive consumption of alcoholic beverages affects the human reproductive system, which manifests itself in the form of impaired viability and maturation of germ cells, the formation of infertility, as well as the risk of congenital pathologies in a child. For the stronger sex, the danger is to reduce an erection, which can lead to the development of potency. In addition, with prolonged excessive use of alcohol, hormonal persistent disorders appear in the body.
6. A frequent consequence is the inflammatory process of the stomach, ulcerative necrotic processes, damage to the pancreas, which is accompanied by diabetes mellitus and chronic pancreatitis.
7. Doctors consider liver diseases to be the most dangerous consequences of systematic drinking. Cells are not able to cope with chronic intoxication on their own, which is why addicted people often suffer from cirrhosis, fibrosis, hepatitis.

Conclusion

Alcoholic beverages are broken down in the liver, while causing severe damage to the cells of this organ. Therefore, in the case of even episodic drinking, it is necessary to protect the cells of the body by taking hepatoprotectors. To do this, you can use the drug "Legalon", which is made on the basis of milk thistle. The drug strengthens cell membranes, prevents toxic substances from entering the liver cells. In addition, the medicine relieves the inflammatory process and stimulates the regeneration of the organ.