Alcohol Effects On The Body
Alcohol has an amazing way to break the ice, make you feel relaxed and disinhibited and alter your reality in the present moment. But what a lot of people do not take into consideration is all the harmful effects of alcohol on your mind and body!
Alcohol effects on the mind:
- Slurred speech (one of the first symptoms of excessive alcohol consumption)
- Blackouts (it effects your memory formation, resulting in no recollection of the previous night’s events)
- Hallucinations (withdrawal may cause visual and tactile hallucinations)
- Dependence (due to a psychological and physical addiction which are both related)
- Shrinking brain (the frontal lobes that are responsible for planning and executive functioning start to shrink)
- Depression, psychosis, anxiety/panic attacks, slowed thinking, memory loss and the increased risk of experimenting with other drugs
Alcohol effects on the body:
- Cancer (chronic users can develop mouth, throat, esophageal, breast, pancreatic, liver and colon cancer)
- Heart damage (causes dilated cardiomyopathy which results in your heart pumping blood inefficiently)
- Lung infections (affects the immune system resulting in the increased risk of developing tuberculosis and pneumonia)
- Liver damage (the progression from fatty liver → hepatitis → cirrhosis → hepatocellular carcinoma or death)
- Anemia (deficiency of red blood cells or hemoglobin resulting in pallor and fatigue)
- Chronic pancreatitis (which can progress to diabetes and pancreatic cancer)
- Stomach distress (bloating and painful ulcers)
- Diarrhea (damages your intestines)
- Infertility (with chronic use)
- Erectile dysfunction
- Birth defects (also known as Fetal Alcohol Syndrome – which is the most preventable intellectual disability in newborns)
- Thinning bones (increases the risk of developing osteoporosis, resulting in brittle and fragile bones)
- Malnutrition (prevents your body from properly absorbing vitamins and nutrients, resulting in conditions such as macrocytic anemia and Wernicke Encephalopathy)
- Poor coordination (affects the cerebellum of the brain which is responsible for coordination)
- Muscle cramping
- Tingling (including numbness and pain in the hands and feet secondary to damage to the central nervous system)
- Alcohol poisoning
As you can see, the list is exhaustive and is not worth drinking heavily. Sadly, alcohol is very addicting and many people are never able to stop. If you or anyone is suffering from an alcohol problem, please seek immediate medical treatment!
The DSM Ready Community is always available to talk about problems, issues and concerns regarding an addiction! Feel free to be open and honest so we can be of help to each other.
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