Alcohol Addiction Effects

There are many dangerous effects alcohol can have on your body. These effects range from the short term brain impairments from being intoxicated, to the serious long term conditions alcohol can cause. Believe it or not, alcoholism kills five times more people each year than all other drugs combined. More than 100,000 deaths are attributed to drinking every year. These deaths are often drawn out and very painful since alcohol slowly degrades the body by eroding critical health systems. The damage it causes is often irreversible; most commonly alcohol is attributed to:

When I step into a college party, the first thing I see around me is alcohol. I often notice underage adolescents drinking and I also distinguish how they become different people when intoxicated by alcohol. They begin to walk funny and they tend to slur their words, making it hard to comprehend anything they are saying. I have watched family members who were so inebriated that they could not even spell their own name or even pinpoint who they were. The questions I always ask myself when I see these drunk college kids is “Do these kids know the effects of alcoholism?”

As of January 2015 alcohol related deaths were represented as accountable for approximately 6% of deaths worldwide. That is 3.3 million deaths from alcohol related car accidents to alcohol poisoning. The consumption of alcohol can be tied with being a factor in a variety of diseases, disabilities, tragedies, and crimes. An estimate of over 76 million people suffer from alcohol dependence and abuse. Consumption of alcohol can become a serious threat to personal and public health when an individual engages in activities such as binge drinking or drinking while driving. In other words, harmful drinking is anytime an individual becomes unable to have full perception and control of his/her surroundings because of alcohol. Harmful drinking can also be defined as a pattern of alcohol consumption causing health problems that are directly connected to alcohol.

People drink in many ways, for many different reasons. We drink socially, to gain acceptance into a group. We drink alone to ease stress, to cope with our problems, or we “drink because we like the taste or how it makes us feel”#. Often drinking is a learned behavior, starting out as a social drinker; you quickly become psychologically and physically dependent. When someone reaches this stage they are often classified as an alcoholic. To an alcoholic, drinking becomes a compulsion; they cannot stop themselves from having another drink, like a social drinker can. In many cases alcoholics don’t even have to drink continuously in order to be an alcoholic. One the problems of alcohol addiction is that it’s something that doesn’t just effect the individual but it effects, friends and family as well. Spouse abuse, child abuse and dysfunctional family relationships can all be influenced by alcohol abuse.

Alcoholism is a demon, a disease, something reached for out of desperation. It helps with a person 's problem by deadening their senses, and increasing his problems at the same time by destroying his character. When you drink, you don 't have to think about all your problems, you can just let the alcohol wash them away from your mind. But it can never take away all your problems—they still remain, just your sense to care for them is gone. Alcoholism has a great chance to pass on to later generations, but sometimes growing up in an alcoholic family will make the children swear off the drink because they have seen what it can turn people into. It turns them into the basic raw human emotion of grief. They are miserable for alcohol is the only thing that can make them feel normal after awhile, their entire bodies ache for it. Even when they have given up drinking, their bodies can revert back after having just one drop again. Yes, alcoholism is truly a terrifying disease of the mind and body—not just to the addict, but also to the loved ones

It is unfortunate that in today’s society binge drinking is considered the new normal. Alcohol is advertised in almost every social media, and it is used to show how a stressed mother unwinds after a stressful day, or a group of friends celebrating or enjoying themselves. This consistent advertisement largely affects college students and people aging 26 and older (JAMA). Due to these societal pressures and the resulting addictions, binge drinking has a detrimental effect on the health and control of one’s

Alcohol has a strong effect on the mind of the user. Sometimes alcohol can make a person become volatile in behavior and cause the drinker to become physically and verbally abusive to those around him/her, or themselves. Alcohol has been known to be a factor in many domestic violence cases. Many people that under the influence of alcohol, often get into legal problems, which they normally would not have, if not under the influence.

Often, the alcohol will bring out a violent temper and often, alcoholics abuse, physically and mentally, their friends and family. Drinking makes the drinker feel he is more confident. The drinker thinks he is in control, even if a little high, and he might get behind the wheel of his car and go for a drive. Drunk driving is deadly. Hundreds of thousands of people get killed every year due to drunk driving.(Castro 60) Other physical effects of drinking are vomiting, passing out and sometimes, if enough alcohol is consumed over a long enough period of time, or if mixed with other drugs, death.

Binge drinking has been an issue lately for high school and college students. It consists of

Alcoholism is a chronic disease that affects over 18 million people around the world (Yasinski). Alcohol isn’t a bad thing as long as you don’t abuse it like alcoholics do. Alcoholism affects a lot of things! It affects the person, because they can potentially lose their job if they get a DUI (drinking while driving) or they get caught drunk at work. It also affects the alcoholic’s health because they can die of an overdose (Roan). It also in fact affects family members and close friends. They may not know how to help their struggling alcoholic.

There may be some things that you don 't know about the impact of drug and alcohol abuse on friends and family and how your friends and family may react to your choices. Having knowledge about alcohol and drug abuse, preventing toxic relationship with friends, and being informed about the consequences of drug and alcohol abuse can prevent the harmful use or consumption of drugs and alcohol.

Alcohol abuse has many negative effects on the body. One way it affects the body is through the heart. It can cause a stroke, high blood pressure along with many other complications. Alcohol abuse can also cause cancer in the mouth, liver, thought, and esophagus. It can also weaken the immune system and prevent proper digestion in the pancreas.

Many believe that drug and alcohol abuse are related to being a “bad” person, but what if you save lives as a living? A large majority of substance abusers have either been traumatized or have come from a bad background--scarring and causing them to seek out a way to make themselves feel better without having to tell someone. The newest series to hit Netflix, Nurse Jackie, shows addiction, and it’s lack of discrimination, in its truest form as an amazing nurse, Jackie Payton, struggles to juggle her family, work, and addiction.

The alcohol is a terrible disease that effects not only your own body and mental health but also it effects everybody who surrounds you. By being an alcoholic you are experiencing all different types of problems. It can be either a problem with a lack of money that will bring you to the friends who are going to get tired of it sooner or later, or alcohol will ruin your healthy relationship with your family and your lovely kids. People who are suffering from this disease are usually not successful in anything they are trying to do. Alcohol is simply ruining your life.

Alcoholism is a chronic, progressive and potentially fatal disorder which leads to physical and psychological harm, and impaired social and vocational functioning. It is characterized by tolerance, physical dependence and/or pathological organ changes, all of which are the direct/indirect consequence of the alcohol ingested (Light 5). Alcoholism, also known as "alcohol dependence," can be recognized by four obvious symptoms.