The effects of alcohol on the human body

Alcoholism is one of the most difficult problems of modern society.Alcohol and its effect on the body is the subject of discussion among scientists from various specialties who are trying to establish the reasons for the rapid increase in incidence, ways to remove people from this condition, as well as risk factors for developing a tendency to regularly drink alcohol.

At first, alcohol-induced changes in internal organs are not characterized by a sharp disruption of their functionality.But over time, the influence of alcohol on a person increases, leading to acute disorders in the activity of vital systems of the body and breaking the chain of complex mechanisms of its neurohumoral regulation.

Features of the mechanism of action

How does alcohol affect the body?Once in the human stomach, alcohol is absorbed almost instantly into the bloodstream.Few people know, but alcoholic drinks begin to decompose in the oral cavity, so the blood is saturated with alcohol from the first minute of its contact with the body.From this moment the harmful effects of alcohol on human organs begin.About 20% of alcohol is neutralized by the liver enzyme alcohol dehydrogenase, which deactivates substances containing alcohol toxins.

The bulk of alcohol continues to act in the small intestine.It is from here that alcohol penetrates into all aqueous areas of the body, in order to be partially excreted through sweat, urine, saliva, etc., and partially oxidize and accumulate in most organs for several days.During this period, alcohol works like poison, slowly poisoning all the cells of the body, affecting the development of a person, the state of his psyche and the functionality of internal structures.

The effects of alcohol on systems and organs

The harmful effects of alcohol on the human body are expressed not only in dysfunction of the brain and liver.Alcoholism has a negative effect on all organs and systems of the human body.In short, regular consumption of alcoholic beverages completely destroys the model of normal functioning of the patient’s body, has a detrimental effect on his full functioning and is one of the main causes of mortality among people of working age.

Impact on the psyche

Probably each of us knows how alcohol affects the human psyche.Heavy drinkers may experience hallucinations, an overwhelming feeling of anxiety, apathy, and prolonged depression.Alcoholics completely lose their own self.These people become asocial, pay little attention to their appearance, they stop worrying about everyday human worries, caring for their family, and the like.

The consequences of drinking alcohol on the human body

Each stage of addiction has certain symptoms and distinctive features.There are 4 of them in total.

For the initial stagecharacterized by a gradual increase in the consumed dose of alcohol, the formation of dependence and the influence of alcohol on a psychological level.

At the second stagethere is a desire to increase the dose of alcohol.Addiction develops on a physical level.

On the third- destruction at the physical and psycho-emotional level, the formation of dementia.

The fourth stage cannot be treated and leads to the death of the addict.Failure of body systems and death occurs.

25 reasons for quitting alcohol

Many people see nothing wrong with drinking alcohol in the evening, on weekends or on holidays.But few people have a sense of proportion and willpower.And a seemingly harmless hobby turns into a bad habit.This article provides 25 reasons for giving up alcohol, discusses the harm of alcohol and its effect on the human body.

1. Alcohol is the cause of many diseases, meanness, indiscipline, wasted talents, meaningless conflicts and poverty.
2. It is difficult to find a greater evil than alcohol, which would so persistently and mercilessly upset the health of millions of people, so dramatically destroy all human tissues and organs (especially the cerebral cortex), the mind and personality of a person, ultimately leading him to early death.The insidiousness of this poison lies in the fact that serious consequences from the harm of alcohol do not occur immediately, gradually, imperceptibly.
3. The influence of alcohol on a person’s life is evidenced by the following facts: 50 percent of accidents, 1/3 of suicides, 80 percent of deaths from cancer of the oral cavity and esophagus occur due to alcohol abuse.
4. As a result of research conducted using the latest technology, Australian scientists have concluded that both alcoholics and moderate users experience a gradual decrease and shrinkage of the brain.A glass of alcoholic drinks destroys 1000-2000 cells in our brain.These data were confirmed in 95% of alcoholics and 85% of moderate drinkers.

5. Studies have proven that the likelihood of drinkers giving birth to a healthy person is 15 times less than that of non-drinkers, the mortality rate in their children is 5 times higher, and morbidity is 3.5 times higher (note that we are only talking about drinkers, not alcoholics).Alcohol affects children even before they are born.Even in families that drink alcohol moderately, children are born with slow development, mentally underdeveloped, and even dead.Due to addiction to alcohol and drugs, women in America alone give birth to thousands of premature babies every day.Drinking parents are the worst thieves, stealing from their own children the happiness of future discoveries, the happiness of living a full life (according to F.G. Uglov).
6. Experiments carried out on chicken eggs showed the following: 160 eggs were placed in an incubator in a barn, in the basement of which alcohol was brewed.The alcohol vapor affected the eggs.When the time came, the following result was obtained: only half of the chicks hatched, 40 of them were non-viable, 25 were mutants (without a beak, without claws, etc.).
7. If a person’s genetic code is damaged, the entire generation is in danger.Nowadays, 96% of genetic code violations occur due to various drugs (alcohol, cigarettes, other drugs).
8. Alcohol as a drug is harmful in all forms and in any dose to the human body, because it acts like morphine or marijuana, that is, it creates the illusion of goodness and happiness, while causing irreparable harm, like any other poison.
9. According to WHO (World Health Organization), every third person on earth dies from causes related to alcohol consumption, and every fifth person dies from causes related to smoking.This means that from these reasons in Russia we lose almost one and a half million people a year, which is 20 times higher than the number of victims of the atomic explosion in Hiroshima.
10. Prohibition operated successfully in Russia at that time for more than 10 years.During this period, the number of sick people decreased, prisons were emptied, peace came to families, and prosperity appeared in homes.All this data can be checked using a large medical encyclopedia and many scientific works of that time.
11. The assurances of some heavy drinkers that they feel relief after drinking are pure self-deception caused by paralysis of the centers of attention and self-control.The patient, after taking any dose of alcohol, falls into a state of euphoria, and everything, even his own illness, appears rosy.In fact, drinking alcohol in any quantity only aggravates the process and harms the person.

12. It’s not for nothing that people say: “A river begins with a stream, and drunkenness begins with a glass.”Let's think about this fact.From the point of view of contagiousness of the habit of drinking alcohol, it is not drunkards and alcoholics who are more dangerous, because, looking at them, no one will have the desire to imitate them.More contagious is the example of those who drink “moderately”, “culturedly”, who drink “observing a ritual”, etc. Unfortunately, our media have “worked hard” to present the feast in a broader and more seductive way.Rarely does a film go without a glass, lavish celebrations, and toasts.People drink enthusiastically after these toasts, almost mystically hoping that an empty glass or shot glass is the surest way to fulfill their cherished desires.And children become spectators and witnesses, and then accomplices in drinking alcohol, because they imitate their parents on a subconscious level.
13. Many researchers have shown that if children are invited to play on a birthday or wedding, they reproduce and copy the attributes of an adult feast in games - they sit at a common table, open bottles, clink glasses, say toasts, and walk with a staggering gait.A survey of 100 boys in one of the kindergartens showed that 97% of children described alcohol intoxication well.From kindergarten age, the idea of alcohol begins to form as a special, obligatory companion to celebrations and meetings, an attractive symbol of adult life.By the age of 11-12, adolescents form quite stable stereotypes of attitudes towards drunkenness.They copy their parents and loved ones in this.
14. Teenagers assert themselves by who drinks more.Euphoria is cultivated in such companies.Teenagers project their ideas about courage, masculinity, maturity onto alcoholism; they induce each other to see who is drunker, who screams or laughs or squeals louder, who behaves more cheekily.There is a lot of ostentatious, demonstrative, hysterical behavior.Loud music is usually played, increasing destructive behavior.
15. According to statistics, people who drink live on average 10-15 years less.Smoking people for 8 years.Which directly shows the harm of alcohol on the human body.
16. The short answer to the question of why people drink is: they drink because it is a drug that is widely advertised and freely sold.They drink because alcohol has been made a legal drug and is sold at a cheap price.

17. There is a misconception that alcohol should be taken “to have fun.”In fact, fun and laughter are very important moments in a person’s life.They give rest to the brain, distract thoughts from everyday worries, thereby strengthening the nervous system, preparing it for new work and worries.But laughter and fun are useful only in those cases when they arise in a sober person.There is no and cannot be drunken fun in the scientific and reasonable understanding of this state.Drunk “fun” is nothing more than excitement under anesthesia - this is the first stage of anesthesia, the stage of excitement that surgeons observe every day when giving the patient other drugs (ether, chloroform, morphine, etc.), those that are identical in their action to alcohol and, like alcohol, are drugs.This stage of excitement has nothing to do with fun, and after it there is no rest for the nervous system.On the contrary, instead of rest, depression sets in with all the consequences (headache, apathy, weakness, reluctance to work, etc.).Which is never observed in sober fun.So alcohol is not a friend, but an enemy of fun.It eliminates the time that a person sets aside for fun and relaxation.Instead, he gets a headache and fatigue.Alcohol acts in the same way when you are tired.A day off is given to a person so that he can rest physically and mentally and, with new strength and a new desire to work, get to work after resting.
18. Alcohol creates the illusion of stress relief.In fact, the tension in the brain and throughout the nervous system remains, and when the hops wear off, the tension turns out to be even greater than before drinking wine.But to this is added a weakening of the will and weakness.
19. An innate need to drink beer, wine, vodka, etc.people don't.If there were no alcoholic beverages and traditions of drinking them in the world, one could live peacefully without them and not cause harm to one’s body and loved ones.
20. To make a conscious choice “to drink or not to drink,” you need to know how alcohol affects our body.“Advertisers” can make up any legends about the usefulness of alcohol.In television commercials they call beer “correct”, “life-giving”, “for real men”, they try to “link” alcoholic products with sexual, patriotic, national, high-status characteristics of people.In order not to be deceived, you must have objective information yourself and learn to counter advertising.
21. After drinking alcohol, the amount of urine excreted increases (diuresis), that is, water and salts are lost.After intoxication, there is a strong thirst, “pulling” on brine and mineral waters.A brief systematic review of the real effects of alcohol on all types of metabolism in a living organism leads to one conclusion: all types of metabolism are disrupted.It is this combination of “killer” effects that determines the antiseptic effect of ethyl alcohol and should be an obstacle to its use as drinks.

22. The phrase “alcoholic drinks” is incorrect.“Drinks” must have nutritional value and contain substances involved in nutrition.These include proteins, fats, carbohydrates, minerals, and vitamins.They are not found in alcohol.There is very little in cognacs, wines and beer.To gain their daily amount, you need to drink a quantity of these liquids in which the alcohol content is many times higher than its lethal dose.
23. For example, you can buy a car for the money you spend on booze.You can calculate for yourself how much money you spend on alcohol over the course of months and years.
24. There are often references to studies by foreign scientists, for example, a number of institutes from Munich, proving that beer helps with many diseases.First of all, it should be noted that all such studies were conducted with financial support from the alcohol industry.Therefore, such results are circulated in the media, but they are difficult to find in serious scientific journals, since such journals usually ask the authors to indicate the source of funding for the research, and if this is the alcohol or tobacco industry, then the publication of such studies is perceived as a sign of bad taste.
25. You have the power to get rid of another addiction, become free and happy!