What are the health risks from alcohol?

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), there are over 100 million alcoholics in the world. Excessive or chronic, long-term drinking can lead to alcohol dependence or alcohol addiction and has serious health risks. Alcohol also increases a person’s risk of developing over 200 diseases and disorders. The more you drink and the longer you drink, the greater your risk becomes. People who drink large amounts of alcohol over many years often develop tolerance towards it, which means they need larger amounts to get the same results as before.

This means that they are becoming more addicted to alcohol. This can lead to a lifetime of alcohol dependence or addiction. To avoid health risks from alcohol, it is important to drink in moderation and to never drink when you are completely drunk. Alcohol also damages the liver, which helps your body break down toxins and damaged cells (bacteria, etc.).

This damage can cause cirrhosis of the liver, a potentially life-threatening condition that is irreversible without treatment (meaning the disease will always continue until you receive treatment). When this happens it can result in organ failure, liver cancer and death. Additionally, long-term drinking increases your risk of becoming obese over time due to gaining extra body weight from high blood sugar levels.

Side effects of Alcohol

Long time drinking can cause can affect your nerves and judgement, which can lead to a loss of coordination. This means that you may fall over and hurt yourself more easily because you are less steady on your feet, or trip over things that are not in the way. Drinking alcohol increases the risk of serious injury (e.g. falling, car accidents etc.). A person who drinks alcohol has a higher chance of suffering severe injuries (head traumas and internal bleeding). An unintentional injury can occur when a person is drinking alcohol and they lose their coordination. Watch the given YouTube video to know more about the side effects of alcohol:

Alcohol can also cause impulsive behavior. Someone who is drinking alcohol may not think about the consequences of their actions and may be more likely to do something dangerous (e.g. drinking and driving). Alcohol affects a person’s judgment, which is responsible for mental function and learning, making it harder for a person to think things through. People who drink alcohol have a decreased ability to learn from mistakes they do in life. The more you drink, the less your brain remembers so that it becomes harder to learn from mistakes as a result of drinking too much alcohol while trying to drink in moderation.

Headache

Excessive alcohol intake can increase your risk of suffering any type of head injury, including a concussion. Consuming alcohol can also cause a person to lose their awareness of their surroundings and that they are injured. This is called disorientation and this is dangerous as it makes you not aware of what you are doing when you leave the situation or go home from work. It means that people who drink alcohol may be more likely to get into road traffic accidents, fall down stairs and get hit by other household items when they do not realize how close they are to those items.

Fetal Alcohol Syndrome

This is the most common cause of mental disability in children. Fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) has several birth defects, including small eyes, a small head, abnormal facial features and intellectual disability. Alcohol can also result in miscarriage or stillbirth if a pregnant woman drinks alcohol during her pregnancy. Drinking alcohol increases a woman’s risk of losing her child or damaging her child even before it is born.

Intense shaking/tremor

Alcoholics may have tremors (shakes) from being unable to control the shaking of their hands and arms. This is called alcohol shaking or alcohol tremor. It occurs when excess acetaldehyde builds up in the body. Acetaldehyde is a toxic substance that forms as a result of alcohol metabolism. Those who drink alcohol may be unable to stop shaking or they shake more often when drinking alcohol, causing them to develop strong shaking (tremor).

Excessive weight gain

What does alcohol do to your body? Consuming large amounts of alcohol can cause weight gain due to high blood sugar levels and absorption of extra calories from carbohydrate-rich drinks such as beer, wine and liquor/distilled spirits. Alcohol also makes you feel hungry and eat more fatty foods because your body burns up the extra calories in a very inefficient manner so that it causes you to gain weight. Obesity increases your risk of many diseases, including diabetes, cancer and heart disease.

Developing a drinking problem

Those who drink alcohol for many years can develop tolerance towards alcohol. Tolerance means that you need larger amounts of alcohol to feel the same effects as when you first started drinking. Alcohol dependence is defined by needing alcohol to feel normal in order to function normally or feeling bad after not drinking alcohol (alcohol withdrawal). A person may develop alcoholism if they drink regularly even though they know it is bad for them and their health. Alcohol dependence is a type of addiction.

Diarrhea

Alcohol also causes your body to become dehydrated, so that you may suffer from severe and even deadly dehydration. This is due to the diuretic effect of drinking alcohol, which stops the production of urine in the kidneys. When a person drinks alcohol it can cause them to become dehydrated, which may make them more susceptible to other illnesses such as pneumonia and heatstroke. It is also important for people who drink alcohol not to mix any drugs or medications with their drinks (e.g. alcohol with aspirin), because this may cause serious health problems including developing liver problems, causing heart failure and life-threatening complications such as death.

Increased thirst and urination

Alcohol can cause you to become dehydrated, which leads to a loss of water in your body. The body then makes you feel thirsty, so that you may drink large amounts of water and urinate more than usual in order to get rid of any excess water. This is dangerous as it makes the person confused about how much water they need to drink, so that they may drink far too much water.

Heart and liver problems

Drinking alcohol can cause heart problems, including irregular heartbeats, an enlarged heart and high blood pressure. It can also cause liver damage and cirrhosis of the liver leading to an increased risk of developing liver cancer. When people drink alcohol regularly, their body becomes accustomed to it and stores it in the body’s cells. The more alcohol consumed, the more quickly each cell accumulates it. This means that every organ in your body has a reduced ability to function normally as a result of your drinking too much alcohol for long periods of time. This includes the brain and affects cognitive function (memory loss & reasoning), coordination (dizzy & unstable) and vision.

READ MORE: The ultimate guide to preventing heart attack and stroke

Impulsive behavior

Alcohol can worsen certain mental illnesses, such as bipolar disorder, depression and anxiety disorders. The more a person drinks, the higher the risk of having an alcohol-related accident or injury and experiencing psychosis. Alcohol also makes it harder to think clearly or make good decisions, so that you may overspend your money, yell at people you love or do other uncharacteristic things when you are under the influence of alcohol. This is because alcohol affects the part of the brain that controls your behavior and impulses. Numerous studies have shown long-term drinking increases a person’s risk of developing cancer of the throat and neck, mouth, esophagus, liver and colon.

KNOW MORE: Long Term Effects of Alcohol on Body and Brain

Frequently Asked Questions(FAQs)

1. Does alcohol have caffeine?

Yes, it does because the caffeine and alcohol in any one drink usually has the same amount of caffeine. There are also many other components such as non-alcoholic and non-caffeinated drinks that can contain more caffeine than those drinks containing alcohol alone.

2. Can I take medication with alcohol, like pain killers and cold tablets?

It is fine to take medication with alcohol, but you should check with your doctor first that they are fine to do this. People who drink regularly should talk to their doctor about how much they can drink before drinking any medication.

3. How many calories does alcohol have?

Many alcoholic drinks also have a lot of empty calories, which can cause your body to store extra fat without filling you up. This is because the body burns up the extra calories in a very inefficient manner, so that they make you feel hungry and eat more fatty foods.

4. Is alcohol acidic or alkaline?

Alcohol is acidic when it comes in contact with your stomach; it breaks down into by-products such as acetaldehyde and formaldehyde that damage cells in your body. Acidity also causes muscle aches, osteoporosis (weak bones) and tooth decay, as well as increasing symptoms for sufferers of acid reflux disease (e.g. heartburn).

READ MORE: How to overcome alcohol addiction?