Having a few units of alcohol once in a while doesn’t leave anyone at a grave level of risk. However, having a little too much alcohol and turning it into a heavy drinking habit will have some lasting effects on your overall health. Alcohol is a powerful chemical that can have a wide range of undesirable effects on almost every part of your body, particularly your brain, bones, and heart.
Alcohol abuse can lead to a medical condition called alcoholism which is a frequent alcohol intake that can lead to emotional distress, medical problems, or physical harm. Alcohol and its associated risks can have both short-term and long-term effects.
Short-term Risks of Alcohol Abuse
These usually depend on the alcohol tolerance level of each individual in question, but knocking back a lot of drinks at once can cause the following:
● Poor quality of sleep – you may spend long hours in bed after having one too many drinks. However, once the sedative effect wears off, it can disrupt or lower the quality of your sleep. Over time, it’ll become harder to fall and stay asleep.
● Increased heart rate and blood vessels relaxation and expansion.
● Warm, sociable, and talkative feeling.
● Lightheadedness, speech slurs, and hangovers.
● Highly-impaired coordination and drowsiness.
● Dehydration and severe headaches.
● Indigestion, diarrhea, nausea, and vomiting.
● Alcohol poisoning.
Long-term Risks of Alcohol Abuse
Here’s where the most risks lie. Drinking large amounts of alcohol for many years will take its toll on many of the body’s organs and cause organ damage. These organs include the brain, the nervous system, heart, pancreas, and liver. Heavy drinking can also increase your blood pressure and blood cholesterol levels, both of which are major risk factors for heart attacks and strokes.
Long-term alcohol abuse can weaken your immune system, making you more vulnerable to serious infections. It can also weaken your bones, placing you at greater risk of fracturing or breaking them. There are many long-term health risks associated with alcohol misuse. They include liver, mouth, head, bowel and cancers, anemia, stroke, seizures, high blood pressure, pancreatitis, digestive problems, infections, dementia, depression, sexual problems, and infertility.
Other Implications of Alcohol Abuse
Alcohol abuse can also lead to personal and social problems like financial problems, unemployment, homelessness, family break-up and divorce, domestic abuse, amongst others. Alcohol abuse can lead to a period of unconsciousness, which may lead to some of the following: DUIs and even homicide.
- DUIs, accidents, and injury,
- Assaults, violence, and antisocial behavior
- Unsafe sex – this can lead to unplanned pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections (STIs),
- Loss of personal possessions – many people lose personal possessions, such as their wallet or mobile phone, when they’re drunk.
- Unplanned time off work or college – this could put your education or work at risk.
Alcoholism can be a complicated disease to deal with, and that’s why alcohol treatment in San Diego is an important subject matter. More often than not, individuals dealing with alcohol abuse require external help in dealing with it. If you’re in San Diego and you need a rehab center, visit Pacific Bay Recovery.
