Drinking a lot, called heavy drinking, means having 5 or more drinks in one sitting at least once in a month. Sometimes, heavy drinking can become a problem. For people who drink heavily, it's important to understand how alcohol affects the body.
Alcohol is something the body tries to get rid of. Even a small amount affects the body. If you drink more than your body can handle, you start feeling drunk because the alcohol builds up in your body. This can affect your nerves and slow down your brain. That's why people might feel excited, numb, or less inhibited when they drink.
Effects of too much alcohol in the body
1.Fighting Sickness: Think of your body's defense team against germs and illnesses – that's your immune system. Drinking too much alcohol slows down this team, making it tough for them to keep you healthy. This means you might get sick more often, and even face a higher risk of certain cancers.
2.Strong Bones and Muscles: Imagine your body is like a building. Alcohol abuse weakens the materials used for making strong bones, making them prone to breaking easily. It's like your body's construction workers aren't doing their job properly. Also, the muscles that help you move around can become weaker and painful.
3.Reproduction and Hormones: For guys, too much alcohol can lead to problems with things like "raising the flag." In ladies, it can mess up periods and make it harder to have babies. Plus, it might increase the chances of a specific type of cancer.
4.Heart Health: Your heart works super hard, and drinking too much can stress it out. It's like giving your car's engine more fuel than it can handle – things start to break. Even if you only drink a lot once, your heart might get upset, and heavy drinkers are more likely to have serious heart issues like high blood pressure, heart attacks, or strokes. Ladies, this can be especially risky.
Drinking too much alcohol isn't great for your body. It can make your immune system weak, your bones and muscles fragile, mess up your ability to have babies, and give your heart a really hard time.
5.Digestive System: This is where things can get messed up quickly. When you drink too much alcohol, your gut struggles to control bacteria and take in important nutrients. This can lead to problems like not getting enough nutrients, which makes you unhealthy. Also, alcohol can mess up your mouth and teeth, causing issues like gum disease, tooth decay, and ulcers in your food pipe. You might also get problems like heartburn, stomach ulcers, and even internal bleeding or hemorrhoids.
6.Central Nervous System: Booze affects your brain and behavior. It makes it hard to talk clearly and move smoothly, leading to slurred speech and clumsy movements. It messes with how you control your actions and remember things, which can cause "blackouts" where you don't remember what happened. You might even feel numb, weak, or unable to move for a while. If you keep drinking heavily for a long time, it could shrink the part of your brain that makes decisions. And if you get hooked on alcohol, stopping it can have really tough effects.
7.Excretory System: This system gets rid of waste, including alcohol. Too much alcohol can hurt your pancreas, which affects insulin, the stuff that helps control your blood sugar. This can lead to diabetes problems. Your liver, which cleans out bad stuff from your body, also takes a hit from too much alcohol. It might get damaged, causing issues like hepatitis, jaundice (your skin turns yellow), and cirrhosis, which is like bad scar tissue building up in your liver. Alcohol could also mess with your kidneys, bladder, and prostate, leading to inflammation.
So, when you drink too much alcohol, it can mess up your digestion, make your brain and behavior wonky, and damage your body's systems that get rid of waste. It's like throwing a wrench into the works of your body's machinery.
New research suggests that having a moderate amount of alcohol might be good for feeling well. But remember, alcohol can also harm your body in different ways. Before you decide to drink, it's important to know all the facts.
If you notice any of the signs or behaviors mentioned earlier, it's really important to tell your doctor about it. And if you need help, you can call the Help Line at (336) 832-9700. The most important thing in getting better is talking to someone about it and understanding when alcohol starts causing problems that affect how you live your life.
By Andrew Anongu, DailyHealth.
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