What is the harm of alcohol: negative effects on the body and drinking rates

Alcoholic beverages are the most common item on the shelves of almost every grocery store. Some doses of alcohol lead to serious changes and disorders in the human body. Awareness of the harms of alcohol can help refuse it completely or limit alcohol consumption to acceptable levels.

What harm does alcohol do to humans?

Abusers do not think about the consequences of drunkenness, and these are:

• mental degradation;
• deterioration of physical and mental health;
• societal issues;
• bad heredity;
• financial problems;
• amoral behavior.

According to statistics, men are more likely to drink. This happens for many reasons, for example, because of bad company or the illusion that alcohol can relieve stress. But this also extends to women and, even worse, teenagers.

Harmful substances contained in alcohol

By knowing which harmful substances the most common types of alcohol contain, you can understand how it affects the quality of our lives.

Popular intoxicating liquids contain substances dangerous to health and life:

1. Ethanol. With regular and excessive use leads to addiction. In small amounts, it does not harm the body, but an overdose can lead to sudden loss of consciousness or even death.
2. Phytoestrogen. The female hormone (contained in beer) leads to disruption of the male and female reproductive systems.
3. fusel oils. In large quantities, they are poisonous. With a constant intake in the body, they increase the risk of stomach ulcers, cause blindness, impotence and liver disease.
4. Cobalt. In small amounts, it is a useful trace element, but if it accumulates in the body, it becomes dangerous for the normal functioning of the heart and gastrointestinal tract.
5. N-nitrosodimethylamine. Highly toxic substance, especially destructive effect on the liver.
6. Biogenic amines. Toxic chemical compound. In small amounts it can be helpful, but when abused it leads to convulsions, vomiting and diarrhea.
7. Sodium benzoate (E-211). Once in the stomach, it causes strong oxidation of epithelial cells. This leads to gastritis, stomach ulcers, pancreatitis. Contributes to the exacerbation of chronic allergic diseases: asthma, urticaria, psoriasis.
8. Phosphoric acid (E-338). Destructively affects bone tissue and tooth enamel. It causes gastrointestinal disorders, leads to weight loss. A high concentration of the substance causes burning of the respiratory tract.

Adverse effect on the body of adolescents

Alcohol has a detrimental effect on the growth and development processes of an adolescent:

1. Intellectual and emotional decline.
2. Vitamins and useful microelements entering the body are poorly absorbed, which negatively affects the condition of teeth, nails, hair and skin.
3. The risk of heart, vascular, gastrointestinal problems, the appearance of diseases that, as a rule, affect older people (for example, pancreatitis, diabetes mellitus) increases.
4. The growth of bone and muscle tissue stops.
5. Liver, kidneys, reproductive system suffer.

female alcoholism

The difference between the development of male and female addiction:

1. In women, addiction occurs faster, and the treatment of this disease is ineffective. This is due to the characteristics of the female body: it has fewer enzymes that help break down products containing alcohol. Therefore, toxins are not excreted from the body for a long time and quickly lead to adverse effects on organs.
2. Women prefer low alcohol drinks (wine, champagne, cocktails). For this reason, it is more difficult to control the level of intoxication, and the transition to strong drinks occurs, as a rule, already in the later stages of alcoholism.
3. Embarrassed by addiction, women are more likely to drink alone and seek help when it's hard enough to hide the changes. The rehabilitation process is more difficult and longer than in men.

Due to the effect of alcohol on the egg, conceiving, bearing and giving birth to a child can be a difficult or even impossible task.

Conception at the time of poisoning affects the genetic information of the egg. After carrying such a fetus, there is a fundamental threat of the birth of an heir with cerebral palsy syndrome (infantile cerebral palsy) or other disorders of external and internal organs. And it is also possible that during the period of gestation the placenta exfoliates and the fetus dies.

Social harm

Wife/husband, children, parents, friends, co-workers, neighbors and bystanders can be victims of inappropriate behavior by an intoxicated person:

1. To work. Employers don't want to immediately accept or fire an intoxicated person because they miss shifts for no good reason or perform the job poorly.
2. conduct. Half of the accidents are due to a drunk driver.
3. Violation of the law. Most crimes are committed by drunk or fairly drunk people, as they are more prone to assault and even murder.
4. immoral behavior. The first sexual experience, unplanned pregnancy and cases of rape most often occur when one or both partners are drunk.
5. Unhealthy atmosphere at home. Children grow up in an unfavorable environment and may very well inherit the negative example of their parents.
6. Divorced. All innocent family members suffer. Mothers or fathers bring up children alone, who are affected by upbringing in an incomplete family.

How does alcohol affect health?

The table shows popular alcoholic beverages, their composition, as well as the organs they affect.

Drink	Composition	Organs of damage and possible consequences
Beer	Carbohydrates, ethyl alcohol, nitrogenous substances	stones in the kidneys; heart problems; liver disease; brain damage; atherosclerosis; diseases of the intestines and stomach; fat deposition; incapacity
Vodka	Purified water, ethyl alcohol. The composition may include chemical additives and spices	wrong orientation in space; mental degradation; cerebral hemorrhage; heart attack; heart failure; violation of the liver, kidneys, gastrointestinal tract
Cognac	Alcohols, organic acids, ethyl esters, tannins and tannins	liver cirrhosis; cardiovascular illnesses; asthma attacks; destruction of tooth enamel; the walls of the stomach are corroded; poor blood clotting
Low alcohol cocktails	Ethanol, synthetic additives and chemical additives	stroke; varicose veins; mental decline; memory impairment; gastritis, stomach ulcer; hepatitis and cirrhosis of the liver; asthma attacks occur; there is a deterioration in the structure of the skin; hormonal disturbances; development of infertility

Liver and digestive system

The destruction of the liver is associated with a violation of protein metabolism, and at the first stage is usually not accompanied by subjective sensations and changes in laboratory parameters.

There are five stages of liver destruction:

• adaptive hepatomegaly (enlarged liver);
• fatty alcoholic steatosis;
• alcoholic hepatitis;
• alcoholic liver fibrosis;
• cirrhosis.

Common signs of these diseases:

• constant weakness;
• yellowish skin and eyeballs;
• the temperature is higher than normal;
• pain in the right hypochondrium.

Alcohol entering the intestine indeed leaves a chemical burn of its mucous membrane. Regular poisoning leads to problems with defecation (loose stools or constipation, fecal stones), which are most often solved exclusively by surgery.

No more possible :

• Quincke's edema;
• diarrhea;
• urticaria;
• gastritis;
• ulcerative dyspepsia;
• pancreatitis;
• necrosis of pancreatic tissues;
• bowel cancer.

Heart and blood vessels

After drinking alcohol, ethyl alcohol enters the bloodstream and remains in the vessels for about 7 hours, causing them to expand, disrupting the normal rhythm of the heart. Frequent consumption of alcohol, even in modest quantities, inevitably leads to blockage of cerebral vessels, which, together with an increase in blood pressure, rupture. At best, a person survives, but remains disabled, and at worst, a fatal outcome.

Small but constant doses of alcohol are dangerous and cause the following painful conditions:

• lack of oxygen;
• vessels thicken, shrink, burst;
• atrial flutter;
• extrasystole;
• cardiomyopathy;
• high blood pressure;
• hypertension;
• heart attack;
• atherosclerosis.

The pulse increases from 95 to 100 beats per minute. Fat accumulates in the heart muscle, respectively, it increases and becomes flaccid.

Brain and nervous system

The entry of ethyl alcohol into the bloodstream has a devastating effect on red blood cells, which are responsible for transporting air to the brain. Oxygen ceases to enter the brain cells, and as a result, they die one by one.

This leads to poor performance:

• vestibular apparatus;
• "moral" center (the feeling of shame disappears, bluster appears);
• Memory;
• Warning.

The processes of excitation and inhibition of the nervous system are disturbed, which leads to the following signs of antisocial and painful behavior:

• manifestation of aggression;
• inability to control oneself;
• illogicality in the presentation of thought;
• suicidal tendencies;
• violation of the dynamics of movements;
• occurrence of seizures;
• the appearance of hallucinations.

Respiratory system

A raspy, raspy voice with a special timbre is aptly named "drunken" bass. People who like to abuse are the most likely to get TB.

Addiction harms the following areas of the respiratory system:

• pharynx;
• entire nasopharynx;
• larynx.

People who drink regularly suffer from chronic upper respiratory diseases such as:

• laryngitis;
• tracheobronchitis;
• atrophic pharyngitis.

Shortness of breath occurs both during moderate physical exertion and during rest. There is also an unpleasant smell characteristic of the drinker's vapors, which is the cause of the breakdown of ethanol, which is excreted through the lungs.

sexual dysfunction

Erectile dysfunction and even impotence are consequences of alcoholism. Regular consumption of strong drinks negatively affects the ability to procreate. Erection problems can lead to prolonged depression.

The myth is the claim that small doses of alcohol have a positive effect on male strength. Accumulated ethanol disrupts the normal functioning of nerve endings, so intimacy does not bring the expected pleasure.

Alcoholism has a negative effect on the quality of women's sex life. It is this disease that is one of the main causes of frigidity, and in its most severe manifestations. This leads to emotional problems for both partners and often to family breakdown.

Immunity

The benefits of high-quality wine (preferably red) from natural juice, in limited volumes, really manifest themselves: it removes toxins, strengthens the immune system. But a large amount, even the most expensive alcoholic beverage, will have adverse health effects.

The fact is that at this time the following defenders of the immune system are suppressed:

• lymphocytes;
• macrophages;
• granulocytes.

Consequences of immunodeficiency:

• wounds do not heal for a long time;
• the bones are not formed correctly;
• a greater likelihood of HIV transmission;
• poorly restored skin from burns and injuries.

Appearance change

The reason for the purple color of the skin is ethyl alcohol, which acts in such a way that the pulse quickens and blood pressure rises. Over time, the vessels do not withstand constant stress, and blue and red bruises form.

Puffiness is explained by the fact that the body is trying with all its might to restore water balance after the entry of toxins from vodka, beer and other intoxicating drinks. And the female body does it more actively. An alcoholic is tormented by constant thirst, however, water is absorbed very slowly. He drinks and the fluid accumulates, causing swelling in the hands, feet and also the face.

In addition to an unattractive appearance, there may be "obvious" complications after fights (scratches, bruises, abrasions, broken bones), which chronic drinkers are often involved in.

During the development of chronic alcoholism, narcologists observe external symptoms in patients, such as:

• physical exhaustion;
• puffy face;
• crimson tongue;
• high temperature;
• dry, scaly or oily skin;
• profuse sweating;
• tachycardia, arrhythmia.

Photo gallery

The effects of alcohol on various organs can be seen in the following photos.

Usage standards

The best would be to categorically refuse the regular use of a product containing alcohol. However, if a person has decided to reduce only his amount, then it will be interesting for him to know that there are acceptable consumption rates.

The weekly norm (with two days of complete refusal) of low-risk alcohol for the stronger sex is less than 5 liters of beer with a strength of 4. 5 degrees or 50 grams of vodka or brandy at lunch and dinner(daily), or three glasses of dry wine. For women, this norm is 3 liters of beer per week, or 80 grams of vodka at dinner, or two glasses of wine.

It should be noted that if you have abstained from strong drinks on some days, this does not mean that on another day you will be able to drink more without harmful consequences.

But still, calculations for the consumer should be made individually, taking into account:

• weight;
• growth;
• age;
• metabolism;
• heredity;
• first experience of alcohol consumption.

Warning!The information is presented for informational purposes and does not constitute a guide to action. Do not self-medicate, consult your doctor first.