Whether it’s a mini get-together or a big birthday bash, alcohol is a great way to let yourself socialize and unwind. You may not know this, but alcohol also has plenty of mental and physical health consequences that can affect your life in the worst way. According to Drug Abuse Statistics, most American adults use alcohol at least once in their lifetime, and 6.7% develop an alcohol use disorder. This disorder can cause high blood pressure, depression, liver diseases, and other problems.
So, if you want to learn about how alcohol consumption can turn your life upside down, we got you covered. Let’s discuss the varying mental and health effects of alcohol to get an idea about its severity!
What Areas Are Most Affected by Alcohol?
Undoubtedly, alcohol addiction is the worst thing, as it stops you from performing most of your daily tasks and affects your mental health. However, it’s not like this is the end of the world, as you can get over this by getting addiction treatment at Recovery Life Group. But before that, let’s have a detailed look at the areas affected by alcohol and how it can adversely affect your life.
1. Alcohol and Brain
Excessive or even consistent alcohol consumption can lead to severe brain damage, which may prevent you from performing your daily tasks. The initial effects of alcohol on your brain may seem minor, but they can completely destroy the functioning of your central nervous system. You may feel depressed, anxious, and even have mood swings because alcohol disrupts the working of neurotransmitters. Here is how alcohol can affect your brain:
- Mild symptoms: Impaired hearing, trouble walking, blurry vision, slurred speech, etc.
- Serve symptoms: Shrinking of brain tissues and alcohol-induced brain diseases such as Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome caused by thiamine deficiency due to alcohol abuse.
Additionally, if you are a heavy drinker, you can fall victim to alcohol-induced performance impairment – the inability to perform physical and mental tasks.
You may experience memory lapse or severe brain damage. However, not all heavy drinkers are prone to this disease; instead, five factors contribute to it. These include:
- How frequently and how much do you drink?
- At what age did you start drinking?
- Do you have a family history of alcohol addiction?
- Whether or not you’ve been exposed to parental alcohol exposure?
- What’s your general health standing? (1)
Alcohol and Physical Health
Alcohol usage severely affects your physical health, causing serious health issues. And when you are physically not well, you cannot perform your routine tasks efficiently, resulting in poor performance. You may experience issues in the following organs:
- Causes inflammation, scarring, and even liver failure, a condition known as cirrhosis.
- Risks of high blood pressure, irregular heartbeats, and heart disease.
- Weakens your immune system, making you more vulnerable to infections and illnesses.
Alcohol and Social Life
Well, if you think the adverse effects of alcohol are only limited to the brain, you are wrong. Excessive alcohol consumption can seriously impact your workplace and personal relationships. You may also get involved in legal issues for making a mistake when you are high on alcohol.
According to the reports, around 139.7 million Americans consume alcohol, and most can relate to different social issues they face due to it. Let’s discuss the most common issues you may face in your life because of alcohol:
- Can damage your relationship with your partner, friends, and loved ones, resulting in conflicts or heated arguments.
- You may start avoiding your favorite hobbies or activities and go into complete social isolation.
- May get charged legally for driving under the influence of alcohol, public intoxication, etc.
- Reduced performance at school and poor results.
- Serious financial and employment issues may arise as alcohol consumption takes over.(2)
Conclusion
Alcohol consumption can completely destroy your life by affecting your brain, body, and even social life.
You experience blurry vision, memory loss, inefficiency, poor workspace management, personal relationship management issues, liver and heart issues, etc. All this can make you feel lost and unconfident, making your life miserable.
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