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Alcoholism: how does it harm your life and your body?
Alcohol is a drug, although legal, it is still a psychotropic substance, which is why it gives way to a rather delicate disease: alcoholism.
It causes irreversible damage as well as affects personal, professional, social and family levels, being a public health problem to be taken into account.
Alcoholism: progressively affects your life
The individual hides behind alcohol some childhood trauma that he has not been able to solve. Reason why it should be treated in a multidisciplinary manner, including psychologists, sociologists, psychiatrists or toxicologists; that is, treat it as comprehensively as possible.
The most important thing to keep in mind is that the alcoholic does not accept their alcoholism; they definitely don't acknowledge his drinking problem. In the long run, it brings other inconveniences, such as stubbornness and little desire to receive help, therapy or a solution for a particular situation.
These setbacks escalate as the years go by, showing that high alcohol consumption begins in young people at a very early age.
In that sense, adolescence is the most prone growth stage, leading to rebellion without cause. At the same time, it is causing in some, the liberal attachment to alcoholic beverages.
Over time, the tendency to get drunk in public places, family events, and work meetings becomes more frequent than normal.
Indeed, it is these issues where a destruction of the social aspect in general is demonstrated, due to the behavior that these people have in their state.
How bad is alcohol for health?
Really, the bad thing is the excesses. Organizations such as the WHO recommend a standard measure, depending on gender, in terms of consumption.
Excess according to the WHO
They stipulate that ideally the y are 2 glassesa day (360 milliliters each) for men; 1 only for women with 5% and 12% alcohol content.
The risk is when these measures are abused, drinking more than 15 drinks a day in men and 8 in women respectively. As the taste increases, such an amount will not be enough, because the body will require you to consume more and more.
Effect at the level of the central nervous system
To better understand why people behave so peculiarly when intoxicated, their effect on the central nervous system must be understood. When alcohol is ingested, the liver is in charge of synthesizing it and eliminating it through the urine. A mechanism that collapses when you drink too much.
Unable to do its job, alcohol begins to operate at will as a depressant of the central nervous system. It generates inhibition/blocking of consciousness, so the person will present alterations in their mood, behavior, speech and motor coordination.
Hand in hand with countless physical and neurological reactions, it causes long-term damage not only to the liver, but also to the brain.
Irreversible damage from alcoholism
Finally, the consolidation of hepatic steatosis, a disease caused by alcohol in extreme amounts, is irreversible and can cause death in a short time.
Also, nerve cells are the only cells that cannot regenerate and during alcoholism many of them die.
That is why the memories lived up to a certain point disappear; subsequently, there are many mental blackouts due to the toxic effect of ethanol.
Adverse effects of alcoholism in the medium term
The adverse effects of alcoholism are varied, ranging from the individual to the collective, based equally on the degree of alcoholism.
Among them, health problems stand out, poor performance in the workplace or family breakups that will plunge the person into a spiral.
Health drawbacks
Regarding health problems, it includes hepatic steatosis, liver cirrhosis, diverticulitis, cancer, heart disease or alcoholic dementia.
Each one being worse than the previous one, since they are irreversible sufferings, even requiring a transplant of the affected organ or causing immediate death.
Risk to society
An alcoholic person represents a risk to society, especially in the professional space, because their performance at work will be lower.
In general, their concentration will not be on the morning, but rather at nightime where they go to drink.
Familiar scope
The detrimental effect that alcoholism has on the family environment is very delicate, since it develops a practically unsustainable environment in the home.
In this sense, it is where divorces, gender violence, children separated from their parents, are staged until they acquire dangerous connotations.
Treatment for alcoholism
Although the only treatment is to stop drinking, it is not as simple as it seems, since you enter a state of unbearable withdrawal. It must be overcome strategically and cannot be abrupt.
Otherwise, it will also threaten the life of the person, recommending a gradual advance in specialized therapies.
One of the fundamental aspects in the treatment for alcoholism is to have a strong family support or a social circle where you can lean on and wrap yourself up. They will be crucial so that on many occasions the alcoholic does not want to return to drinking.
If you are aware of how much you drink, and decide to stop, it is a big step towards detoxification, because accepting it changes everything.
