Here's a few effects alcohol has on the body:
Brain: Alcohol interferes with the brain’s communication pathways, and can affect the way the brain looks and works. These disruptions can change mood and behavior, and make it harder to think clearly and move with coordination.
Heart: Drinking a lot over a long time or too much on a single occasion can damage the heart, causing problems including, but not limited to, cardiomyopathy (stretching and drooping of heart muscle), arrhythmias (irregular heart beat), stroke, and high blood pressure.
Liver: Heavy drinking takes a toll on the liver, and can lead to a variety of problems and liver inflammations including steatosis (fatty liver), alcoholic hepatitis, Fibrosis, and cirrhosis.
Pancreas: Alcohol causes the pancreas to produce toxic substances that can eventually lead to pancreatitis, a dangerous inflammation and swelling of the blood vessels in the pancreas that prevents proper digestion.
Cancer: Drinking too much alcohol can increase your risk of developing certain cancers, including cancers of the mouth, esophagus, throat, liver, and breast.
Immune System: Drinking too much can weaken your immune system, making your body a target for disease. Chronic drinkers are more liable to contract diseases like pneumonia and tuberculosis than people who do not drink too much. Drinking a lot on a single occasion slows your body’s ability to ward off infections – even up to 24 hours after getting drunk.
Here's some facts and statistics about alcohol:
According to National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAA), in 2014:
87.6 percent of people ages 18 or older reported that they drank alcohol at some point in their lifetime; 71.0 percent reported that they drank in the past year; 56.9 percent reported that they drank in the past month.
24.7 percent of people ages 18 or older reported that they engaged in binge drinking* in the past month; 6.7 percent reported that they engaged in heavy drinking** in the past month.
16.3 million adults ages 18 and older had an AUD***.
An estimated 679,000 adolescents ages 12–176 had an AUD
Nearly 88,0009 people die from alcohol-related causes every year, making it the fourth leading preventable cause of death in the United States.
Alcohol-impaired driving fatalities accounted for 9,967 deaths (31 percent of overall driving fatalities).
More than 10 percent of U.S. children live with a parent with alcohol problems.
1,825 college students between the ages of 18 and 24 die from alcohol-related unintentional injuries, including motor-vehicle crashes.
696,000 students between the ages of 18 and 24 are assaulted by another student who has been drinking.
97,000 students between the ages of 18 and 24 report experiencing alcohol-related sexual assault or date rape.
Roughly 20 percent of college students meet the criteria for an AUD and about 1 in 4 college students report academic consequences from drinking, including missing class, falling behind in class, doing poorly on exams or papers, and receiving lower grades overall.
34.7 percent of 15-year-olds report that they have had at least 1 drink in their lives. About 8.7 million people ages 12–20 reported drinking alcohol in the past month.
I don't know about y'all, but those facts and statistics scare me. I often see peoples snapchat stories and Instagram posts with red solo cups in hand and a dazed and confused look on their faces. I can't help but wonder; is the high really worth brain damage, heart disease, mouth cancer, or possibly causing a fatal wreck because your judgement is impaired and you decide to get behind the wheel of a car? I honestly don't see how it could be. I was fortunate enough to grow up in an alcohol free household, so I don't think I should ever have a problem. All I know is I don't want to die at 25 from an alcohol related accident or alcohol caused disease, and I hope you think twice before downing whatever is in your drink.
*Binge drinking by definition is a pattern of drinking that brings blood alcohol concentration levels to 0.08. This typically occurs after 4 drinks for women and 5 drinks for men—in about 2 hours.
**Heavy drinking by definition is drinking 5 or more drinks on the same occasion on each of 5 or more days in the past 30 days.
***Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD).
