According to the CDC, alcohol consumption is the number one cause of preventable death and binge drinking accounts for 40% of those deaths.
Everyday use of alcohol can lead to a multitude of health problems, it can affect many parts of your life.
Excessive alcohol use is described as eight or more drinks if you are a woman or fifteen or more drinks per week if you are a man, while binge drinking is four or more drinks on one occasion for a woman and five or more drinks on one occasion for a man.
The first danger of excessive use of alcohol is increased chance of experiencing liver disease.
The liver is an extremely important organ and it is located in the upper right area of your stomach.
Your liver is responsible for filtering toxins in your blood, helps your blood to clot properly, it helps to produce plasma proteins, and it helps produce hormones and vitamin d.
Liver disease is caused by excessive alcohol use amongst many other things.
Problems with your liver can be fatal.
Another problem that you could face if you excessively use and abuse alcohol is an increased risk of cancer.
In a study, alcohol was considered to be associated with more than four hundred thousand cancer deaths.
The types of cancer that are caused by alcohol are mostly oral cancer, cancer of the esophagus, liver cancer, colon cancer, rectal cancer, and breast cancer.
The third thing that you are risking by abusing alcohol is increased risk of heart disease.
With excessive alcohol intake, your heart muscles can stretch out causing them to beat improperly leading to arrhythmias or even sudden death.
Alcohol can also lead to high blood pressure which is one of the main causes of heart disease and strokes.
Aside from this, you will begin to experience impaired brain function.
This is a huge danger of how alcohol can affect you.
Alcohol is a depressant and can cause problems short term and long term.
Alcohol can impair your vision, speech, and ability to balance amongst other impairments.
Studies suggest that alcohol can decrease your memory and even lead to dementia.
Even small amounts of alcohol can be associated with loss of brain volume.
The more that you drink, the worse effects alcohol can have on your brain.
The last thing we will cover is how alcohol leads to addiction and dependence.
When you consume alcohol, it generally makes you feel good but what actually happens is, alcohol releases dopamine which are your happy/feel good cells allowing you to feel pleasure.
It also releases serotonin which makes you feel light and happy.
The more alcohol that you drink, especially with consistency, you develop a tolerance meaning you require more alcohol to get these same feelings.
If your body becomes physically dependent on alcohol you can experience withdrawals when you quit drinking alcohol.
Some minor withdrawals include cravings, headaches, high heart rate, anxiety, and irritability.
If your dependance is more intense you can experience high fever, tremors, seizures, and delirium tremens can be fatal.
Alcohol is extremely dangerous and people don’t realize that you don’t have to be a stereotypical alcoholic to have a problem with alcohol.
Abstaining from alcohol will make for a better, healthier lifestyle for anyone.