Alcohol: Your Worst Nightmare

More than 100,000 deaths are caused by alcohol abuse in the US, and 65% of the youth population say they get their alcohol from friends and family. Alcohol has become a global epidemic, causing countless deaths.

Alcohol is one of the most dangerous and lethal drugs available, and is responsible for growing numbers of deaths in the US.

Alcohol is a depressant drug meaning it lowers central nervous system activity and brain processes that causes adverse effects. Short-term effects include dizziness, slurred speech, nausea, aggressiveness, sexual confidence, and talkativeness. Effects from alcohol may vary depending on one’s sex, age, weight, and other things. Some become more quiet from alcohol, some are suddenly much more confident and eager. Heavy alcohol consumption can cause a hangover which can include headache, nausea, thirst, and dizziness. Long-term effects from being addicted to alcohol can be withdrawal symptoms, hallucinations, convulsions, and damage to vital organs such as the liver. Mothers who drink alcohol during pregnancy may cause mental retardation and other physical problems. Physiologically alcohol is a toxin, so your liver and kidneys work hard to remove the alcohol in a process called oxidation. This process effectively removes alcohol at an ounce per hour but at the cost of large amounts of water. Long-term drinking will overwork the liver and raise the risk of cirrhosis, or liver disease. How is alcohol made? Alcohol has been drunk for thousands of years, beer being the oldest. Beer is produced from fermented grains, fruits, or vegetables. Fermentation is the process of having bacteria transform the sugars in the food to alcohol. Beer has been prevalent throughout history. During the Middle Ages beer was safer to drink the dirty water due to lack of sanitation in cities. For 13 years alcoholic beverages were prohibited in the US by the Prohibition Amendment from 1920 to 1933.

Alcohol can cause addiction and dependency. Alcoholism is the addiction to alcohol. It includes craving, loss of control, physical dependence, and like any other drug, tolerance. Alcohol will give one a strong urge to drink. Withdrawals symptoms can include nausea, anxiety, sweating, and shakiness due to physical dependence on alcohol. Tolerance is the need to have greater amounts of alcohol to get the same drunk “high” one got the first he or she drank it. At first the drinking is to a minimal; casual drinking at parties and social events. One is there for the social event not the alcohol. The next step is experimenting, he or she may become drinking more and more because the high is appealing to him or her. The third step is a sign of a problem because the drinker begins drinking to chase his or her first high. It becomes almost a daily usage for alcohol. Unfortunately, the first wonderful high is long gone, and an alcoholic is continuously chasing it uselessly. The last step into alcoholism is dependency. Here the body is no longer drinking for pleasure, now it has grown accustomed to it and physically needs it. Fortunately alcoholism can be treated. Counseling, medication, and interventions can help an alcoholic regain his life. Groups like Al-Ateen and Al-Anon help alcoholics and persons related to alcoholics overcome their problems.