Uses and Abuses of Alcohol

The alcohol in alcoholic drinks is absorbed quickly into the blood. It is produced when yeast destroys sugar and turns it into alcohol and carbon dioxide. It stimulates the body when taken in a small quantity and some are used as medicine to improve on health conditions. Some things with mild drugs in them, we take we take for social reasons, to be part of a group. People who take a lot of substances with alcohol in them for non-medical purposes are abusing drugs.

Perfect examples of alcoholic drinks are whisky, all beer, gin, schnapps, Champaign and so on. The immediate effects are an increase in the heart rate, reduced anxiety, relaxation and a sense of well-being.

Drinking alcoholic drinks in moderation is healthy and good for your heart and circulation, but alcohol is a depressant drug that slows down the body and brain. Driving, after only drinking a small amount of alcohol, is dangerous because alcohol affects your reaction time and judgement of speed. This can result in an accident which may hurt you or other people.

*Drinking too much can result in being drunk. People who have drunk too much lose control of speech and movement.  They slur their speech and stagger about. Extreme drunkenness can result in people becoming unconscious and even dying from choking on their own vomit or of alcohol poisoning.

*Addiction to alcohol. People feel they can not live without drinking a lot every day.

*Withdrawal symptoms. The people who are addicted to alcohol may get withdrawal symptoms if they stop drinking. They suffer from trembling hands, cold sweats, bloodshot eyes, twitching of the lips and eyes, vomiting sometimes, and headaches.

*Memory loss and damage (cirrhosis or hardening) of the liver.

*Hallucinations where people imagine they are in a magical world. They may see enemies everywhere. This is a disease called paranoia.

*Depression and anxiety which can result in suicide (killing themselves)