When one is dealing with alcoholism, it can have a devastating effect on the body and mind. When one is dealing with alcoholism, the effects of alcohol on the body can be so devastating that it may cause a person to lose their life.
Alcohol acts as a depressant in the brain and affects many different parts of the body. The effect alcohol has on each part differs from person to person, but to understand the effects of alcoholism on the body, it’s important to first know how alcohol works.
It slows down function throughout your entire body. Alcohol has a sedative effect on the body, which is why it acts as a depressant in the brain. Alcohol can cause death if one drinks too much of it or ingests more than their system can handle.
Table of Contents
Brain
Alcohol can lessen brain function because it slows down the transmission of messages from one area to another. This includes both motor and sensory functions.
Heart
Alcohol can weaken a person’s heart because it makes it harder for heart muscles to contract and pump blood through the body. The more a person drinks, the more their heart will have to work. So the heart muscle works harder and causes the blood pressure to rise.
Liver
The liver is one of the number one organs that suffer from alcohol abuse and its effects on alcohol on the body. Because the liver breaks down alcohol into acetaldehyde and then into carbon dioxide, consuming large amounts of alcohol can make a person’s liver work overtime to break down those toxins.
Kidneys
Because the kidneys help to filter out toxins from your body, drinking excessive amounts of alcohol can also take a toll on the kidneys. It’s important to note that having just one or two drinks is fine for the kidneys. However, once a person begins abusing alcohol, their kidneys soon begin feeling the effects of alcohol on the body.
Stomach
The stomach is also affected because it gets irritated by larger quantities of alcohol, which can cause vomiting and nausea. Consuming large amounts of alcohol can irritate the stomach lining, making it harder for food to digest.
Cancer Risk
One of the major effects of alcohol on the body is that excessive drinking can lead to an increased risk of cancer. This includes cancers in the mouth, throat, esophagus, and liver.
Life Expectancy
One of the most devastating effects alcohol has on a person’s body is how it can decrease one’s life expectancy. Drinking more than two drinks per day for men and one drink per day for women can increase a person’s risk of death. Research has found that even light drinking can affect your life expectancy by increasing the risk for accidents, heart disease, and other chronic conditions.
Prolonged alcohol use is what causes liver diseases like cirrhosis because it makes liver cells unable to regenerate as fast as they are being destroyed. Alcoholism causes a build-up of scar tissue in the liver that irreversibly ruins a person’s liver and can lead to death.
When it comes to alcohol abuse, everyone has different levels of tolerance. So when one starts drinking excessively and becomes addicted, the effects of alcohol on the body become clear. Visit https://impactrecoverycenter.net/ to begin the next step towards sobriety.
0