Drinking alcohol is a widespread social tradition. Leisure and alcohol go together because when you meet with friends, you meet "to have a few drinks". Nightlife is synonymous with a few drinks and even if you go to someone's house for dinner you take a bottle of wine. Alcohol is a legal and social drug consumed each day. This entails a number of impacts that are harmful to health. Alcohol can have social, health, and emotional consequences. In this OneHowTo article we explain what the consequences of drinking alcohol are.
Milder consequences of drinking alcohol
Amongst the physical consequences of drinking alcohol we have to distinguish between the most immediate consequences and those which appear over time. On a day when you have drunk more alcohol than advisable, the most immediate impacts are:
- Slurred speech.
- Decreased visual and auditory awareness.
- Delay in reflexes and difficulty with muscle mobility.
- False sense of euphoria.
- Increasingly common among younger people is an alcohol coma i.e., an alcohol overdose.
But when a person drinks alcohol regularly, at an early stage of consumption, the body notices some health problems resulting from consumption of alcohol such as:
- Tingling in arms and legs.
- Leakage of urine or difficulty passing urine.
- Erectile problems in the case of men.
- Difficulty falling asleep.
- Nausea and vomiting that damage the stomach lining.
- Impaired absorption of nutrients.
Alcohol also causes premature ageing, so people who drink a lot, have worse looking skin, wrinkles, and so on.
More serious consequences of alcohol abuse
Other health consequences of alcohol abuse are more severe. In the longer term, drinking alcohol has negative impacts on the body, which include fatal diseases. Among the most frequent health consequences are:
- Bleeding from the oesophagus or stomach.
- Pancreatitis: Inflammation and / or damage to the pancreas.
- Chronic gastritis: stomach ulcers and other gastrointestinal bleeding.
- Increased triglycerides and bad cholesterol.
- Hypertension.
- Liver damage: from cirrhosis (Chronic damage to the liver caused by chronic liver disease) to Liver Cancer, which can be fatal.
Furthermore, alcohol can cause dependence. Being addicted to alcohol is, in itself, a serious problem, not only because of its physical effects on the body. Alcohol may get in the way of maintaining a steady job and can ruin relationships with family, friends and loved ones.
Therefore, alcohol abuse has emotional consequences as well, as people who drink in excess can be lonely. Long term consequences of alcohol abuse are multiple, and range from social, mental, emotional, to physical consequences.
Recommendations
If you have someone around you who abuses alcohol at OneHowTo we recommend you go with them to see a specialist who can assist them in getting rid of their addiction.
We also recommend drinking alcohol in moderation and in a healthy way.
This article is merely informative, oneHOWTO does not have the authority to prescribe any medical treatments or create a diagnosis. We invite you to visit your doctor if you have any type of condition or pain.
If you want to read similar articles to What Are the Consequences of Drinking Alcohol, we recommend you visit our Mental health category.
- Be responsible with alcohol. The consequences of excessive consumption affect all areas of your life.