Your Health and Drinking
Alcohol. It changes not only the way you think, but the way your body changes too.
Mentally
Alcohol can definitely affect your mental health. It can influence your emotions positively or negatively. Not only can it heighten the way you feel, but it can cause (after heavy drinking) depression. It affects the chemicals that lift mood and prevent anxiety. There is a proven link between suicide and alcohol. Drinking can also affect sleep. Some may believe that it helps relieve stress for a better slumber, however it does just the opposite. It is vital for a person to get enough deep sleep to feel rested and refreshed, and for the brain to rejuvenate. Alcohol prevents this from happening. Not only does less sleep put us under stress, but so do the hangovers from drinking too much. Judgement is also affected when drinking. It may cause one to try more risky behaviour that he/she would not try if not under the influence of alcohol. All in all, drinking is not a way to get rid of your problems.
Physically
You might think that one drink can't affect you physically... but it can. Even one beer can slow your reactions and throw off your concentration. It changes the way you act, and can really ruin your health. You could gain weight, feel sick or dizzy, get bad breath, become clumsy and slur speech, break out with pimples or zits, and feel out of contol, all as a result of alcohol consuption. We call drinking too much alcohol "alcohol poisoning." When you have a drink, the level of alcohol in your blood rises. It is absorbed much more quicly than food, and can reach the brain within a minute of swallowing. Having too much alcohol in the blood can lead to vomiting and seizures and often results in passing out. Another affect is cirrhosis of the liver. The liver cleans posions and toxins out of your body, and cirrhosis prevents this. And not only that, alcohol can cause stomach ulcers, which may lead to internal bleeding. Alcohol can also lead to malnutrition, because it causes euphoria, a condition where a person looses his/her appetite. Long term effects of alcohol include: arthritis, cancer, fetal alcohol syndrome, heart disease, hyperglycermia, hypoglycemia, kidney disease, liver disease, nervous disorders, obesity, depression, anxiety, and insomnia.
