Many people still hold the idea to have a good time one needs to tie-one-on, get-a-buzz, dull-the-senses, feel-no-pain, get-smashed, in other words get inebriated.
What many people fail to understand or acknowledge is that they end up hurting someone else as well as themselves.
Even though alcohol is a natural product of fermentation it is a drug that has both short and long term effects. These effects differ depending on whether the dose or alcohol consumed is moderate or excessive.
Alcohol Affects Every Cell
Alcohol affects every cell of the body. From the moment a person consumes alcohol it is active in many ways. From the stomach and intestines alcohol moves rapidly into the blood stream and from the blood it enters every cell. Within minutes after the first sip ethanol is affecting the brain, muscles, nerves, glands, and the small blood vessels of the skin.
Alcohol and the Liver
If you enjoy the way alcohol "makes you feel," your body in fact does not like it. It makes every effort to remove this drug out of the circulatory system. In fact, your liver begins filtering alcohol from your blood as soon as it appears.
While some people may think this process of filtration will keep you from being impaired, it is not so. The liver's processing capacity is limited. It can only handle about one drink an hour, not even that if you weigh less than 50 kilos.
Alcohol and Cancer
Consuming two or more drinks per day could increase a person's risk of pancreatic cancer by about 22 percent, according to data published in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.
Alcohol Affects the Brain
Alcohol has an immediate effect on the brain. The following is a synopsis of how alcohol affects your brain:
- At the cellular level, alcohol causes nerve cells to release a chemical known as GABA that inhibits the movement of messages to nerve receptors. Alcohol opens cell channels that are closed when you are thinking clearly and closes some that are normally open. Eventually, the brain can become so confused that it simply begins to shut down.
- At first, alcohol may make you feel more animated, that 'jolly-fun-loving-person' you think you've become, but alcohol is a depressant ...eventually it will dull the nerves throughout the body and make you drowsy. It impairs the brain activity that controls your memory and balance.
- If you drink enough alcohol you can end up in a coma. Experts indicate young people are more prone to this because they are not accustomed to regular drinking and the receptors in their brain are extremely sensitive.
Some people think they can 'hold their liquor'. What they fail to realize is that the damage is still occurring to the body.
People drink alcohol for many reasons. Sadly, some people drink because they feel depressed or they may be addicted to alcohol.
Then there are the powerful forces encouraging people to consume alcohol. The promotion of alcohol in advertising and in the entertainment industries continually support the concept that it is normal, desirable, sophisticated, and sexy to drink alcohol.
Sophistication and sexiness means being sober and in complete control of who you are. There is nothing more of a turn off than someone who can't hold eye contact, hold their head up, sit and stand up without assistance, and can't carry on a logical entertaining conversation.
Their loss of control physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually is not attractive let alone sexy! Sobriety is loads of fun. And your sexuality is heightened by having all of your senses intact!
