Alcohol consumption is socially accepted and that is why in recent years, the number of women who drink more frequently has increased since they pay less attention to gender stereotypes, the effects of alcohol affect your future and that of the rest of the people around you. Drinking alcohol is not serious if done in moderation. Experts even recommend having a glass of wine a day, because it is healthy for your heart. However, if you go overboard, the effect is just the opposite.
Effects of Alcohol
The negative effects of alcohol abuse appear much earlier in women than in men, with both consuming the same amounts. This is something that everyone has been able to observe in their environment of friends, but it is a genetic question, and we will try to summarize it. This is so for three organic reasons: the distribution of fats, a lower amount of water in the female body, and the absence of a specific enzyme, called alcohol dehydrogenase, which is present in the stomach of men, and it eliminates toxic alcohols.
In addition, alcohol causes cardiomyopathy, which is the impairment of myocardial function for whatever reason, not to mention alcohol-caused hepatitis and cirrhosis, which is chronic and irreversible. Also, women suffer greater cerebral atrophy and much earlier. Scientific studies do not hesitate when it comes to analyzing the effects of alcohol as well as the results of the damages and alcohol problems that exist in our society.
Fetal Alcohol Syndrome
Fetal alcohol syndrome affects two out of every thousand children. This is a consequence of the mother’s alcohol consumption during pregnancy. It does not matter having one drink a week or doing it frequently. The risk always exists. Therefore, if you do not want to harm your baby, do not drink throughout the pregnancy since there is no stage of pregnancy in which there is no risk.
In the first trimester, the damage can be physical, while in the second and third trimesters, growth, function, sensory, and mental retardation problems can occur. As you can see, the effects of alcohol on pregnant women are high risk, and you are surely altering the future of your baby. Therefore, there is no excuse to drink alcohol during pregnancy, and personally, it is not recommended that you substitute alcohol for soft drinks either, due to its high content of sugars that is equally harmful during pregnancy. Water is your vital ally.
The Damages
The damages that alcohol generates at the individual level range from serious diseases to the chronic disease of alcoholism itself. Its excessive intake produces acute poisoning, cardiovascular diseases, cancers, liver disease, or mental disorders, not forgetting that it is one of the major causes of premature death in adults over 45 years of age. In this sense, it should be remembered that alcohol is present in more than 60 chronic diseases, and is one of the major factors of morbidity and mortality.
Get Help
If you find yourself caught up with drinking alcohol on a regular basis, and you are a woman or are pregnant, then you should consider talking to someone at Impact Recovery Center for help to stop drinking alcoholic beverages.