Alcohol is very harmful to the human body. All organs and systems of the human body are affected. The negative effects have not spared the younger generation, both women and men. Worth knowing: Is alcohol bad for you? What does it do to every life support system; how harmful alcohol is to the body.
Alcoholism and its consequences
The effects of alcohol and its effects on the body have been well studied. Absolutely all human organs and systems are affected by ethanol: organs of the digestive system, central nervous system, cardiovascular, genitourinary, respiratory, musculoskeletal, visual organs, etc. Alcohol damages the liver, heart and brain the most (memory training).
The effects of alcohol on the body are as follows:
- Negative effects on organ cells;
- Promote mutation and tumor formation;
- Can cause irreversible consequences to the fetus when used during pregnancy;
- is a drug;
- disrupt normal metabolism;
- Reduce immunity.
Effects on the liver
The effects of alcohol on the liver are related to its main function - removing toxins and harmful substances from the body. Long-term alcohol consumption can cause ethanol to damage the liver and disrupt its performance. When the liver cannot handle the filtering function, all the toxic substances enter the bloodstream and flow to other organs.
The effect of alcohol on the liver manifests itself in the development of diseases:
- Acute alcoholic hepatitis. Symptoms: Depression, general health deterioration, loss or loss of appetite, fever, jaundice, confusion. The disease can be cured as long as the use of ethanol-containing products is stopped and timely and correct treatment is carried out.
- Cirrhosis can cause symptoms such as digestive problems, abdominal pain, weight loss, and weakness. May develop asymptomatically. Cirrhosis is characterized by the growth of connective tissue, which begins to destroy liver cells. The liver slowly stops working. In advanced stages, increased hepatic vascular pressure, encephalopathy, and tumors can join cirrhosis.
- fatty liver. It occurs in the absence of symptoms, and the presence of symptoms is determined using biochemical blood tests. Liver disease treatment is not medication, the main method is to quit drinking.
Effects of alcohol on the brain
Many people drink alcoholic beverages after a hard day's work, vacation or rest day. It's worth noting, though, that not everyone has a sense of proportions. And sooner or later this harmless hobby turns into a bad habit. what is it aboutalcohol is harmfulKnow and write for a long time. To this day, there is a lot of discussion about this issueAlcohol is the cause of many diseases. It destroys liver cells and cannot perform their function. It also impairs brain function. As a result, a person's memory and brain activity deteriorate. This happens because when alcoholic beverages are consumed, in other words, alcohol is absorbed into the bloodstream and travels with the bloodstream to the brain, where the process of active destruction occurs.
The human brain is made up of 15 billion neurons, nerve cells that die when they interact with alcohol. That is, with each sip of an alcoholic beverage, the number of dead nerve cells in the skull area increases.
How is everything going? Once in the body, ethanol is absorbed into the bloodstream and travels through the organs with an electrical current. Excessive consumption can act on the hypothalamus and reduce the production of vasopressin, which can lead to dehydration. Ethanol in the blood begins to act on red blood cells, dividing their cell membranes. These two processes cause red blood cells to stick together to form blood clots. The blood clot gradually grows and blocks the patency of the blood vessel - the brain begins to starve of oxygen and brain cells die. Hypoxia leads to acidification, where the tissue is gradually deprived of oxygen.
When doctors opened the brain of someone who had died from alcoholism or had been severely alcohol abused during their lifetime, they found that the person's brain had been completely destroyed. After that, scientists have concluded that alcohol is the most powerful tool for depriving a person of reason. Alcohol kills brain cells, as it is known and scientifically proven. However, it's worth considering that it affects everyone in a different way. Because in some people, it is the back of the brain that is first affected by alcoholic beverages. In this case, they are strongly influenced. In the second case, the moral center itself is destroyed. The latter situation is considered the most dangerous because alcohol kills the brain cells that control behavior. Practice has shown that people in this state can destroy not only their own lives, but also the lives of others. However, there is a third situation where one's memory is destroyed. That is, in the morning a person simply does not remember what happened yesterday, where he was and what he did.
Scientists have found that a glass of alcohol can kill about 1000-2000 cells. In turn, the cerebral cortex begins to decay and break down. In this condition, a person experiences a severe headache, which is often referred to as a hangover. Since these cells poison the brain, the protective process starts to work in the body. This, in turn, helps pump large amounts of fluid through the skull. Afterwards, this fluid leaves the body through the urethra along with dead cells. Alcohol in any form and in any dose is harmful to a person. It disrupts the working of all metabolic processes in the body and affects its genetic code.
The described process causes damage to parts of the brain responsible for vestibular organs, human behavior, and memory and attention. With regular alcoholism, thoughts and mental processes change - degenerate.
Psychological and Nervous System Effects
The effects of alcohol on central nervous system function are expressed as follows:
- Cause insomnia and nightmares. Night terrors can be unbearable, and it's not uncommon for alcoholics to have a fear of sleep. Taking sleeping pills or antidepressants will only make the condition worse or cause serious side effects.
- Violates thought processes and adversely affects memory. First, memories occur in fragments, then ethanol disrupts neural connections, and gradually a person no longer remembers the past and cannot remember new things.
- Consequences of drinking are manifested in the weakening of intelligence: a person stops thinking logically, and emotions, feelings, perceptions disappear.
- Polyneuritis is a neurological complication. It manifests as inflammation of the nerves in the arms and legs. Symptoms: Numbness, burning, and weakness in the extremities.
Psychological consequences of alcoholism:
- Psychosis - Ethanol inhibits metabolic processes and hypoxia. There is a vague rationale, a phobia, where one gradually becomes isolated and begins to live in a self-created world.
- Delirium tremens. Manifested by sleep disturbances, convulsions, depression, sudden changes in feelings of fear and joy, auditory and visual hallucinations.
- Alcoholic encephalopathy occurs in the third stage of alcoholism. It is characterized by symptoms of delirium tremens with weakness, loss of appetite, tremors, confusion, and coma. High chance of death.
- Alcoholic paralysis - chronic phase encephalopathy. Reality loss, limb neuritis.
- In the later stages of alcoholism, the effects of alcohol on the human psyche can lead to alcoholic epilepsy and alcoholic regression.
Effects on the cardiovascular system
Effects of excessive alcohol consumption on the cardiovascular system:
- Vascular tone and flexibility of the blood flow system are disrupted due to hypoxia and thrombosis.
- Myocardial dystrophy. Pathology is caused by violation of interstitial metabolism.
- Cardiac hypertrophy and cardiac obesity.
- The formation and accumulation of blood clots through red blood cell clumps lead to the death of heart cells, which can lead to a heart attack.
- Blocked blood vessels cause blood to appear on the skin of the face.
Effects on the organs of the urinary system
Ethanol, which is part of alcoholic beverages, causes changes in the sensitivity of the renal pelvis, leading to reduced protective mechanisms. Increased likelihood of inflammatory processes in the kidneys, urethra and bladder - pyelonephritis, nephritis, glomerulonephritis, urethritis, cystitis.
With prolonged use of alcohol, protein deposits can form in the urine. Minerals washed with ethanol precipitate and accumulate in the kidneys, forming stones - urolithiasis develops.
If metabolism is disturbed under the influence of alcohol, the structure of the kidneys is damaged, harmful substances accumulate, and toxins can lead to kidney malnutrition. Without treatment and further alcohol consumption, one of the listed diseases can progress to kidney failure.
Effects on the digestive organs
Alcohol that gets into the mouth can damage the salivary glands in the mouth, making the saliva sticky and reducing its protective ability. Ethanol begins to break down the wall of the esophagus. Later, in chronic alcoholics, swallowing is disturbed.
Gradually, the secretory function deteriorates, and once violated, the pancreas is attacked. Alcoholic gastritis develops and gradually becomes pancreatitis.
In addition, alcohol causes the production of gastric juices and hydrochloric acid, which can corrode the walls of digestive organs and cause ulcers, which over time can lead to gastrointestinal tumors. In addition, alcohol can block the capillaries, thereby disrupting the absorption of vitamins, which is harmful to the human body.
The spleen removes dead blood cells from the body. If the body suffers from alcoholism, the work of the spleen and its ability to cleanse the body is disrupted. Disturbances in the work of the spleen are also caused by the effects of alcohol on the liver, pancreas and circulatory system and the interruption of their work.
As a result of alcoholism, blood flow to the spleen is disturbed, resulting in tissue infarction and purulent spleen cysts - splenic abscesses.
impact on immunity
Effects of alcohol on the body's defense mechanisms:
- Suppress innate and acquired immunity.
- Decreased immunity no longer produces enough white blood cells, and the ability to fight disease is impaired.
- Violation of cytokine synthesis, excess can lead to tissue destruction, lack of common diseases.
- Suppresses the work of T cells, thereby increasing the risk of developing tumors.
- Alcohol lowers immunity and increases the risk of pneumonia, tuberculosis, and HIV.
Effects on the musculoskeletal system
Ethanol is known to dehydrate the body. Water is essential for cell function. Lack of fluids can lead to metabolic disturbances. As a result, decay products and harmful compounds build up in muscle tissue, causing discomfort. Alcoholism can lead to disturbances in the endocrine system - the production of testosterone and glycogen is suppressed. Their lack can cause muscle tissue to degenerate.
Effects of alcohol on joints
- With the development of alcoholism, arthropathy and arthropathy - thinning of cartilage tissue, with frequent abuse, it disappears. The protective mechanism against friction disappears, and the joints start to hurt.
- Joint pain after alcohol can cause compression of the epiphysis and impaired blood flow, which can lead to ischemia of the bone tissue.
- Aseptic necrosis - death of bone tissue
- Gout is inflammation of the joints.
- After drinking alcohol, joints and knees can be injured due to fluid retention in the tissues and increased fluid pressure within the joints.
effect on appearance
How Alcohol Affects Appearance:
- Alcoholic beverages are high in calories, which, combined with high-calorie snacks and metabolic disturbances, can lead to obesity and cellulite.
- Effects of alcohol on the skin: Dehydration can cause skin aging and wrinkling.
- Ethanol washes away vitamins, minerals, and nutrients and disrupts blood flow—pimples and capillaries on the face.
- The body is covered with non-contagious papules and scales - psoriasis develops.
- Acetaldehyde dilates blood vessels, and as a result, the facial skin turns brown.
- Skin cancer is possible in the final stages of alcoholism.
Effects on the endocrine system
Alcohol inhibits the work of the endocrine system, which includes the endocrine glands:
- Alcohol and Thyroid: Disruption of hormonal activity, which negatively affects the likelihood of fertility. Infertility, miscarriage, and premature birth are common among women with alcoholism.
- Alcohol and the pancreas: Ethanol can suppress the pancreas, and pancreatitis can develop in the context of a weakened immune system.
- Alcohol reduces insulin production - and diabetes develops. Cases with a latent course of disease are not uncommon.
- The adrenal glands are responsible for the metabolism of carbohydrates and minerals, the production of sex hormones, and the functioning of the cardiovascular system. If the work of the adrenal glands is violated, the entire body is affected, with the biggest blow falling on reproductive function.
- Heavy drinking can disrupt the connection between the pituitary gland and the hypothalamus. The production of tropical hormones decreases, the synthesis of heterosex hormones increases - the appearance gradually begins to change.
Effects on the lungs
Alcohol is not only excreted from the body through the digestive and excretory systems. The lungs play an active role in this process. The organs of the respiratory system are not adapted to such a load, so the lung tissue gradually hardens and expands. Connective tissue fibrosis occurs. Mucus and phlegm start to build up in the lungs. This can lead to pneumonia and other diseases of the lower organs of the respiratory system.
Alcohol also dehydrates the mucous membranes and disrupts defense mechanisms, and a person is more often exposed to viruses and infectious diseases. Alcoholics often suffer from tuberculosis. Blockage of blood vessels leads to hypoxia.
effect on vision
Eye injuries are not uncommon with regular alcohol use - this is due to:
- The formation of blood clots in the blood vessels of the optic and oculomotor nerves disrupts the blood supply to the entire visual system.
- Decreased blood oxygen can lead to darkening of the eyes, which can lead to blindness.
- Increased pressure in the eye, causing blood vessels to rupture and bleed.
- Vision does not adapt well to changing conditions and lighting. Objects in the field of view move away and blur. Alcohol-induced disorders in the center of the brain's eye can lead to diplopia.
- In the final stage, under the influence of alcohol, the optic nerve atrophies.
Without exception, alcohol adversely affects the entire body. There are violations of the digestive system, excretory, cardiovascular, endocrine and other body systems. Adverse effects on organ function can lead to the development of serious diseases, some of which are untreatable.