Alcohol is one of the most common addictive substances consumed in the United States. Over 55% of adults in the country drink alcohol once a month. Most often, people drink it recreationally without realizing that alcohol has various adverse effects on your body and mind, both in the short and long term. The short-term effects often vanish in a day or two. However, long-term effects can significantly deteriorate your physical and mental health.
Here’s how alcohol abuse affects your life.
What are the short-term effects of alcohol abuse?
The short-term effects of alcohol depend on various factors, such as age, gender, health conditions, and how much you drink. The different short-term effects you can notice after drinking involve:- You have impaired reflexes, increased reaction time, and coordination issues when drinking meager amounts of alcohol.
- You can notice slurred speech, changes in vision, sleepiness, and increased urination when you consume moderate amounts of alcohol.
- When you consume copious amounts of alcohol, you can face various severe symptoms, including vomiting, passing out, breathing problems, loss of bladder control, coma, and even death due to alcohol poisoning.
What are the long-term effects of alcohol abuse?
Excessive alcohol consumption (binge drinking) can have severe mental and physical health consequences. Some of the most prevalent ones include:- Liver damage: The liver is the organ that metabolizes alcohol in your body. Long and heavy drinking leads to bloating of liver cells, causing permanent liver disease. It can also cause liver cirrhosis and liver failure.
- Brain damage: Long-term usage of alcohol has a frightening effect on your brain. Regular ingestion of alcohol leads to brain shrinkage and nerve damage, leading to various neurological conditions.
- Cardiovascular damage: Long-term alcohol consumption also damages your cardiovascular health. Your heart disease risk increases and your triglyceride levels also heighten. These changes make you more prone to stroke and hypertension.
- Immune system damage: Long-term drinking damages your endocrine system and significantly weakens your immune system. Hence, by drinking alcohol regularly, you become more susceptible to infections and diseases that your body could fight with a healthy immune system.
