It is clear that heavy alcohol consumption is bad for your health. While an occasional bottle of beer during dinner cannot cause serious health concerns, the cumulative effects of drinking can wreak havoc on your health. It can increase your risk of high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke, liver disease, and digestive problems. But how exactly does alcohol affect all your body systems?
Keep reading to discover 6 horrible health effects of heavy alcohol consumption.
1. Musculoskeletal system
Heavy drinking can cause bone and muscle weakness. This condition is called alcoholic myopathy. This is a serious health condition that can decrease the quality of your life and interfere with day-to-day activities causing intense muscle pain. Alcoholic myopathy results from the body’s response to long-term exposure to alcohol. This happens because alcohol lowers the body’s ability to absorb and use certain nutrients.
One of the vitamins that heavy drinkers often lack is vitamin D. The lack of vitamin D results in an inability to properly use other nutrients like phosphorus. Heavy alcohol intake can cause a calcium imbalance in your body. Calcium is an important nutrient to maintain healthy and strong bones.
2. Central nervous system
One of the most obvious effects of alcohol is its effect on your central nervous system. It can cause slurred speech and make coordination more difficult. It happens because alcohol decreases the connection and interaction between your brain and the rest of the body. For this reason, it is illegal to drive after drinking.
Because of alcohol’s effects, you may also experience numbness in your hand and feet. Drinking too much can interfere with your ability to think clearly and create long-term memories. Alcohol affects the area of your brain responsible for your emotional control and memory.
3. Mental disorders
Heavy alcohol intake can cause psychological problems. Alcohol damages chemicals in your brain called neurotransmitters and interferes with hormones essential for mental health. This increases your risk of psychological problems like aggression, nervousness, mood disorders, and depression. Moreover, alcohol can seriously aggravate symptoms of already persistent mental disorders and cause additional stress to your brain.
At the same time, people with mental problems are more likely to develop alcohol abuse. The concern is that most medications prescribed for mental health conditions negatively interfere with alcohol. Because alcohol aggravates the symptoms of depression, it is a major risk factor in suicide.
4. Digestive system
Alcohol negatively effects your digestive system. It irritates your gut and makes it produce more acid than usual. This can contribute to irritation of the digestive lining called gastritis. Gastritis is one of the main causes of abdominal pain, vomiting, and diarrhea. Heavy drinking can increase your risk of stomach, pancreas, and colon cancer. Other digestive conditions linked to alcohol use include acid reflux and peptic ulcer.
Alcohol intake can cause abnormal production of digestive enzymes produced by the pancreas. This can lead to inflammation known as pancreatitis. Over time, damage to the tissues in your digestive tract can cause poor digestion and difficulty absorbing nutrients and vitamins. This may result in severe malnutrition.
5. Immune system
Drinking a lot can take a toll on your immune system. It becomes more difficult for your body to fight various germs and viruses. A weakened immune system makes you more prone to the development of conditions like pneumonia or tuberculosis. Alcohol damages the immune cells that line the intestines that are the first line of defense against bacteria and viruses.
Even moderate intake of alcohol makes your immune system more vulnerable to infections. In the hours after peak intoxication, the number of infection-fighting white blood cells decrease dramatically. This makes you an easy sacrifice for different viruses including COVID-19.
6. Circulatory system
High alcohol intake can increase your risk of a variety of circulatory issues. Alcohol can cause a condition called cardiomyopathy. This is a condition in which your heart muscles stretch and droop. As a result, your body cannot pump enough blood causing damage to various organs. Alcohol can affect your veins as well as your heart. Alcohol triggers the production of hormones that affect the muscles in your veins, causing them to constrict. This causes your blood pressure to rise.
Apart from heart and veins alcohol affects blood itself. Heavy alcohol consumption affects your body’s natural clotting process making your blood thinner. Difficulty absorbing nutrients can decrease the number of red blood cells causing anemia.
You can prevent most health problems associated with alcohol by consuming it in moderation. If you drink heavily, you need to see your doctor. The specialist can help you avoid alcohol and improve the quality of your life. Drink in moderation to stay on top of your overall health!
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