How can drinking affect your health




















But it can stimulate the growth of breast cancer. Alcohol can cause high blood pressure , which increases your risk of having a heart attack or stroke.

Alcohol also weakens heart muscles, which can affect the lungs, liver, brain and other body systems, and also cause heart failure.

Binge drinking and drinking heavily over longer periods can cause an irregular heartbeat. This condition is linked to sudden death. If you drink alcohol heavily, you're prone to lung infections such as pneumonia.

You could also suffer a collapsed lung. Fat deposits develop in your liver if you drink too much alcohol. This can inflame the liver and cause alcoholic hepatitis, which can result in liver failure and death.

This increases the risk of liver cancer. Alcohol can also cause gastritis , which means stomach inflammation. This can prevent you absorbing vitamins from food and increase the risk of cancer. Heavy or long-term drinking can cause inflammation of the pancreas. It is a very painful condition where a drinker experiences:. Heavy drinking can increase your risk of developing high blood pressure. This causes chronic kidney disease.

Long-term drinking can cause infertility in men and women. Men can also become impotent. Drinking alcohol when pregnant can damage your unborn baby's development.

Alcohol interferes with your body's ability to absorb calcium. Cancer: According to the National Cancer Institute: "There is a strong scientific consensus that alcohol drinking can cause several types of cancer. Even those who have no more than one drink per day and people who binge drink those who consume 4 or more drinks for women and 5 or more drinks for men in one sitting have a modestly increased risk of some cancers.

Based on data from , an estimated 3. Clear patterns have emerged between alcohol consumption and increased risks of certain types of cancer:. For more information about alcohol and cancer, please visit the National Cancer Institute's webpage " Alcohol and Cancer Risk " last accessed October 21, Your body size and composition, age, drinking experience, genetics, nutritional status, metabolism, and social factors all play a part as well.

The severity of the short-term effects of alcohol typically depends on how much a person drinks, but other factors such as hydration and food consumption also play a role. Most people can recognise the signs and treat the symptoms themselves. Some people can experience a hangover from one drink.

The severity of a hangover often has to do with how your body metabolises alcohol, as when you drink, alcohol triggers a number of reactions in your body. These reactions can contribute to hangover. They include:. Most hangovers typically start once your blood alcohol level starts to return closer to zero. Hangovers generally only last up to 24 hours, and go away on their own.

Pacing yourself aiming to drink one drink or less every hour , and drinking water between alcoholic drinks may reduce the severity of a hangover. If you are regularly experiencing hangovers, or hangovers are affecting your relationships, work or life in general, talk to your doctor about potentially cutting back your drinking. Sometimes heavy drinking results in the much more serious effect of alcohol poisoning.

This is a life-threatening emergency. Call for emergency care if you see these signs in someone who has been drinking:. If someone is unconscious or cannot be woken up, they could be at risk of dying. If you suspect someone has alcohol poisoning — even if you don't see the signs and symptoms — seek immediate medical attention. Historically it has been believed that consuming on average more than two standard drinks a day is what can cause many long-term health problems and other harms.

Nowadays, current research states that any level of alcohol consumption can pose an increased risk of chronic disease development.

The WHO reports that in , 5. Worldwide, more men die as a result of alcohol consumption than women. Generally, binge drinking means drinking heavily over a short period of time with the intention and result of getting immediately and severely intoxicated drunk.

Signs of alcohol poisoning include:. Dial for an ambulance if you suspect alcohol poisoning and you're worried. Don't try to make the person vomit because they could choke on it. To prevent choking, turn them on to their side and put a cushion under their head.

If a person loses consciousness, don't leave them to "sleep it off". Levels of alcohol in the blood can continue rising for 30 to 40 minutes after the last drink, and symptoms can worsen. Page last reviewed: 21 August Next review due: 21 August Short-term effects of alcohol consumption The short-term effects of alcohol consumption are outlined below. More than 12 units If you drink more than 12 units of alcohol, you're at considerable risk of developing alcohol poisoning , particularly if you're drinking many units over a short period of time.

Alcohol poisoning occurs when excessive amounts of alcohol start to interfere with the body's automatic functions, such as: breathing heart rate gag reflex, which prevents you choking Alcohol poisoning can cause a person to fall into a coma and could lead to their death. They include: high blood pressure stroke pancreatitis liver disease liver cancer mouth cancer head and neck cancer breast cancer bowel cancer depression dementia sexual problems, such as impotence or premature ejaculation infertility As well as having a significant impact on your health, alcohol misuse can also have long-term social implications.

For example, it can lead to: family break-up and divorce domestic abuse unemployment homelessness financial problems Kindling Kindling is a problem that can occur following a number of episodes of withdrawal from alcohol. Alcohol poisoning: what to do Signs of alcohol poisoning include: confusion vomiting seizures fits slow breathing pale or bluish skin cold and clammy skin unconsciousness Dial for an ambulance if you suspect alcohol poisoning and you're worried.



0コメント

  • 1000 / 1000