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Most people are unaware that alcohol affects every part of your body, and not always with excessive use. Alcohol does more to your body than just the initial, “drunk” it gives you, it can really damage your life.
The first part of the body that most people notice to be affected by alcohol is the central nervous system. Once you hear the slurred speech, or start to feel off balance, you know you’ve had too much to drink. These kind of effects on your central nervous system are the beginning and don’t last forever. However, if you drink heavily over an extended period, you will notice additional negative effects from the alcohol. One of the major long-term effects of alcohol is frontal lobe damage in your brain. This part of your brain is responsible for judgement, emotional control, and short-term memory.
Another part of your body that alcohol negatively affects is the digestive and endocrine system. When you drink too much, it causes your body to over produce digestive enzymes that are produced by the pancreas. Over time, this can create a build up of the enzymes and cause pancreatic: a long-term condition that can cause serious issues. When it comes to the effects alcohol can have on your digestive system, you can experience things like gassiness, diarrhea, and bloating. Something more serious like malnutrition has the potential to happen when your digestive tract has damage from the excessive use of alcohol. The tissues within your digestive tract endure damage from the alcohol and prevent your body from being able to absorb the nutrients and vitamins from the food you eat.
Your heart and lungs are two of the most important parts of your body, and alcohol negatively affects these as well. People who drink heavily or excessively put themselves at a greater risk for heart-related issues much more than those who do not drink to this extent. For women, this risk is greater, as they have a higher risk of developing heart disease than those of men who don’t drink. Some other circulatory system issues that people experience include high blood pressure, stroke, heart attack, irregular heartbeat, and even potentially heart failure.
Contrary to widespread belief, alcohol isn’t always an “enhancer” when it comes to sexual and reproductive health. Alcohol is known to have the adverse effect if you consume too much. Too much alcohol consumption, for men, can lower your libido and make it harder for your body to produce sex hormones. As for women, drinking too heavily can cause them to stop menstruating, and it puts them at higher risk of infertility.
Perhaps the worst effect that alcohol can have on your body and on your life, is the dependency. If you drink heavily, it’s possible to develop a physical or emotional dependence on the substance. Unfortunately, so many people fall victim to an alcohol dependency and ruin their lives’ over it. When someone attempts to get sober from alcohol, the withdrawals can be very hard to deal with, and can even be life threatening. Often people must seek professional help to get sober, because of how severe the withdrawals can be from an alcohol dependency. Some typical withdrawal symptoms include tremors, anxiety, nervousness, heavy sweating, high blood pressure, nausea, and irregular heartbeat.