The harmful effects of alcohol on the human body can take on impressive proportions. A person who drinks endangers physical and mental health - internal organs suffer, the work of the most important systems that control the human body is disorganized (the influence of alcohol on the immune system is especially dangerous), apersonality degradation occurs, which is due to the effect on the human nervous system.
The effects of alcohol on the body affect:
- Liver;
- Brain;
- The nervous system and the psyche;
- Cardiovascular system;
- Kidneys;
- The digestive system;
- The immune system;
- Muscles and joints;
- Endocrine system;
- Missed;
- Respiratory system;
- Visual organs;
- External appearance.
To avoid negative consequences, you must first find out how alcohol affects the human body.
The harmful effects of alcohol on the liver
To find out how alcohol affects the liver, it is worth finding out what its purpose is. The liver is an organ responsible for removing toxic substances from the body; various metabolic processes require its participation. For people who drink alcohol often, it is important to know why alcohol is harmful to the liver and how it works. Speaking of the dangers of alcohol, it can be pointed out that it gradually destroys the liver. Ethyl alcohol that enters it is oxidized, forming a very strong toxin - acetaldehyde. Accumulating in the liver, it changes the organ and disrupts its work.
<1_img_centerxx>The effects of alcohol on the liver are truly devastating. Liver cells die from alcohol, they are replaced by scar tissue or fat, so that the organ can no longer perform its function normally (toxins build up in the body and eventually poison it).
The most serious consequence of the harmfulness of alcohol to the human body with immeasurable consumption is cirrhosis of the liver. With this disease, the structure of the organ begins to change, the size decreases, the vessels suffer: they narrow, the pressure increases, the blood stagnates. The natural result of this situation is the rupture of the walls of the vessels and bleeding, which is the cause of many deaths.
The effects of alcohol on the brain
The effect of alcohol on the body mainly affects the brain. In a state of intoxication, a person's cerebral cortex is destroyed, while gradually some of its parts become numb and die.
Those who like to drink alcohol, the brain changes - it becomes riddled with ulcers, scars and edema, blood vessels dilate, ruptures appear in some places, cysts appear on dead areas. These consequences once again prove the negative effect of alcohol at any dose on the human body.
The effect of alcohol on the nervous system and the psyche
People addicted to alcohol need to know how alcohol affects the psyche. Regular consumption of alcoholic beverages, especially in excessive doses, leads to the destruction of the psyche. A person's personality and behavior change completely, mental and moral degradation begins. Alcohol and the nervous system interact to destroy the personality. The effects of alcohol on sleep can lead to insomnia. There are other important consequences - mental disorders and violations of the correct perception of reality. Alcohol is harmful to memory, concentration and motor coordination. It follows that the influence of alcohol on the human psyche causes serious damage to the whole body.
It is necessary to understand in more detail why alcohol is harmful to human mental health. The harmful effect of alcohol on the human body and the nervous system in particular is that the nerve fibers are damaged and their conductivity deteriorates. In medicine, such a violation is called polyneuritis. A person loses sensitivity to pain and temperature changes, there is numbness in the legs and arms, weakness and "cottoniness". Other signs: swelling, increased sweating, "goosebumps" on the skin, itching and burning, sharp and intense pain, the muscles seem to contract, as if they were pricked with needles.
The most common central nervous system effects of alcohol consumption are:
- Delirium tremens. It is worth knowing why such a condition is dangerous. It appears after stopping prolonged alcohol use, accompanied by hallucinations, delirium, fever and fever, suicidal tendencies;
- Encephalopathy. Caused by an acute shortage of B vitamins in people who drink chronically. Its symptoms are vision and vestibular problems, confusion;
- Alcoholic dementia syndrome. Loss of elementary mental capacities, problems with counting, speech, perception, concentration, memory;
- Alcoholic epilepsy. It manifests as convulsions and convulsions in a hangover state;
- Korsakov's psychosis. The loss of sensation in the limbs is accompanied by a significant impairment of memory.
Undoubtedly, the mental consequences of alcoholism lead to a degradation of the personality, the psychology of his behavior is disturbed.
Cardiovascular problems
Alcohol is harmful to the health and normal functioning of the heart muscle. Heart disease is one of the most common causes of many deaths among drinkers.
This muscular organ can increase in size with regular exposure to alcohol. In addition, the consequences of large doses of alcohol are arrhythmia, increased risk of developing hypertension, myocardial infarction, stroke, ischemic damage to the heart muscle and atherosclerosis.
Kidneys and liquor
The kidneys are a very important organ. It works as follows: it removes fluids from the body, cleanses the blood of toxic substances and takes part in metabolic processes. Regular consumption of alcoholic beverages forces the kidneys to work at their maximum intensity.
This threatens with a whole set of pathological conditions - dehydration, metabolic disorders, intoxication, the appearance of stones, pyelonephritis, the development of kidney failure, inflammation of the urinary tract, the appearance of cancer.
How alcohol affects the digestive tract
Alcoholic beverages are poisonous to the digestive system. The walls of the esophagus are affected, heartburn appears, the gag reflex intensifies, the vessels of the esophagus thin and widen, and during vomiting, a rupture of the venous walls may occur, which will cause bleeding.
In addition, alcohol causes irreparable damage to the protective membrane of the stomach. This results in premature aging of the organ, an impairment of its functions. The typical illnesses of people who drink are gastritis, ulcers and even stomach cancer.
The effect of alcohol on immunity
The information on how alcohol affects immunity is twofold. Drinking in moderation can help you cope better with colds. However, with more frequent alcohol consumption, a person's immunity is inhibited.
Reduced immunity is manifested by a decrease in the amount of a special protein - lysozyme, which is part of saliva, tears and other secretory secretions. This protein neutralizes harmful microbes that enter the body and prevents the development of various infectious diseases. So, we can confidently state that alcohol lowers immunity.
Effects of alcohol on joints and muscles
Muscle tissue suffers from any dose of alcohol which is very harmful for muscle health. It slows down or completely stops the growth of muscles, they atrophy, become flabby, alcohol can even destroy them completely. It can increase body fat stores. Alcohol and joints are not compatible concepts. The effect of alcohol on the health of the skeletal system is very important, as it destroys bone tissue, flushes calcium from the body, bones age quickly, become brittle, and often fractures occur. After drinking alcohol, the joints often hurt.
Joint problems are common in the lives of alcoholics. People who drink often develop arthritis, an inflammation of joint formations. Signs of arthritis: The joints start to hurt, especially the knees. After another binge, the pain intensifies.
Alcohol retains fluids in the body, edema appears, uric acid ceases to be excreted normally and accumulates as salts that are deposited in the joints, causing gout to appear. Excess fluid enters the joint, presses on the walls of the joint cavity, affects nerve fibers, pain appears in various joints after alcohol. Over time, due to the action of alcoholic beverages, deformation and complete destruction of joint formations occurs.
How alcohol affects your appearance
An alcoholic is easily recognized in a crowd. Typical appearance of the drinker:
- bluish color of the nose;
- face reddened and swollen;
- bags under the eyes;
- bruising caused by bruising or falling;
- sloppy clothes;
- tousled hair.
The effect of alcohol on the skin is also negative. A red tint appears, which is explained by the increased blood flow under the influence of alcohol. A large load on the vessels causes their damage, small capillaries burst, which causes bruises in the form of blue and red dots on the face. A bluish tint is the result of severe vascular damage, the blood does not supply these areas with oxygen well.
To remove alcohol from the body, a large amount of fluid is involved, dehydration sets in, a person who has consumed a lot of alcohol feels strong thirst, tries to quench it. Fluid builds up and is slowly removed as the body seeks to protect itself from repeated dehydration and stores water, from which the face and other parts of the body swell.
The effect of alcohol on the endocrine system
Alcohol and its effects on human health are also associated with the work of the hormonal system. Its main organs:
- Thyroid gland (regulate metabolism);
- Pituitary gland and hypothalamus (controls the work of the whole system);
- The pancreas (responsible for the production of insulin);
- The pineal gland (produces hormones that affect sleep, blood circulation and the nervous system);
- Adrenal glands (produce adrenaline);
- Thymus (regulates the growth and development of immune cells);
- Gonads (produces male and female hormones).
The effect of alcohol on the thyroid gland and other organs of the endocrine system is such that it decreases the production of some hormones and increases the production of others. For example, in men there is a predominance of female hormones and a decrease in the level of male hormones. For women who drink, the opposite is true. Hormonal disorders negatively affect the state of the whole organism. Certain endocrine pathologies are associated with congenital genetic mutations, and these mutations are also often the result of excessive alcohol consumption. The normal interaction of alcohol and the thyroid gland, as well as other endocrine organs, is impossible.
How alcohol can affect the spleen
Often the spleen hurts from frequent alcohol consumption. This organ acts as the user of aged and damaged blood cells in the body. It is a "storehouse" of blood, which, if necessary, supplies the vessels of the circulatory system. In addition, this organ cleanses the blood of pathogenic microorganisms.
Pain in the left hypochondrium can signal problems with the spleen caused by excessive alcohol consumption. It's easy to explain why drinking alcohol is dangerous and why the spleen hurts. Most often, this organ is enlarged, infarction of the spleen, abscess, in severe cases requiring the removal of this organ, are also possible. The consequences of excessive consumption of any type of alcohol can seriously disrupt the functioning of the spleen and lead to death.
Effects on the respiratory system
Drinkers should be aware of how alcohol affects lung health. Alcohol vapors affect the respiratory mucosa, which contributes to the development of pneumonia, bronchitis, chronic pharyngitis and laryngitis (hence the hoarseness of drunkards). In addition, these diseases are difficult and long lasting. Pneumonia can turn into pneumosclerosis (the lung tissue hardens). Alcohol in the blood causes destruction of lung tissue and their pathological expansion (emphysema).
On the example of the lungs, one can see what irreparable damage alcohol causes to the human body. Large doses of alcohol alter the respiratory activity of the lungs, in some cases breathing may stop completely. Delirium tremens is often accompanied by inflammation and pulmonary edema. There is also a link between alcohol and the occurrence of lung cancer.
The effect of alcohol on human vision
Not everyone is sure if alcohol is harmful to vision and why alcoholics hurt their eyes. Under the influence of alcohol, intracranial pressure increases. This causes damage to the vessels of the eyes and numerous small hemorrhages, the oxygen supply to the muscles is disturbed, they are in a state of permanent tension. The consequence of this condition can be atrophy of the muscles of the eyeball and deterioration in the quality of vision.
In addition, alcohol can affect nerve fibers in the fundus, disrupting the functioning of the optic nerve. The most serious effect of alcohol on the visual system is blindness.
Alcoholism and its consequences have a destructive effect on the body, and the psyche can also change significantly. Only by stopping drinking can you stop the process of destroying your body.