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5 Signs You Drink Too Much: Study Finds Alcohol Kills Thousands in US Leave a comment
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These unhealthy coping mechanisms only complicate and worsen an alcohol use disorder. You may know about the dangers of blood clots and high levels of fats and cholesterol in your body. Studies of heavy drinkers also show that they are more likely to have trouble pumping blood to their heart and may have a higher chance of dying from heart disease. An occasional alcoholic drink every now and then can be fine.
How poisonous is alcohol to your body?
An abundance of alcohol can harm the liver, whose job it is to break down harmful substances in the body. This can lead to hepatitis, jaundice and cirrhosis, which is the buildup of scar tissue that eventually destroys the organ. Alcohol may cause kidney, bladder and prostate inflammation.
The major causes of alcohol-related death are alcohol poisoning, cancer, car accidents, heart failure, liver damage, and violence. Every day in the United States, about 30 people lose their lives in a car accident involving alcohol and about 6 people die from alcohol poisoning. In just 4 years from 2006 to 2010, alcohol killed 88,000 Americans, costing the country 2.5 million years of potential human life. Moreover, the extreme consequences of alcohol abuse are not diminishing. From 2007 to 2017, the number of alcohol-related deaths in the United States increased by 35%. Without intervention, the brain can be permanently impaired by chronic alcohol use.
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Alcohol can increase your risk for high blood pressure, which can put you at risk for a heart attack or a stroke. And while alcohol is a liquid, it can still pack on empty calories, and drinking too much may lead to obesity. This can increase your risk for heart disease in the long run. Chronic cases of alcoholism and binge drinking can also cause heart rate abnormalities. These irregularities can create arrhythmias over time, some of which are fatal.
Worldwide, more than a quarter (27%) of all 15–19-year-olds are current drinkers. Rates of current drinking are highest among 15–19-year-olds in Europe (44%), followed by the Americas (38%) and the Western Pacific (38%). School surveys indicate that, in many countries, alcohol use starts before the age of 15 with very small differences between boys and girls. If you have a friend whose drinking concerns you, make sure he or she stays safe.
Short-Term Danger Signs
The liver breaks down alcohol into acetaldehyde, a toxic substance that scars and inflames the liver. This chemical also interferes with the liver’s ability to break down and metabolize fats. This causes that fat to accumulate and may lead to fatty liver — an early stage of alcohol-related liver disease. An alcohol binge can occur over hours or last up to several days.
This can affect how much insulin you make, putting you at higher risk for diabetes. In the short term, even a small amount of alcohol can affect your alertness, affect muscle coordination, and cause you to feel drowsy. The editorial staff of Projectknow.com is comprised of addiction content experts from American Addiction Centers. Our editors and medical reviewers have over a decade of cumulative experience in medical content editing and have reviewed thousands of pages for accuracy and relevance. Our reviewers consistently monitor the latest research from SAMHSA, NIDA, and other reputable sources to provide our readers the most accurate content on the web. Your temperature regulation, sleep cycles, and cognitive functions can be affected by drinking. Your memory may be blank when you wake up from a particularly long night out binge drinking; that’s because the glutamate neurotransmitter wasn’t able to work properly.
What is alcohol use disorder?
However, certain food groups also have benefits when it comes to helping with the discomfort of withdrawal symptoms and detoxification. Alcohol impairs your decision-making, coordination, and reaction ways alcohol can kill you time, making it extremely dangerous to drive while under the influence. In all 50 states, it is illegal to get behind the wheel of a car and drive if your BAC is over the state’s legal limit.
It’s where we process incoming information and where we formulate judgments and decisions. Alcohol depresses this function, slowing the input of sensory information, clouding the thought process, and reducing inhibitions. Long-term use of alcohol can permanently damage the cerebral cortex. Alcohol use contributes to about 88,000 deaths in the United States each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention . While many alcohol-related deaths result from motor vehicle accidents, other causes include falls, drownings, homicide, suicide, burns, and sexual or other violence. This is especially true between the ages of 13 and 26, when there’s explosive growth in the prefrontal cortex. People that start drinking heavily at this time are more prone to cognitive problems like impulsivity, emotional dysregulation, anxiety and depression.
How alcohol abuse affects your brain
Alcohol abuse can cause many adverse effects to your brain and body. Here’s what you need to know about the damaging effects of alcohol abuse. In contrast, more than half (57%, or 3.1 billion people) of the global population aged 15 years and over had abstained from drinking alcohol in the previous 12 months.
- According to the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence, Inc., alcoholism is the third leading lifestyle-related cause of death in the U.S.
- Keep the person on the ground in a sitting or partially upright position rather than in a chair.
- It should not be used in place of the advice of your physician or other qualified healthcare providers.
- It’s a life-threatening, late-stage liver disease that can stop the liver from properly filtering blood.
- On average, drunk driving kills around 28 people per day in the U.S.
We provide the tools and knowledge needed to live a better life again. Here at Daylight Recovery Center, we want to help you stop drinking, improve your health, and live the life you were meant to live. Beginning with detox and ending with discharge planning, our team will be by your side. David Jernigan, a professor of health law, policy, and management at Boston University, who wasn’t involved in the study, told CNN that the estimates were “conservative.” The sooner you recognize there may be a problem and talk to your healthcare provider, the better your recovery chances. Milder cases may only be problematic for a period of time.
