What Effect Does Alcohol Have on a Person?

Most of us have heard the newscasts that drinking alcohol in moderation can have a positive effect on your health.  Studies have suggested that moderate alcohol consumption will lower your risk of heart disease.  Still there is much debate on this subject.  Most doctors would think it absurd to actually recommend to their patients that they should drink alcohol to avoid heart disease.  More likely they would recommend that you eat a healthy diet and exercise regularly. 

Okay, so we “may” or “may not” avoid heart disease, but more importantly than the positives of drinking, what are the negatives?  What effect does alcohol have on a person that only drinks in moderation?  Drinking in moderation is a question all on its own – how much is too much?  Health care authorities recommend that women drink no more than 14 units in a week and men drink no more than 21 units.  Think of a unit as a small drink.  A glass of beer, not a pint.  A glass of wine is considered to be 1-1/2 units.  I think you get the picture. 

So I did the math on my own drinking and I was shocked – I never considered that I had an alcohol problem, but here’s my confession… The amount of alcohol I am drinking is more than the recommended amount.  We have a very active social life on the weekends and although we rarely go to a bar, we do socialize a lot with friends at our homes.  I then wanted to look further into the effects of alcohol.

What I learned was that most people who suffer of health effects because of their drinking are NOT alcoholics – oh, no.  I really didn’t consider my health in danger because of my drinking.

What Health Effects Could a Non-Alcoholic Have? 

 Other than the obvious – The Hangover, when it boils right down to it, the health effects really cover almost everything.  Alcohol is very hard on all of your body’s organs, which, of course play a vital role in keeping your body healthy.  I learned that certain types of cancer, especially breast cancer are caused by alcohol.  Brain damage is a big one and even stomach damage.  Use of alcohol could contribute to high blood pressure as well. Of course there are the short term effects such as sexual difficulties, including impotence.  Slowed breathing and heartbeat and, as mentioned, hangovers.  This just touches on the main effects, but the more you drink, the worse the health effects become.

There are a lot of people that only engage in moderate drinking but still drink more than the recommended amount.  For these people alcohol doesn’t pose the same problem as it does to someone dealing with alcohol abuse and alcoholism.  The moderate drinker does not need to seek treatment for dependence, they are in control.  Being in control allows you to make the right decisions so to live life to it’s healthiest potential.  I, for one, have decided to be more aware of the amounts that I am drinking.  Two tactics that I am going to try is:

1. Replacing a night drinking with friends with a night out at the movies. 
2. Slowing my rate of drinking by drinking more water instead of alcohol. 

It’s like a habit while socializing.  With a little effort a habit can be broken.  Your health depends on it.

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