Contents
Long-term alcohol abuse is linked to many health condition. Heavy drinking is considered consuming more than eight alcohol drinks weekly for women, and more than fifteen alcoholic drinks per week for men. Consuming more alcohol than your body can metabolize, causes an array of negative health effects.
The way your body metabolizes alcohol depends on factors such as: your general health state, weight and genetic. However, when you intake high amounts of alcohol, the excess amount that your body cannot metabolize goes straight to your bloodstream, from where it reaches to all of your organs. The presence of alcohol in the bloodstream impairs many body functions.
Long-Term Effects Of Chronic Heavy Drinking
Alcoholic Liver Disease
Since it is the liver the main organ that metabolizes the toxins I the body, it is the most affected organ from heavy alcohol consumption. Alcoholic liver disease is a serious condition that affects more than 90% of the chronic heavy alcohol drinkers. The excess alcohol impedes the normal function of the liver, especially the breakdown of fats. When the liver is unable to metabolize the fats, they get accumulated inside the liver. The fat accumulation inside the liver increases the risk and often leads to inflammation, hepatitis and cirrhosis.
Alcoholic Pancreatitis
Pancreas is a gland located behind the stomach. The main function of this gland is the secretion of the enzymes which enable digestion in the intestine system, and the important hormones insulin and glucagon. Alcoholic pancreatitis is an inflammation of this gland, caused by chronic heavy drinking. In most cases this is a painful inflammation that is not easy to treat, and laves long-term consequences.
Immune System Dysfunction
Chronic heavy drinking is fatal for the immune system. Namely, long-term overconsumption of alcohol is linked to decreasing body’s ability to fight against viruses and bacteria that cause infectious diseases such as pneumonia and tuberculosis.
Cardiovascular Diseases
Excessive alcohol intake causes certain stress hormones to spike. When these hormones reach to the bloodstream, they cause a significant increasing of the blood vessels. The high blood pressure is known as one of the leading cause for most of the heart disease, hence the relation of alcohol to hearth conditions such as irregular heart beat, stretching of the heart muscle and even heart attack.
Long-Term Brain Damage
Alcohol affects the brain function greatly. The prolonged consumption of alcohol leads to serious damage and changes in the brain receptors and neurotransmitters. The damage of these brain cells interferes the brain’s ability to control the mood, emotions, reactions and cognitive functions. Moreover, when brain is damaged from alcohol consumption, the heavy drinker faces disrupted motor coordination and balance. Also, alcohol speeds the brain aging process.
How To Prevent Long-Term Effects Of Alcohol Abuse
Needles to say, to prevent most of the serious long term effects associated with alcohol misuse you should give up drinking alcohol before it is too late. However, although there are many medications, mainly anti-depressives that are used for treating alcoholism, if you are not strongly determined or motivated enough, chances are, you will give up since the beginning. For this reason you should start with changes, through improving your diet and introducing more physical activity in your daily routine. Afterwards, a good way to proceed is to undertake certain psychological treatment, because after all alcoholism is an addiction disease.
The core of the problem with chronic heavy drinking or also known as alcoholism, lays in your subconscious mind. To give up drinking alcohol, like any other addiction, the first thing that you should do is to reprogram your brain, in other words, to change the way your brain perceives alcohol. Hypnotherapy is one of the techniques that can help you reduce or control your cravings for alcohol. Aside from most of the expensive psychiatric treatments, that give temporal results, hypnotherapy can help you change the root of your problem – your subconscious mind.
