Nigerians, alcohol kills silently and affects your health.
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Your health is as important as your life. Life has no duplicate once lost, hence; adequate care is required to avert its loss. People only appreciate the enjoyment they derive from taking alcohol without paying much attention to its effects on the major body systems responsible for living. Healthy living safeguards your life!
We all know what alcohol can do to the body. In the short term, it makes you drunk, and in the slightly longer time, it makes you hangover.
There are obvious negative effects of alcohol, like liver problems, skin problems, and circulation problems, not to mention weight gain and a decrease in motor functions. But what are the other ways alcohol hurts? Ibrahim Hanouneh, MD, who works in gastroenterology and hematology at the Cleveland Clinic, shares some lesser¬-known problems associated with alcohol consumption?
1. Alcohol takes priority. When you consume any alcohol, your body makes the breakdown of alcohol its top priority. Your body cannot store alcohol (like with proteins, carbohydrates, and fats), so your liver works extra hard to detoxify your entire body by removing the alcohol from the blood. This slows down and confuses the body and that is why you get drunk because your liver has to work so hard.
2. Bacteria grow in your gut. Alcohol abuse often leads to intestinal bacteria growth. These bacteria can migrate through the intestinal wall. This is problematic on its own, but when the bacteria get into the liver it can cause serious damage. Even a single night of drinking can damage the intestinal lining.
3. Your heart will become weakened. Drinking too much alcohol can lead to a weak heart (cardiomyopathy), irregular patterns (arrhythmia), or high blood pressure.
4. You’ll develop pancreatitis. Your pancreas produces insulin, which allows the food you eat to be used as energy. Pancreatitis is an inflammation in the pancreas, where it becomes inflamed and starts to slow down insulin production. Pancreatitis typically brings high blood pressure and can even cause mal -absorption syndrome and diabetes.
5. Risk for cancer. Cancer of the mouth, esophagus, throat, breast, and, of course, liver, have been associated with alcoholism.
6. A stressed immune system. Drinking alcohol, especially binge drinking, stresses your entire system. A stressed immune system opens the body to infection, disease, and worse.
Doctors suggest drinking red wine can be good for you, but it needs adequate cautions. Dr. Hanouneh says healthy people can still drink, but certainly not every day, or even most days of the week. All this said, alcohol is best avoided, but can be fine in moderation.
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