Alcohol Use

What is alcohol?

Alcohol or ethyl alcohol, or ethanol, is an intoxicating and impairing ingredient found in beer, wine and liquor. Alcohol is made by the fermentation of yeast, sugars, and starches.

How does alcohol use affect a person?

Alcohol use affects every organ in the body! Alcohol use is a central nervous system depressant that is quickly moved from the stomach and small intestine into the bloodstream. Alcohol is metabolized in the liver by enzymes. The liver can only metabolize small amounts of alcohol at a time leaving the excess alcohol to move around in the body. The effect of alcohol use on the body is directly related to the amount someone drinks.

Why do some people have different reactions to alcohol use than others?

The reaction to alcohol use varies from person to person due to:

• Age
• Gender
• Race or ethnicity
• Physical condition
• Amount of food consumed beforehand
• Use of drugs or prescription medicines
• How quickly the alcohol was drunk
• Family history of alcohol problems or genetics

When it comes to alcohol use is beer or wine safer to drink than liquor?

Not really. One beer has the same amount of alcohol as one glass of wine or one shot of liquor. It is the amount of alcohol consumed that affects a person not the type of drink.

What does moderate alcohol use mean exactly?

Moderate alcohol use is described as being up to 1 drink per day for women and 2 drinks per day for men.

What is considered heavy alcohol use?

Heavy alcohol use is most commonly described as being drinking more than 2 drinks per day for men and more than 1 drink per day for women.

What kind of alcohol use is binge drinking?

Binge drinking is described as being a pattern of alcohol use that makes the blood alcohol concentration level to 0.08% or more. This kind of alcohol use usually is describing drinking 5 or more drinks in one single setting for men and 4 or more drinks in a single setting for women, usually in about the span of about 2 hours.

What is the difference between alcohol use and alcohol abuse?

• Alcohol use is merely the use of alcohol. Alcohol abuse is a type of drinking that causes harm to a person’s health, relationships or ability to work. Alcohol abuse typically has symptoms such as:
• Failure to meet major responsibilities at work, school, or at home
• Drinking in dangerous situations, such as drinking while driving or operating machinery
• Legal problems related to alcohol. Like being arrested for drinking and drinking or for assault while drunk
• Continued drinking despite negative consequences such as relationship problems that just get worse due to continued alcohol use

What is the difference between alcohol abuse and alcoholism?

Alcoholism is the dependency on alcohol and is a chronic disease. The signs and symptoms of alcoholism are:

• A craving for alcohol or more alcohol
• Continued use regardless of repeated physical, psychological and interpersonal problems
• The inability to limit drinking or stop drinking all together

Alcohol use should always be done in moderation to keep it safe and healthy.

Alcohol is a subtle foe. When it comes to alcohol most people do not think of it as a dangerous substance or even as something that is “bad” to do. If you compare alcohol to heroin most people will tell you that alcohol use is not even close to as dangerous as heroin use. This is untrue. Alcohol use is one of the most, if not the most, dangerous types of drugs out there. Alcohol is essentially a poison as are most drugs and alcohol.

Alcohol use is highly dangerous because of the molecular structure of alcohol.

The way alcohol is broken down in the body is extremely different and more hazardous comparatively to other drugs. Alcohol use affects every cell in the human body. Alcohol use affects organ tissue, skin cells, brain cells, blood cells and everything else. When alcohol is used it penetrates through every part of a person’s body. In fact the way people get drunk is through alcohol penetrating through brain tissue and brain cells.

Can you imagine taking your brain out and putting it in a jar of vodka? What would happen? The brain would eventually turn to mush because your brain is mainly made up of fatty tissue. This is essentially, through long-term alcohol use, what we know as wet brain.

Because alcohol use is socially acceptable and has been around since the beginning of human cultural societies it has never really been criticized for its dangers. Alcohol use creates multiple problems especially for alcoholic. Not only being physically addicted there are multiple health issues associated with alcohol use along with legal problems. These range from liver problems, to DWI’s, to public drunkenness, all the way to alcohol poisoning.

Alcohol use is something that most people have never really thought to look into which is unfortunate because the person drinking too much is actually in more danger than the person who is using opiates on a daily basis. If you think you are better off because you “only drink”, you are mistaken. The beer and wine industries in the United States are billion dollar industries and it’s sad that they advertise something that is so blatantly dangerous. They make alcohol use look elegant and luxurious and even fun when really you have no idea what’s happening to your body every time you take a drink. A person’s body has to work overtime in order to handle alcohol use. Why do you think you start to throw up when you drink too much? It’s literally your body rejecting your alcohol use. Your body is saying “too much poison, enough!”

While in moderation some alcohol use can have health benefits, meaning one glass of red wine at dinner. And as we know too much of anything is dangerous, alcohol use takes the top spot for its effects on a person’s body, mind and even life. When used heavily or in an alcoholic manner, alcohol use is the most dangerous mood and mind-altering substance legally on the market.