Many of us drink alcohol to relax and socialize. But drinking too much alcohol can negatively affect your physical and mental health, your actions, and your decision-making. There are many short and long-term side effects of alcohol consumption.
No level of alcohol consumption can be considered safe. To reduce the risk of harm from alcohol-related disease or injury for healthy adults:
drink no more than 10 standard drinks per week
drink no more than 4 standard drinks on any one day
But some people need to take more care. You are at greater risk of harm from alcohol if you are:
-Under the age of 18 years
-Older than 65 years
-Taking other medicines or drugs
-Engaging in a risky activity such as driving or operating machinery
-During pregnancy, and while breastfeeding, no level of drinking is considered safe for the baby.
Drinking heavily can put you at risk of short-term injury or illness. The negative side effects of alcohol can also accumulate, harming your health over your lifetime.
To avoid the negative effects of alcohol, you should practice safe drinking and manage your alcohol intake.
What are the short-term health effects of alcohol?
In the short term, drinking too much alcohol can cause side effects, including:
Dizziness, lack of judgement, loss of coordination, memory loss, vomiting, accidental injury (to yourself or others), being in a road accident, deliberately harming yourself or others, alcohol poisoning (which can be fatal), fatigue (tiredness), headaches and hangover
What are the long-term health effects of alcohol?
Drinking more than 2 standard drinks a day can seriously affect your physical and mental health over your lifetime.
The side effects of alcohol include dependence and addiction, especially in people who have depression or anxiety. It can also increase the risk of suicide.
Regular, heavy alcohol consumption can also result in unhealthy weight gain. Even drinking small amounts of alcohol increases your cancer risk.
The negative effects of alcohol can impact your body long term. Here are some ways that regular heavy drinking can affect your physical health.
Brain: Drinking too much can affect your concentration, judgement, mood and memory. It increases your risk of having a stroke and developing dementia.
Heart: Heavy drinking increases your blood pressure and can lead to heart damage and heart attacks.
Liver: Drinking 3 to 4 standard drinks a day increases your risk of developing liver cancer. Long-term heavy drinking also puts you at increased risk of liver cirrhosis (scarring).
Stomach: Drinking even 1 to 2 standard drinks a day increases your risk of stomach and bowel cancer, as well as stomach ulcers.
Fertility: Regular heavy drinking reduces men’s testosterone levels, sperm count and fertility. For women, drinking too much can affect their periods.
Excessive alcohol consumption is also a major factor in road and other accidents, violence, and crime. According to the National Drug Household Survey in 2019:
About 1 in 5 alcohol drinkers aged 14 or older had put themselves or others at risk of injury or harm while drinking in the previous 12 months.
Adults aged 18-24 were more likely to binge drink than the rest of the population. Men were more likely to binge drink than women.
BY KAYITESI Ange
SOURCE: Medical Journal
