The harm of alcohol to the human body is great. All organs and systems of the human body are affected. The negative effects do not escape the younger generation, women and men. Need to understand: is alcohol harmful to a person; what is the effect on each life support system; how dangerous alcohol is to the body.
Alcoholism and its consequences
The effects of alcohol and its effects on the body are well studied. Virtually all human organs and systems fall under the blow, which is part of ethanol: organs of the digestive system, central nervous system, cardiovascular, genitourinary, respiratory system, musculoskeletal system, organs of vision, and so on. Alcohol does the most damage to the liver, heart, and brain (memory training).
The effects of alcohol on the body are shown as follows:
- negatively affect organ cells;
- promote mutations and oncological formation;
- when used during pregnancy, it can lead to irreversible consequences for the fetus;
- is a drug;
- interfere with normal metabolism;
- reduces immunity.
Effects on the liver
The effect of alcohol on the liver is associated with its main function - cleansing the body of toxins and harmful substances. Prolonged alcohol consumption leads to damage to the liver by ethanol and impairment of its performance. When the liver is unable to cope with its filtering function, all the toxic substances enter the bloodstream to other organs.
The effects of alcohol on the liver are indicated by the occurrence of diseases:
- Acute alcoholic hepatitis. Symptoms: depression, deterioration in general well -being, decrease or loss of appetite, fever, jaundice, dim consciousness. This disease can be cured provided the use of products containing ethanol is stopped and its treatment is timely and correct.
- Cirrhosis of the liver occurs with symptoms of indigestion, abdominal pain, weight loss, weakness. Can develop without symptoms. Cirrhosis is characterized by the growth of connective tissue, which begins to destroy liver cells. The liver slowly stops functioning. In the final stages, increased pressure in the liver ducts, encephalopathy, and oncology may accompany liver cirrhosis.
- fatty hepatosis. It occurs in the absence of symptoms, its presence is established using biochemical blood tests. Hepatosis is not treated with medications, the main way to stop drinking alcohol.
Effects of alcohol on the brain
Many people drink alcoholic beverages after a day of work or vacation or just a day off. However, it should be noted that not everyone has a sense of proportion. And sooner or later, that harmless hobby becomes a bad habit. And about whatalcohol is dangerousknow and write for a long time. To date, there has been a lot of talk aboutalcohol is the cause of many diseases. That it destroys liver cells, and it is unable to perform its function. That it also impairs brain function. As a result, a person's memory and brain activity deteriorate. This happens because when drinking alcoholic beverages, in other words, alcohol, which is absorbed into the bloodstream and moves along the bloodstream towards the brain, where the process of its active destruction takes place.
The human brain is made up of 15 billion neurons, which are nerve cells that die when interacting with alcohol. That is, with each time and with each new sip of alcoholic beverages, the number of dead nerve cells in the cranial area becomes more and more.
And how did it all happen? Once in the body, ethanol is absorbed into the blood and by its current is carried through the organs. Excessive consumption acts on the hypothalamus and reduces the production of vasopressin, which leads to dehydration. Ethanol in the blood begins to act on red blood cells, splitting their membranes. Both of these processes cause red blood cells to stick together to form blood clots. Blood clots gradually increase in size and block the patency of blood vessels-oxygen starvation enters the brain and brain cells die. Lack of oxygen leads to acidification and tissue hypoxia gradually occurs.
When doctors open the brains of people who have died of alcohol poisoning or have abused alcohol throughout their lives, they find that the brains of these people have been completely destroyed. After that, scientists concluded that alcohol is the most powerful tool that destroys a person’s mind. As is well known and scientifically proven, alcohol kills brain cells. However, it is necessary to consider the fact that it affects everyone in different ways. Because in some people the first thing that is subject to the damaging effects of alcoholic beverages is the back of the brain. In this case, they are very affected. And in the latter case, the moral center itself is subject to destruction. The latter case is considered the most dangerous condition, because alcohol kills the brain cells that control behavior. As practice has shown, a person in this condition is capable of destroying not only his own life, but the lives of others. However, there is also a third case in which a person’s memory is destroyed. That is, in the morning a person does not remember what happened yesterday, where he was and what he did.
Scientists have found that one glass of alcohol kills about 1000-2000 cells. Which, in turn, in the cerebral cortex begins to rot and rot. In this case, a person suffers from a severe headache, which is popularly called intoxication. As these cells poison the brain, protective processes begin to function in the human body. Which, in turn, contributes to the pumping of large amounts of fluid through the skull. Thereafter, this fluid, along with the dead cells, leaves the human body through the urethra. For a person, alcohol is harmful in any form and in any dose. It disrupts the work of all metabolic processes in the human body and affects its genetic code.
The described process leads to damage to the parts of the brain responsible for the vestibular apparatus, human behavior, as well as memory and attention. With frequent alcohol abuse, changes in thinking and mental processes occur - degeneration.
Effects on the psyche and nervous system
The effects of alcohol on the function of the central nervous system are expressed as follows:
- Causes insomnia and nightmares. The horrors of the night can be torturous, and it is not uncommon for alcoholics to have a fear of sleep. Taking sleeping pills or antidepressants only worsens the condition or leads to severe side effects.
- Violates thought processes, adversely affects memory. First, memorization occurs in fragments, then ethanol destroys nerve connections and gradually a person stops remembering the past and is unable to remember something new.
- The consequences of drinking alcohol are manifested in intellectual weakness: a person stops thinking logically, emotions, feelings, perceptions disappear.
- Polyneuritis is a neurological complication. It manifests itself in inflammation of the nerves of the arms and legs. Symptoms: numbness, burning and weakness in the limbs.
Mental consequences of alcoholism:
- Psychosis - ethanol causes inhibition of metabolic processes and oxygen starvation. There is ambiguity of reason, phobia, a person gradually becomes isolated and begins to live in a self-created world.
- Delirium tremens. Manifested by sleep disturbances, seizures, depression, sudden changes in feelings of fear and joy, auditory and visual hallucinations.
- Alcoholic encephalopathy develops in the third stage of alcoholism. It is characterized by symptoms of delirium tremens, which are accompanied by weakness, loss of appetite, trembling, cloudy consciousness, coma. High chance of death.
- Alcohol paralysis - encephalopathy in the chronic stage. Loss of reality, neuritis in the legs.
- The influence of alcohol on the human psyche in the final stages of alcoholism leads to alcoholic epilepsy and alcohol deterioration.
Effects on the cardiovascular system
Consequences of excessive alcohol consumption on the cardiovascular system:
- Violation of vascular tone and flexibility of the blood flow system due to oxygen starvation and thrombosis.
- myocardial dystrophy. Pathology is caused by violations of interstitial metabolism.
- Myocardial hypertrophy and cardiac obesity.
- The formation and accumulation of blood clots through the accumulation of red blood cells leads to the death of heart cells, which leads to heart attack.
- Blockage of blood vessels leads to the manifestation of blood vessels on the facial skin.
Effects on the organs of the urinary system
Ethanol, which is part of alcoholic beverages, leads to changes in the sensitivity of the renal pelvis, which leads to a decrease in the protective mechanism. The possibility of inflammatory processes in the kidneys, urethra and bladder increases - pyelonephritis, nephritis, glomerulonephritis, urethritis, cystitis.
With prolonged alcohol consumption, protein precipitates are formed in the urine. Minerals washed down with ethanol precipitate and accumulate in the kidneys, forming stones - urolithiasis develops.
If metabolism is disturbed under the influence of alcohol, the structure of the kidneys is damaged, harmful substances accumulate and toxins build up renal dystrophy. In the absence of further treatment and alcohol use, one of the listed diseases is renal failure.
Effects on the digestive organs
Alcohol, entering the oral cavity, interferes with the salivary glands in the oral cavity and causes the viscosity of saliva, which reduces its protective ability. Ethanol begins to destroy the esophageal wall. Then, in chronic alcoholics, swallowing is impaired.
Gradually, there is a deterioration in the secretory function, in the event of a violation of which the pancreas is attacked. Alcoholic gastritis develops, which gradually turns into pancreatitis.
Also, alcohol contributes to the production of gastric juice and hydrochloric acid, which erode the walls of the digestive organs and cause ulcers, which over time can lead to oncology of the gastrointestinal tract. In addition, alcohol clogs the capillaries and thus interferes with the absorption of vitamins, which is harmful to the human body.
The spleen cleanses the body of dead blood cells. In the case of alcohol poisoning of the body, the work of the spleen and the ability to cleanse the body is disrupted. Disorders in the work of the spleen are also caused by the effects of alcohol on the liver, pancreas and circulatory system and disruption of their work.
As a result of alcohol abuse, blood flow to the spleen is disrupted, resulting in tissue infarction and suppuration of the spleen capsule - spleen abscess.
Effects on immunity
Effects of alcohol on the human body's defense mechanisms:
- Suppresses natural and acquired immunity.
- Decreased immunity stops producing enough white blood cells, the ability to fight disease is affected.
- Violation of cytokine synthesis, the excess of which leads to tissue destruction, frequent disease deficiency.
- Suppresses the work of T-cells, which increases the risk of oncology.
- Alcohol reduces immunity and increases the risk of pneumonia, tuberculosis and HIV.
Effects on the musculoskeletal system
Ethanol is known to dehydrate the body. Water is essential for cell function. Lack of fluid leads to metabolic disorders. As a result, decomposition products and harmful compounds accumulate in muscle tissue, causing discomfort. Alcoholism leads to disorders of the endocrine system - the production of testosterone and glycogen is suppressed. Their deficiency leads to deterioration of muscle tissue.
Effects of alcohol on the joints
- With alcoholism, arthrosis and arthrosis develop - thinning of cartilage tissue, with regular abuse, its loss. The protective mechanism against friction disappears, the joints begin to ache.
- Joint pain after alcohol can cause epiphyseal compression and impaired blood flow, and as a result, bone tissue ischemia develops.
- Aseptic necrosis - death of bone tissue
- Gout is an inflammation of the joints.
- After alcohol, joints and knees ache due to fluid retention in tissues and increased intra-articular fluid pressure.
Effect on appearance
How alcohol affects appearance:
- High -calorie alcoholic beverages, combined with high -calorie snacks and disturbed metabolism, lead to obesity and the appearance of cellulite.
- Effects of alcohol on the skin: dehydration leads to aging and skin wrinkles.
- Ethanol washes away vitamins, minerals and nutrients, disrupts blood flow - the face becomes covered with pimples and capillaries.
- The body is covered with papules and non -infectious scales - psoriasis develops.
- Acetic aldehyde dilates blood vessels and as a result, facial skin turns brown.
- In the last stages of alcoholism, skin cancer is possible.
Effects on the endocrine system
Alcohol inhibits the work of the endocrine system, which includes the endocrine glands:
- Alcohol and the thyroid gland: disrupted hormonal activity, which negatively affects the possibility of reproduction. In women with alcoholism, there are often cases of infertility, miscarriage, premature birth.
- Alcohol and pancreas: ethanol inhibits the pancreas and, against a background of diminished immunity, pancreatitis develops.
- Alcohol reduces insulin production - diabetes develops. Cases of latent disease are not uncommon.
- The adrenal glands are responsible for carbohydrate and mineral metabolism, sex hormone production and cardiovascular system function. In case of violation of the work of the adrenal glands, the whole body suffers, the biggest blow falls on reproductive function.
- Alcoholism disrupts the connection between the pituitary gland and the hypothalamus. Tropical hormone production decreases and the synthesis of hormones of the opposite sex increases - the appearance gradually begins to change.
Effects on the lungs
Alcohol is excreted from the body not only through the digestive and excretory systems. The lungs take an active part in this process. The organs of the respiratory system are not adapted to such a load, so the lung tissue gradually hardens and expands. Connective tissue fibrosis occurs. Mucus and phlegm begin to accumulate in the lungs. This causes pneumonia and other diseases of the lower organs of the respiratory system.
Alcohol also leads to dehydration of the mucous membranes, and the defense mechanism is violated, a person is more often exposed to viral and infectious diseases. Alcohol drinkers often have tuberculosis. Blockage of blood vessels causes a lack of oxygen.
Effects on vision
With regular alcohol consumption, the eyes become sore - this is due to:
- The formation of blood clots in the optic nerve channels and oculomotor muscles disrupts the blood supply to the entire visual system.
- Decreased blood oxygen, which leads to darkness in the eyes, can cause blindness.
- Increased eye pressure, which causes blood vessels to rupture and bleed.
- Vision does not adapt well to changes in conditions and lighting. Objects in the field of view move away and blur. Alcohol -induced disturbances in the eye center of the brain cause double vision.
- In the last stage, under the influence of alcohol, the optic nerve atrophy.
Alcohol adversely affects the whole body without exception. There are violations of the digestive, excretory, cardiovascular, endocrine and other body systems. Adverse effects on organ function lead to the development of serious diseases, some of which can not be treated.