Tag: Alcohol

A key focus of my blog is Health/Wellness. While it is a popular social beverage and a personal means to unwind, alcohol can also be dangerous for multiple parties. The following contributed post is entitled, How Much Alcohol Should You Drink.

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It is okay to drink some alcohol? Our society loves to make us believe that it’s a normal part of socializing and existing as a functional human being, but is it?

That’s the topic of this post. We explore whether we really do need alcohol and some of the consequences of drinking even a small amount of it occasionally.

The Facts About Alcohol Consumption

The CDC is currently the world’s leading authority on the amount of alcohol people should drink, and respected all over the world. It says that alcohol consumption is associated with all sorts of short- and long-term health risks, including:-

● High blood pressure
● Various forms of cancers
● Sexually risky behaviors
● Motor vehicle accidents
● Violence

That’s one of the reasons the police are so concerned about public disorder offenses involving alcohol. Intoxication makes people less inhibited, and they are more likely to lose control of their faculties while under the influence.

The CDC recommends various approaches to reduce the risk of alcohol-related harm. It says that men should drink 2 or less drinks per day, and women should have 1 or less drinks per day.

That’s interesting. Under this scheme, the average person can still consume a substantial quantity of alcohol across the course of the week, potentially drinking at least something every day.

Are There Any People Who Shouldn’t Drink?

It turns out that there are some people who shouldn’t drink at all. The first group is, obviously, those under the legal age. However, there are individuals who are of legal age who should also generally avoid the habit.

Pregnant women, for instance, should avoid alcohol consumption because it can cause serious, untreatable birth defects. You should also avoid alcohol =if you are taking medications that interact with the substance. Side effects from combining, say, the antibiotic metronidazole with alcohol can be severe.

Lastly, anyone recovering from an alcohol disorder should also avoid alcohol entirely. Stepping back into dangerous behaviors can restart the cycle, leading to more rounds of treatment and damage to the body.

What Does The Science Of Moderate Alcohol Use Say?

It turns out that even if you drink within the CDC’s recommendations of 2 drinks per day for men, and 1 drink per day for women, you may be putting yourself at elevated risk of disease and death from all causes. Alcohol, it appears, is generally bad for the body and not something that anyone serious about their health should be consuming.

Some past studies previously indicated that alcohol consumption might be beneficial for health. However, these studies are now being contradicted by more controlled trials and mechanistic evidence supporting the notion of harm.

Furthermore, the recommendations are to moderate alcohol consumption over the course of a week by drinking the same amount every day. However, that’s not how behavior patterns work in most drinkers. The majority do not drink the same quantity daily. Instead, they consume dramatically higher amounts at the weekend, usually when socializing with friends.

Ultimately, therefore, the answer to the question; “how much alcohol should you drink?” is “as little as possible.”

A key focus of my blog is Health/Wellness. While alcohol can be a bit of escape for us, it can also cause tremendous harm. If you’re pondering quitting alcohol or scaling back, there are some things you should consider. The following contributed post is entitled, Is It Time To Give Up Alcohol Completely?

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Many of us are currently taking part in ‘Dry January’. This involves not drinking alcohol for the entire month. Almost everyone can benefit from a month without alcohol. But what about giving up alcohol completely? For those with an unhealthy relationship with booze, going teetotal forever could be the better option. Below are just a few signs that it could be time to permanently give up alcohol.

Alcohol is damaging your body

You may want to consider giving up alcohol if it is starting to have noticeable effects on your health. Liver failure, heart disease and cancer are just some of the serious long-term effects of alcohol misuse. Early signs of damage could include digestive problems, high blood pressure, dry mouth, unexplained fatigue and weight loss. Giving up completely could be necessary for letting your body recover. This could lead to a longer and happier life.

Every time you drink you do things you regret

Many people lose their inhibitions when under the influence of alcohol. This can sometimes lead to regretful decisions such as neglecting important responsibilities, embarrassing oneself, spending too much money, behaving violently, endangering oneself or getting in legal trouble. If this regularly happens every time you drink, it could be a sign that alcohol does not react well with you and that you’re better off quitting completely. A healthy relationship with alcohol is being able to drink without doing things you regret.

You don’t enjoy drinking

If you don’t like the feeling of being drunk or simply don’t like the taste of alcohol, this could be another worthy reason to give up. Alcoholic beverages shouldn’t be something you feel pressured to drink – they should be something you choose to drink of your own accord. If you feel that you’re forcing yourself to drink, it could be time to admit to yourself you don’t like alcohol and to give it up completely.

How to give up alcohol completely

Giving up alcohol completely isn’t easy. Those who drink heavily on a regular basis may experience withdrawal symptoms – in such cases, professional treatment options such as rehab centers can be worth looking into. At the very least, you should consider looking into support groups or one-on-one therapy.

If there’s no physical addiction, there could still be a mental craving that is hard to overcome. Alcohol can be a big part of people’s lives and taking it away can leave a sense of emptiness. Often it can be important to find a way of filling this void by finding a healthy addiction (such as exercise, a hobby or a healthy means of stress release like listening to music).

Overcoming the social pressure to drink can also be difficult. You may want to limit time spent with people who are ‘bad influences’ who encourage you to drink. Volunteering to be the designated driver or meeting friends at places that don’t sell alcohol (such as coffee bars) could take away the social pressure to drink. Alternatively, you could try sticking to zero-alcohol substitutes.

A key focus of my blog is Health/Wellness. In some instances alcohol abuse is a simple and convenient way to deal with life’s pains and hardships. If the user isn’t careful though, there can be unintended consequences and they become abusers of that alcohol. The following contributed post is entitled, Fixing Our Skewed View: Stopping Self-Medicating With Substances.

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In life, we can tend to self-medicate. Whether we are going through physical pain, emotional pain, or psychological pain, there are little vices in life can seem to be an ideal solution for a short period of time. But with something like substances or alcohol, we know, deep down, that’s not an ideal solution. But what can we do before it gets to the point that we lose all sense of comprehension, and have a genuine reliance on it?

It Overrides Our Sense Of Safety
When we feel that we can have a few drinks and drive home without any worry, this is when the law catches up and we face the consequences. Being detained under what is called a physical control arrest, where you are in control of a motor vehicle under the influence of intoxicating liquor or drug, is enough to make many straighten up and fly right. But for a lot of people who are functioning under a certain level of intoxication, especially when they have life duties, there is a self-centeredness that overrides any sense of safety. Unfortunately, there are many examples of parents who drink and take their children to school under the influence.

Getting To The Root Of The Problem
Self-medicating is the refuge of someone who’s not able to cope. It’s an easy way to cloud our memories of a situation. But this doesn’t help us get to the root of the problem. If you are someone reading this who knows that you’ve got to function, but still will struggle to face facts, how can you get to the root of the problem? By getting to the core of it, it requires a lot of soul-searching, and a lot of pain. Naturally, we don’t want to face up to this sort of thing. But, counseling, helplines, or even some sense of clarity can be a great way to understand why alcohol is not the way forward. Medicating in this respect is a short-term solution.

The Symptoms Get Worse
Self-medicating with alcohol means that, after a while, your tolerance increases. As such, we’ve got to find ways to get back to that original hazy way of thinking. It seems to be the perfect way to wade through life, at least in the short term. The big problem is that alcoholism, or addiction in any form, is a selfish approach. After a while, it becomes a fact that we have a reliance on a substance that overrides any sense of duty, except to that of the substance. We live a subservient existence, and only then is it when an intervention occurs, or we do something to snap ourselves out of it, that we realize the extent of our troubles.

In many ways, it’s preaching to the choir, but we all fall victim to a bad time in life. And, we can self-medicate with alcohol to an extent, and it makes everything feel okay for a bit. But this is not a tried and tested solution to overcoming the problem. Whatever issue you have in life, drinking becomes the perfect mask, but after a while, the mask begins to slip, regardless of the effort you make to avoid this happening.