Drinking Health Risks

Each year drinking is blamed for a very large number of deaths, costing health services 100’s of millions of pounds in the treatment of alcohol-related conditions in the UK alone!
 
It is known that drinking over the years is a risk factor of life threatening illnesses such as certain cancers, particularly oral and liver, and raised blood pressure which can contribute to heart disease.
 
"Binge" drinking every now and then tends to be far more harmful to health than drinking a moderate amount occasionally.
 
It is also a fact that people are more likely to have casual sex if they are under the influence of alcohol, putting their health at risk from unprotected sex.
 
There is concern about the numbers of women exceeding recommended drinking limits with an approximate fifty per cent rise in the past decade.

Nausea and sickness

 - Excessive amounts of alcohol irritate the stomach, causing sickness and nausea. It also leads to temporary impotence in men. Alcohol dehydrates the body causing the inevitable hangover. Too much alcohol over a prolonged period can affect every organ in your body. Alcohol is a poison, and the long term effects can be horrific.

Liver damage

 - Prolonged use of alcohol causes liver damage as the liver processes alcohol and clears it from the body. Damage starts when fat is deposited in the liver impairing its function, then alcohol hepatitis is caused, this is an inflammation of the liver. Finally the last stage of damage is cirrhosis. This has no cure and will eventually cause liver failure which can be fatal. Cirrhosis of the liver can develop more quickly in women than in men.

Pancreatitis

 - This is also a problem in heavy drinkers - it is an extremely painful condition which is hard to treat, and sometimes fatal.

Brain damage

 - This is also possible in some cases - alcoholic dementia is often found in long-term drinkers.

Heart disease and strokes

 - Damage to the heart and circulatory system place many drinkers at risk. Drinking over the recommended limits is one of the most common causes of high blood pressure, which can contribute to heart disease. Drinking also greatly increases the calorific intake, possibly leading to obesity, which also increases these health risks. Regularly drinking more than three units of alcohol a day increases the risk of a haemorrhagic stroke.

Other Conditions

 - It can also contribute to osteoporosis, lead to muscle weakness, it also can make skin conditions such as psoriasis and eczema worse.
 
In men, there can be a loss of libido and potency, shrivelling of the testicles and penis, lowered fertility, loss of pubic hair and if cirrhosis is present, increased breast size and loss of body hair.
 
In women, ovulation may cease, and breasts and sexual organs shrivel.
 
Many cancers are alcohol-related, particularly those of the mouth, oesophagus, liver, stomach, colon, rectum, and possibly breast cancer in women.

Harming unborn children

- Heavy drinking, even in one-off binges, by pregnant women can harm their unborn child. It can lead to miscarriage, low birth weight, and, in the worst cases, to fetal alcohol syndrome, a group of defects which can include lowered IQ, facial malformations and growth deficiencies. The safest way is not to drink at all during pregnancy.

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