The Characteristics Of Alcohol

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Recommended: Short note on the effects of alcohol in the human body

Do you know what alcohol does to a human body over time? Alcohol has many characteristics that affect people differently. The different kinds of alcohol will affect individuals differently because of other variables such as body physique, how full one’s stomach is and how quickly the alcohol is consumed. Alcohol is considered to be a drug. It is under the class of a depressant, which means it slows down the vital functions. After drinking too much, alcohol can slur speech, produce unsteady movements, disturb perception, and slow reaction time. It also reduces a person’s ability to think rationally and distorts his or her judgements. Blood alcohol concentration is used to determine the level of intoxication of an individual by the weight …show more content…

There is hard liquor, such as vodka, rum and gin. Beer and wine are two other types of alcohol. Each kind of alcohol has different concentrations of alcohol and the amounts affect people differently. The higher the percentage, the higher concentration of alcohol it contains. Drinks containing a higher percentage of alcohol can get you intoxicated faster. For example, vodka has anywhere from 40 percent to 50 percent alcohol. Beer only has around 2 percent to 6 percent alcohol. The hard liquors usually have a higher percentage alcohol and get you drunk faster. Alcohol percentages are not the only factor in how much alcohol you can handle. Your body type is a huge factor in how much alcohol you can drink before getting drunk. Some of these factors are your weight, and gender. Body weight determines the amount of space through which alcohol can diffuse in the body. For example, if a person who weighs 200 pounds drinks the exact same amount of alcohol as someone who weighs 130 pounds, the person who weighs 200 pounds will have a lower BAC. Alcohol is metabolized at different rates in men and women. It has been proven in a study that women have less enzymes that break down alcohol than men do. Eating on an empty stomach can affect you differently than if you drink on a full stomach. Drinking on an empty stomach can upset your stomach and digestive system. Eating a lot of …show more content…

One of the most common diseases is alcoholism. According to the article “What is Alcoholism,” the definition of alcoholism is, “a chronic, progressive, and potentially fatal disease. It is characterized by tolerance and physical dependency or pathologic organ changes, or both--all the direct or indirect consequences of the alcohol ingested” (Flavin, 1991, p. 4). It is a severe form of alcohol abuse and is very dangerous because it can lead to many other problems. There are three levels of alcoholism: early, chronic and end-stage. Early alcohol abuse is usually prevalent in individuals who are high school students or young adults. They usually do not drink very often, but binge drinking can put them at risk of developing alcohol use disorder. They usually are getting an introduction to the different kinds of alcohol and they are experimenting with them. The next level of alcoholism is chronic, which is characterized by frequent consumption of alcohol. These people usually have an emotional or psychological attachment to drinking. Lastly, the end-stage level of alcoholism is the most severe. Usually when individuals get to this point, they cannot stop themselves from drinking. If they try to withdrawal from drinking, it can be very painful for the person (Flavin, 1991, p 4). There are five different subtypes of alcoholics, that are- young adult alcoholics, young antisocial

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