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Effects of alcohol on human health
How alcohol affects health essay
How alcohol affects health essay
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In this article, “Living A Double Life” by Thomas Galanopoulos, Thomas makes a statement explaining how living a double life isn’t good for your health. Then he explained that alcohol can have a major impact on your body and explain better choices to live a better life. Thomas talked about a man named Harry P. Harry P is living a double life. Harry wants to have a healthy lifestyle. But the other half that Harry is living is that he drinks alcohol excessively. Harry says, “Alcohol is just empty calories, and that it sits in your body”. The reason Harry said that is because Harry can go out for drinks and feel fine the very next day. Furthermore, Harry would go out four nights per week and would drink light drinks. But on the weekends that is when Harry drinking is more serious. The reason Harry drinks so heavily is that he is 6’1 and weighs 180 pounds. Harry knows how to balance a down life because Harry knows his limits of drinking and try to avoid going over it. Harry says, if you get wasted, …show more content…
Then Thomas asked a nutritionist Shelby Starnes about alcohol. She says, “Alcohol is seven calories per gram, which is almost twice that of protein or carbohydrates, and a little less than fat”. She says that is because some men think that alcohol is zero calories and they think that they can add alcohol to their diet. Also, Thomas says that science can back up the truth about alcohol. A cardiologist Salvatore Trazzera stated that alcohol consumption has harmful effects on cholesterol and triglyceride levels, predicting drinks to premature coronary artery disease, cardiomyopathy, and abnormal heart rhythms. Then she explained even more how alcohol can decrease your grip strength and jump height that can result in men to exercise more intense and it can affect the aerobic function. Furthermore, Thomas explains how your liver can not burn down fat is because alcohol is still in your
Just one become only two, which then leads to number three that will be the last… so they say and apparently so will the one after that, after that, and after that until they can physically drink no more. For some, this might happen on their twenty first birthday or only once, but for many people in the world this happens every month, every week, or even every day. “Alcohol is the most commonly used addictive substance in the U.S. 17.6 million people, or one in every 12 adults, suffer from alcohol abuse or dependence” (“Alcohol”). The need and overdose of alcohol is called alcoholism. This addiction causes pain, anger, and loss of control all over the world. One might say, “I can handle myself. I am just fine,” but we all know they are not fine because most of the time they are causing hurt around them. In Jeannette Walls’ memoir, The Glass Castle, her father, Rex Walls, is an example of one of these 17.6 million alcoholics and this disease affects the family in multiple ways.
Binge drinking and alcoholism have been a long-time concern in American society. While the government and schools have made great efforts to tackle the alcohol problems by enacting laws and providing education, the situation of dysfunctional alcohol consumption hasn’t been sufficiently improved. In the essay “Drinking Games,” author Malcolm Gladwell proves to the readers that besides the biological attributes of a drinker, the culture that the drinker lives in also influences his or her drinking behaviors. By talking about cultural impact, he focuses on cultural customs of drinking reflected in drinking places. He specifically examines how changing the drinking places changes people’s drinking behaviors by presenting the alcohol myopia theory.
Getting Serious About Eradicating Binge Drinking is an informative article by Henry Wechsler. Wechsler has worked with the College Alcohol study since its creation in 1992, and he also lectures at the School of Public Health at Harvard. In his article, Weschler discusses the prominent trend of binge drinking on college campuses and how to solve the widespread problem. Binge drinking is a term used to describe the act drinking alcoholic beverages with the intention of becoming intoxicated over a short period of time.
Our case study begins with a story of a young woman, Karen, in high school. She drinks to make herself more outgoing, performing to make more friends. She drank often during that time with friends. Later in life, adulthood revolved around drinking with her husband and friends. Alcohol continued to be a personality enhancement making it easier to party with friends and even clients or customers. It was not uncommon to drink on the job since her drinking gave her the confidence to engage with customers or clients. In her opinion, life was great. That is until her boss noticed a potential problem and confronted her about it.
Robinson, David. From Drinking to Alcoholism: A Social Commentary. London: John Wiley and Sons, 1976.
The human condition which is spoken about in Alcoholics Anonymous is the dichotomy of the life of the alcoholic. These alcoholics are not easy to categorize; they are not always a Dr Jekyll by day and Mr Hyde by night. Bill, who explains his life story in the first chapter, explains how he studied economics, business and law to join speculators on Wall Street. Up until this point, drinking had interfered in his life, but was not a continuous plague. Yet, over the course of time he becomes an alcoholic for a variety of reasons, like many individuals described throughout the book. The alcoholics described are not portrayed as unintelligent, unsuccessful or insignificant. They are men who have high positions, who are by turns "brilliant, fast-thinking, imaginative and likeable" (139). The conclusion of a prima facie inspection of these individuals would not include over indulgence of alcohol. But under the alcoholic influence these attributes worthy of note slowly atrophy and...
The three basic nutritional components found in food--carbohydrates, proteins, and fats--are used as energy after being converted to simpler products. Some alcoholics ingest as much as 50 percent of their total daily calories from alcohol, often neglecting important foods. Even when food intake is adequate, alcohol can damage the mechanisms by which the body controls blood glucose levels, resulting in either increased or decreased blood glucose (glucose is the body's principal sugar. As a result, alcohol causes the brain and other body tissue to be deprived of glucose needed for energy and function. Although alcohol is an energy source, how the body processes and uses the energy from alcohol is more complex than can be explained by a simple calorie conversion value. For example, alcohol provides an average of 20 percent of the calories in the diet of the upper third of drinking Americans, and we might expect many drinkers who consume such amounts to be obese. Instead, national data indicate that, despite higher caloric intake, drinkers are no more obese than nondrinkers. Also, when alcohol is substituted for carbohydrates, calorie for calorie, subjects tend to lose weight, indicating that they derive less energy from alcohol than from food
Saitz, Richard, M.D. "Unhealthy Alcohol Use." New England Journal of Medicine (2005): 596. Web. 7 Apr. 2014.
Liver disease resulting from alcohol affects more than two million Americans and is one of the primary causes of illness and death. The liver frees the body of harmful substances, such as alcohol. While the liver breaks down alcohol, it produces toxins that can be even more dangerous than the alcohol consumed (“Beyond Hangovers: Understanding Alcohol's Impact on Your Health” 13). “These by-products damage liver cells, promote inflammation, and weaken the body’s natural defenses. Eventually, these problems can disrupt the body’s metabolism and impair the function of other organs” (“Beyond Hangovers: Understanding Alcohol’s Impact on Your Health” 13).
Frey and Schonbeck explain that it is estimated that over 76 million people worldwide are affected by alcohol abuse or dependence. The chance of having an alcoholic in one’s life is very high. Children that grow up in an environment with an alcoholic may increase that child’s chance of becoming an alcoholic themselves. In the United States, the most commonly abused drug among youth is alcohol. Even though the legal drinking age is 21, nearly 20% of all alcohol consumed in the United States is by people under the legal age (83). In fact, when youth start drinking at social events in their teenage years, they are greatly increasing their risk of developing alcohol problems (85). Alcoholism can affect people of all ages. Furthermore, some experts try to differentiate between alcoholics and social drinkers. Typically, they base this off of five categories. Social drinkers do not drink alone. They consume minimal amounts of alcohol during social functions. Situational drinkers may not ever drink unless they are stressed out. These drinkers are more likely to drink by themselves. Problem drinkers can be described as a drinker that alcohol has caused problems in their life. However, they usually respond to advice given by others. Binge drinkers are out of control in their alcohol consumption. They may drink until they pass out or worse. Alcoholic drinkers have found that their lives have become unmanageable and that they are completely powerless over alcohol (84). Alcoholics should be cautious of their surroundings to prevent
It is believed that while habitual alcohol use is in process, the habitual drinker may use behavior such as exaggeration, denial, rationalization, and affiliation with socially deviant groups. Results of these behaviors may include decreased work efficiency, job loss, alienation of friends and family, or even hospitalization. The multidimensional model of alcoholism combines the interaction of biological, behavioral, and sociocultural factors. These three factors contribute together to make the strongest model, in which most alcoholics fit.
The alcohol in which Fortunato consumed had drastic affects on the physiology of his body. In general, alcohol affects virtually every cell in the human body. When it is introduced into the system through consumption, it diffuses through both the stomach and the small intestines and enters the bloodstream. The alcohol travels through the blood and is metabolized by the liver. It takes approximately one hour for one drink to be broken down by ...
In the book “How I Live Now” by Meg Rossoff, the main character, Daisy, is faced with war, love and tragedy all at once. In Daisy’s battle to stay alive she realizes that love exists and recognizes that Oslo is where she belongs. Already knowing her limitations, Daisy comes to an understanding that eating and not being anorexic is okay. Her determination moves the reader in a way that changes what they think of her. It shows that tragic events can change someone in the simplest ways.
...e call to his wife. "She'll ask me where I'm calling from, and I'll have to tell her...There's no way to make a joke out of this" (Carver 296). That is what it all comes back to. He will have to tell her that he is still trying to get well, and he must hope that she'll wait for him. His disease is what cost him his marriage, and there is no way he can bring himself to joke or lie about it. He realizes that it is all his fault. The narrator's disease is unique in that his physical addiction will never be cured, but he still has hope of finding happiness and love by refusing to drink. And, if he is to survive, it will be his need for both love and happiness that must control him, and steer him clear of the path of sickness.
middle of paper ... ... Alcohol consumption needs to be taken seriously and always in moderation. It has not only short-term effects, but long-term ones as well. Alcohol can lead to serious problems with the central nervous system, blood, muscles, the liver, and more.