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Exercise and healthy eating benefits
Physical effects of alcohol essay
Effects of alcohol
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What is alcohol? Where does it even come from? Is it bad? What effect does it have on the body? What are the benefits? These popular questions are the focal points of this discussion. The moral and religious debate of whether or not alcohol is wrong to consume is not in the scope of this conversation. Alcohol is a widely used substance by many people, and I intend to take an objective, factual, and practical approach to this topic.
What is Alcohol?
Chemistry is at the heart of all nutrition. Thus, to truly grasp alcohol, one must know the basic molecular compounds that the body consumes and divides. The most accessible energy resource the body ingests is carbohydrates (rice, beans, breads, pasta, sugar, fruit, etc…). Carbohydrates are made
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Moderate drinkers are also less likely to be overweight than heavy drinkers according to the 1985 health interview survey (1).
Though alcohol has a host of biological benefits, one must not forget the social aspect of alcohol. After a long, stressful day/week people need something calming. Fellowship with friends and family with a nice cold beer can often satisfy that urge and release endorphins in the brain to send a sense of euphoria throughout the body.
Conclusion
It is impossible to give a clear answer to whether or not alcohol is bad or good for the body. However, one can conclude that heavy alcohol consumption only presents adverse effects. Everybody is different, and the effects of alcohol on a person varies depending on the person’s age, gender, stage in life, genetic makeup, family history, and current fitness level. One must also consider that these benefits and adverse effects of alcohol are influenced by nutrition and physical activity habits. The positive effects are inhibited if someone is not active or mindfully eating healthy. Conversely, the negative effects are enhanced with a similar lifestyle. The facts are presented in this article about the composition and effects of alcohol on the human body and culture. One ought to take into consideration whether the rewards outweigh the risk of drinking alcohol, and if so, what quality and quantity. Whatever the position, one cannot deny the benefits of healthy, active
Alcohol is a central nervous system depressant it has a huge impact on the lives of a drinker . In small quantities, alcohol results in a mild euphoria and usually removes inhibitions, and is relatively harmless. However, when used in excess, it has the power to change many lives in many ways. Alcohol causes a lot of trouble in a lot of peoples lives not just in the drinkers life. . Some ways it effects peoples lives include alcohol poisoning and alcohol-related traffic fatalities by individuals who are problem drinkers but who are not alcohol dependent. Because alcohol has so many negative effects on a person's mental and physical health, people should avoid the consumption of it altogether.
People have believed in medicinal benefits of alcohol since ancient times, using it to cure snake bites and control disease. Even though the belief has begun to dwindle in the early twentieth century, alcohol was legally manufactured for medic...
There are many people that enjoy the occasional alcoholic refreshment to wind down from a tough day. Young adults seem to be the age group that uses a glass of wine or a beer after work to transition from work to home life. Among these young adults trying to relax their ever racing, hectic lives, there are a vast amount of the legal adult age of 18, but just not old enough to legally consume alcohol. Whether those under the age of 21 agree with the fact or not, the minimum legal drinking age should remain at the age of 21 for the health, safety, and well-being of our younger generations.
“Beyond Hangovers: Understanding Alcohol's Impact Your Health.” Bethesda, MD: U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health, National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, 2010. Print.
Every society has its own views on how the consumption of alcohol should be handled and regulated. Their differences create a trickle effect of how it is used, and is distinctive to that culture or society. Many cultures drinking habits go hand in hand with religion, and social customs. Drinking alcohol is in many cases a part of extensive learned tradition, where people pride themselves with their ability to hold their liquor. In countries where alcohol is part of the “norm”, the outcomes of drinking habits or the effects of alcohol are much different, “A population that drinks daily may have a high rate of cirrhosis and other medical problems but few accidents, fights, homicides, or other violent alcohol-associated conflicts; a population with predominantly binge drinking shows the opposite complex of drinking problems”#. It has been observed that cultures with rich traditions and acceptance of alcohol use tend to deal less with the typical alcohol related problems, compared to the cultures who treat alcohol as an escape or something that will make them better in the eyes of others. In these societies, like the U.S. alcohol hasn’t always been present and grown to be...
Alcoholism accounts for more than 15% of health care costs in the elderly. It is associated with an estimated 100,000 deaths per year in the United States. Alcohol consumption can produce both benefits and risks. In terms of benefits, men who drink two to six alcoholic beverages per week have decreased mortality rates and lower cardiovascular disease when compared with abstainers. On the negative side, two studies of 300,000 men demonstrated increased mortality among those consuming more than 2 to 3 drinks daily. Women, are more affected by less alcohol than men, perhaps because they have a lower blood volume, and so it’s distribution and decreased activity for gastric alcohol dehydrogenase are increased.
Are you willing to give up what is at stake? BMW released this picture to the public. The image is of two legs one is prosthetic and the other is not. The angle the picture was taken it shows only the white floor that could be portrayed as a hospital floor. It says “Spare parts for humans are not as original as those for cars. Don’t Drink and Drive.” Driving behind one wheel drunk could land you in between another two or in other cases other people between two wheels. Every 48 seconds a drunk driver makes another person eligible to become handicapped. BMW convinces its audience that drunk driving is bad using logos and pathos but mainly through pathos.
This article is aimed towards a large study to estimate the global burden of disease attributable to alcohol. The article tries to identify the relationships between average volume consumption, patterns of drinking, disease, and injury outcomes. The article also gives many numbers to back up its points.
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
Drinking alcohol is associated with many adverse health problems in the short and long-term. These include cancer, stroke, heart disease, miscarriage, premature birth and unintentional injuries. Despite the fact that alcohol brings many negative impacts, many people still choose to drink and do not overcome their drinking habit. They have been successfully seduced by alcohol until drinking has become their addiction. However, some of them try to quit drinking, but they still cannot break the addiction. Basically, quitting alcohol is difficult and almost impossible for them because of brain-craving, lack of belief and support, and weak willpower.
Ethanol can be made from many different plant sugars including starch and cellulose. Starch ethanol is the most common biofuel used in the world. It is made from kernels of corn, which is very easy to break down. This means that corn is very easily converted into ethanol. On the other hand, cellulose is not easily broken down into ethanol. Cellulose is found in the cell walls of plants, and resembles plant armor. The cellulose combines with lignin, which makes plants woody. During the process of making ethanol from cellulose, the lignin has to be separated from the cellulose because it is not fermentable. Figure 1 shows the complications of making cellulosic ethanol vs. other biofuels. The question marks indicate where the technology hasn’t
Alcohol can be an addictive substance if abused on a daily basis or consumed in large quantities. Alcohol is technically defined as, “a colorless flammable liquid that has the active principle of intoxicating drinks” (HarperCollins Publishers 2009). One of the leading causes of death in the United States is deaths induced by alcohol. There are many types of alcohol that are produced and distributed throughout the country. Common alcoholic beverages that are sold regularly are vodka, beer, rum, wine, whiskey, and much more. Each type does as much damage to the body as the other one, though they differ in amounts, or percentage, of alcohol. It depends on a person’s body type how alcohol will affect them personally. Weight, height, family background, and gender are common factors associated with a person’s blood alcohol content (HealthCheck Systems 2012).
Alcoholism is a disease in which the drinking of alcohol becomes uncontrollable. Compulsion and craving of alcohol rules the life of the alcoholic. Many of us drink alcohol to socialize which is not alcoholism. An alcoholic is a frequent habitual user. Alcohol, a central nervous system depressant, dulls the senses especially vision and hearing. Signs of alcoholism are tremors, delirium, inability to concentrate and many others. “According to the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence, more than 13 million Americans abuse alcohol”(Mayo Clinic Health Information 1). There are many causes leading an individual to alcoholism. Alcohol damaging effects are physically, psychologically, and socially devastating.
Let’s ask a question: why do people start using alcohol at the first place? And why they start doing it at such young age? Well, just “like other adult drinkers, college students expect alcohol to produce a series of positive effects – relaxation, socialization, sexuality – and the strength of these positive expectancies is related to drinking” (Walters & Baer, 2006). And who wouldn’t take a couple drinks to gain a group of friends? It lowers social inhibitions, so it is very well known among shy individuals as well. However, this activity can be also pressurized by peers. In this case, pressure wouldn’t be effective on people who do not accept or see positive aspects of occasional drinking. That means, everyone starts by saying ‘yes’ to a glass.
The problem of alcohol use is very relevant nowadays. Today alcohol consumption characterized by vast numbers in the world. All of society is suffering from this, but primarily jeopardized the younger generation: children, teenagers, young people, and the health of future mothers. Because alcohol is particularly active effect on the body that are not formed, gradually destroying it. The harm of alcohol abuse is evident. It is proved that when alcohol is ingested inside the body, it is carried by blood to all organs and has harmful effect on them until destruction. Systematic use of alcohol develops a dangerous disease such as alcoholism. Alcoholism is dangerous to human health, but it is curable as other diseases. The big problem is that most of the alcohol products which are made in private places contain many toxic substances, defective products often leads to poisoning and even death. All this has negative impact on society and its cultural values.