Alcohol Damage



Posted: Tuesday, May 20, 2008

by
Alcohol Free Social Life

In the human body the brain is the computer. Just as a virus can slow down the computer, alcohol can slow down the brain. Some ways you can see how alcohol affects the brain after a few drinks are difficulty walking, blurred vision, slurred speech, slow reaction time, and impaired memory. These usually stop when the drinking stops, and you clear the alcohol out of your system, but there are some ways that alcohol affects the brain that are ongoing.

First, you need to understand how what contributes to alcohol damage of the brain. How much and how often a person drinks, how old they were when they started and how long they have been drinking, the persons age, gender, genetic background and family history, and the persons general health status. The more of these that you have going against you, and the longer you have been drinking are going to make the damage worse.

Blackout and memory lapses are one way that alcohol affects the brain. Drinking a lot of alcohol in a short period of time can cause you to forget things that happened or even forget the entire night. A survey was done among college students and half of those surveyed said they had blacked out and didn't remember drinking the night before. These same students found out later that they had participated in dangerous events while intoxicated like driving and unprotected sex.

Studies have shown that women are at greater risk of brain damage then men. Women tend to develop such diseases as cirrhosis, alcohol induced damage to heart muscles, and nerve damage after just a few years of heavy drinking as opposed to men who can still suffer these affects, just a little more slowly.

Drinking while pregnant can lead to a wide variety of damage to the brain of the unborn child. One of the most common is Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. (FAS) Children with FAS have distinct facial features. These babies are usually smaller in size and they have fewer brain cells. So as a mother-to-be, you are making a drastic impact on your baby when you decide to drink while pregnant.

Many years ago it was believed that if a person had brain damage of any sort, they had to basically deal with the fact that they had lost brain cells. But now scientists have realized that it is possible for an adult to grow new brain cells, thus giving people that have lost brain cells in the past new hope. This has also given doctors a new plan of attack when it comes to treating people that have lost brain cells due to alcohol.

The main thing to keep in mind is that the brain is the control panel for the body and when the brain is affected, the rest of the body is affected. When you get hurt, it is the brain that tells the body you are hurt.

Many parts of our bodies come in pairs like our hand, feet and eyes, but we were only given one brain. It is our job to take care of our brain so that we can know the things we need to know and be able to function.

The good news is that you can reverse damage you may have already done to your brain by stopping your drinking and living a healthier life. To find out more please visit www.alcoholfreesociallife.com

Rahul Nag is the London, England based former problem drinker who developed a system to overcome his alcohol dependence and hasn't drank in years. He has written a free report 'Effects of Alcohol' which is free for you to download instantly from http://www.alcoholfreesociallife.com



 

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