The Dangers of Alcohol

By Robin Sharma

 

Some ‘experts’ will tell you that one or two drinks a day is actually helpful for your health. But they never tell you that beer or wine or whisky is not like milk. If you drink one glass of milk a day, after six months, you will still be drinking one glass of milk, or may be even less. But if you start out drinking one can of beer a day, after three months you will most likely be drinking two cans a day, and after six months, three cans a day. The reason is that alcoholic drinks are addictive. This is why we find so many alcoholics while it is hard to find anyone who is addicted to milk or orange juice.

We like to think we can control ourselves when drinking alcohol, but most of us cannot, and sometimes pay a horrible price. Alcoholism continues to be problem about taking advantage of our weakness to the drink.  Some of us look to it as an escape from the pressures and pains of our daily lives, not knowing that it ends up extending our misery in the long term. The carefree high we get while we are inebriated is always outlasted by, as Valencia Higuera mentions, things like alcohol poisoning, liver damage, and the horrific Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, should we be pregnant. Alcohol, when abused rather than casually enjoyed as Higuera puts it, almost literally becomes a poison to our bodies. Unfortunately, we keep coming back to it. As alcohol is a chemically addictive substance, it is even harder for us to recognize its dangers and simply walk away. Even though we are told by the media that drinking wine in moderation is in fact beneficial, it would be better never even to enter the habit at all, knowing that would begins as a glass of wine a day could end up as three cans of beer a day months down the road. Even if we are not already addicted, we may still drink in social situations out of peer pressure or fear of social awkwardness.

Worse, alcohol’s dangers don’t stop at the damages it does to our bodies, but always what it does to our minds when we are inebriated. As this Security World article states, alcohol impairs our judgments as well as our senses, making for a deadly combination behind the wheel or while performing other dangerous tasks.  It can also drastically change our personality, rendering us completely unrecognizable, even to family members and friends.  We can become violent, irrational, and becomes problems to the family, especially if we are the ones that provide for it.

As Darlene Zagata says, “Alcohol can cause problems in a person's family life and work situation. People who suffer from alcoholism may have difficulty retaining a job. Friendships and romantic relationships can suffer due to excessive drinking. Family relationships can become strained. Children of alcoholic parents often suffer from low self-esteem and emotional disorders such as anxiety.”

We make decisions we never would otherwise, usually creating negative consequences that we will have to deal with after we are sober. If one's abuse gets out of hand and he cannot control his addiction, his family is in danger of being destroyed along with him as he degrades.

Thankfully, there are countless sources of help for alcoholics, including family and friends. Seek out alcohol-related support groups to deal with the problems that alcohol gives you, learn how to give it up, and how to deal with possible withdrawal symptoms should your body negatively react to the sudden loss of its addicting source. Make sure you shake off alcohol in a safe way, or you risk greater health loss or simply going back to it.

To those not already affected, take care to avoid abuse. If you are ever in a party that serves drinks, take those that are non-alcoholic. If you are pressured to drink, say that you do not need to be drunk to be sociable. It is your body, and it is your decision to accept whatever it takes.

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Bibliography

http://www.googobits.com/articles/2907-recognizing-the-dangers-of-alcohol-abuse.html

http://www.securityworld.com/ia-205-the-dangers-of-alcohol.aspx

http://www.ehow.com/about_4569634_what-dangers-alcohol.html