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How alcohol affects health

Drinking correctly: the effect of alcohol on the body and tips for proper use

Material content

How alcohol affects health
How to determine your dose of alcohol
How to learn to drink wisely
The modern trend of a healthy lifestyle has significantly changed the attitude of many towards alcohol. But still, alcohol is somehow present in our lives and we are unlikely to give up a glass of wine for the health of a birthday person or a bottle of craft beer at a theme festival. Neither one nor the other will harm health if drunk in moderation and wisely.

How alcohol affects health

Drinking large amounts of alcohol increases the risk of a number of serious illnesses, including heart and liver diseases, as well as various types of cancer.

Alcohol depletes the body and prevents it from absorbing the necessary vitamins and minerals. Frequent drinking can lead to dehydration, lack of sleep, and other side effects that unbalance the body. You may also experience an increase in blood pressure and blood cholesterol.

Alcoholic beverages contain a lot of calories, which in many people are deposited as fat in the abdomen. Fat can compress organs and has the ability to release harmful chemicals into the blood, which can lead to cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and even dementia.

Even harmless beer can cause irreparable damage to health. The heart will weaken, and the arteries will begin to contract more often if you regularly drink a liter of foam. This makes it difficult to pump and pass blood, increasing blood pressure, which can develop before blood clots and stroke.

The biggest blow from alcohol is the liver. It performs a lot of functions, breaking down chemicals in the body. When she has to process too much alcohol, she struggles to cope with her work. Then the liver becomes inflamed, increases in size, becomes scarred and can no longer function fully.

No less susceptible to alcohol is the stomach. Gastric acid, designed to break down food, can irritate the gastric mucosa and surrounding muscles. Alcohol contains a lot of calories and carbohydrates, which fill the intestines and place heavy loads on it. As a result, you may feel bloated and nauseous. A large amount of alcohol causes vomiting, and in the future - forms an ulcer or even cancer of the stomach.

Alcohol has a detrimental effect on the reproductive system. It slows down and inhibits the release of sex hormones, weakens sexual desire and reduces sexual response. In addition, over time, alcohol can damage the testicles, as well as reduce testosterone levels, lead to problems with conception or even infertility.

The more you drink, the more nervous, discouraged, suffering from insomnia, becoming lethargic and irritable. This is because alcohol negatively affects the brain and, accordingly, affects mental health.

External signs, namely, skin problems, cannot be avoided. Puffiness, enlarged pores, deepening of facial wrinkles, sagging and unhealthy complexion are just some of the consequences of abuse.

By the way, the fact that women get drunk faster is not a myth of sexists. It has been scientifically proven that the female body produces fewer enzymes that digest alcohol. Accordingly, the alcohol content in the blood in women increases faster than in men. The situation and state of mind also affect intoxication. Sometimes from the same amount of drunk there is a radically different effect.

How to determine your dose of alcohol

The permissible dose is such a volume of alcohol at which it does not have a pronounced negative effect on your health and does not cause significant consequences.

The optimal dose of alcohol depends on age, body weight, physiological characteristics of the body, as well as the habits and goals that you set for yourself. If you want to go on a break, you can exceed this dose, but be prepared for not the most pleasant consequences in the morning, if more specifically - a hangover.

For one unit of alcohol take 10 ml of pure alcohol. In different countries, the allowable dose differs depending on the traditions and culture of alcohol consumption. In the UK, for example, the Ministry of Health allows drinking 140 ml per week, in the USA - 190 ml for men and about 100 ml for women, in Canada - 204 ml for men and 136 ml for women.

In Ukraine, the acceptable dose is 10 grams of pure alcohol. This is approximately 25 ml of vodka or 100 ml of wine. Women are not recommended to take more than two doses at a time. Men can afford no more than three.

It is also important to know that the body processes one standard dose of alcohol within an hour. That is, if the event lasts all day, the number of glasses can be increased, but also without getting carried away.

You can calculate your safe dose of alcohol by the following formula: 1.5 ml of pure alcohol x 1 kg of body weight.

That is, for a person who weighs about 70 kg, the permissible dose is 100 ml of pure alcohol. In terms of drinks, he can drink 260 ml of vodka (40%), 800 ml of wine (13%), 2100 ml of beer (5%), 200 ml of tequila (55%) and 150 ml of absinthe (70%).

Also help not to sort out the “alcoholic” mobile applications. For example:

Drinkware (iOS, Android)

DrinkCoach (iOS, Android)

Drink Less (iOS)

Daybreak (Android).

How to learn to drink wisely

Do not drink on an empty stomach. On the day of large-scale partying, when you know for sure that you will drink alcohol, you need to eat well. It will be difficult for an empty stomach to cope with the load in the form of alcohol.

Set your dose. And try not to exceed it. How to do this - we described above. To feel good, try not to exceed your norm.

Do not overeat. “Have a bite!” - Experienced regulars of feasts advise. But in fact, a snack will not affect the degree of intoxication, but only bring harm to the stomach. Large amounts of food simply delay the effects of alcohol. But all that is drunk will sooner or later fall into the bloodstream, which means that its effect will be obvious.

Do not lean on high-calorie. Another popular way to not get drunk is to eat fatty foods. However, it tends to trap alcohol in the stomach. Therefore, to avoid poisoning, it is better to do snacks.

Eat a pair of lemon slices. Or drink a glass of water with lemon juice. This can be done both during and after the feast. Citrus improves digestion and helps prevent the negative effects of alcohol.

Store energy. On a binge day, it's best to stay away from foods that need a lot of energy to digest. Among them are sweets, gluten, beans, starchy vegetables and dairy products.

Do not interfere with alcohol. Experts advise drinking drinks on the same raw material basis during one evening. Started with wine - it is advisable for them to finish without testing the stomach for strength. In addition, the more complex the composition of the drink, the more difficult it is for the body to cope with it.

Be careful with cocktails. No matter how delicious “Pina Colada” and “Strawberry Mojito” may be, they can play a trick on you the next day. Yes, cocktails are easy to drink, because it seems that there is very little alcohol. But this is their insidiousness. Therefore, it is difficult to predict how a few mixed ingredients will behave in your stomach.

Watch out for bubbles. Carbonated drinks accelerate the movement of alcohol into the intestines and enhance its absorption. Therefore, many begin to spin already from one glass of sparkling wine.

Do not save on alcohol. The price of an alcoholic beverage depends on the degree of its purification and compliance with the procedure for its manufacture. The more expensive the bottle, the cleaner the alcohol and, accordingly, it is not so harmful to health.

Do not pour alcohol over grief. Relieving alcohol is a bad idea. Because the nervous system is weakened at such moments. Alcohol, of course, reduces the release of the hormone stress - cortisol, but at the same time maintains and even prolongs the feeling of tension.

Do not smoke. Even for the company. Cigarettes enhance the effect of alcohol, and you will feel even more drunk.

Do not drink during treatment. It is not for nothing that they warn on some medicines that you should not drink alcohol while taking them. This is because they slow down the process of splitting alcohol. As a result, it lingers in the body, increases intoxication and has an even more negative effect on the body.