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ALCOHOL USE
What you ought to know about Alcohol Use and Abuse
Drinking alcoholic beverages is usually seen as a way to relax, socialize or celebrate, but drinking an excessive amount of or drinking as a way of dealing with feelings of anxiety or depression has negative consequences.
How Much Is Considered “A Drink”?
The amount of alcohol that is considered “a drink” depends on who is serving the alcohol and if they are a licensed bartender and the size of the person consuming the alcohol.
Lots of medical institutions guidelines state that men shouldn’t consume more than 4 drinks per day and no more than 14 drinks in a week. Women’s bodies process alcohol differently, they should consume no more than 3 drinks in a single day, or 7 drinks per week.
Here are rough guidelines. Pregnant women, those aged 21 and individuals with health issues or medications that interact with alcohol shouldn't drink alcohol.
How Does Alcohol Affect You?
Alcohol has many widely known short and future effects. In the short term, when changes in your mood and decreased inhibitions have passed, a person may experience a hangover. Feeling dehydrated, your mind feeling foggy, experiencing a headache, and feeling nausea are all signs of having a hangover. In the long term, heavy use of alcohol can cause serious organ damage and memory problems.
While alcohol may cause some people to be ready to fall asleep more quickly, it decreases the standard of sleep by interfering with REM (rapid eye movement) which may be a part of the sleep cycle when dreams occur and is assumed to be the most restorative stage of sleep. If paradoxical sleep is disrupted, you may feel tired and unable to concentrate the next day.
Alcohol alters serotonin levels within the brain. Serotonin may be a neurotransmitter, or chemical, employed by the brain to regulate mood, and imbalances in serotonin are thought to cause psychological state conditions like depression, anxiety, and obsessive-compulsive disorder.
Some of the Problems Caused by:
Heavy Drinking: The health guidelines give you what an individual daily and weekly alcohol consumption should be. When someone consumes more that the recommended daily or weekly guideline amounts for alcohol it is considered heavy drinking.
Binge Drinking: When excessive amounts of alcohol are consumed during a short period of time, leading to a spike in blood alcohol content. When individuals binge drink they are more likely to have “blackouts” or memory lapses.
Alcoholism: Also referred to as alcohol dependence, may be a disorder characterized by an uncontrollable urge to drink, inability to prevent drinking once started. The feeling that one must drink more and more to get the full effect of the alcohol. They have withdrawal symptoms if they can’t consume alcohol. As time go by some lose the tolerance level and many have withdrawal symptoms when they can’t have a drink. This in many cases lead to anxiety, sweating, nausea, or shakiness.
Are You or a Family Member Abusing Alcohol?
If your answer to many of the questions is yes, you are most likely using too much alcohol. Your answers to the questions below will help you to determine your alcohol use:
- Is your personality different when you drink?
- Do you drink to tell people the way you feel social situations?
- After drinking do you miss appointments and work?
- When you’re upset and have problems do you use alcohol as an escape mechanism?
- Is it hard for you to stop drinking after you have had one or two drinks?
- Are you always drunk once you have started drinking?
- Have you tried, to abstain from using alcohol or reduce the amount you consume and failed?
- After consuming and being under the influence of alcohol, do you forget what had happened?
- After consuming a lot of alcohol have you regretted doing some of the things you’ve done under the influence?
- Has anyone including friends or relatives tried to express their concern about your drinking?
- Has your work and/or relationships suffered because your drinking?
- Have you found the need for an alcoholic drink in the morning to get going after a night of heavy drinking?
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