Death by Alcohol

Essay by smetcalf0425College, UndergraduateA-, July 2009

download word file, 3 pages 3.0

Binge drinking occurs when a person drinks a lot over a short period of time resulting in immediate and severe intoxication. Binge drinking is sometimes defined as ‘drinking to get drunk’.

The health risks associated with binge drinking include the potential to develop toxic damage to the small bowel which causes diarrhea, depression of the central nervous system, hangovers, headaches, and stomach problems resulting in nausea, shakiness and vomiting. Because intoxication stops you from thinking clearly and acting sensibly, binge drinking can also lead a person to put themselves and others at risk and harm from other things; For example, injury due to falls, risky behavior or assault. It is the reason that alcohol is closely associated with road accidents, fights and violence, sexual activity and unprotected sex (Jopson).

Serious binge drinking can lead a person to suffer alcohol poisoning. This happens when the blood alcohol level (the percentage of alcohol circulating in the bloodstream) rises to a harmful point.

At high blood alcohol levels, a person may lose consciousness and slip into a coma. There have been cases when the person intoxicated dies. The effects of alcohol poisoning can be devastating, especially if the drinker becomes unconscious. Many deaths have occurred as a result of an unconscious person choking on their own vomit or breathing in vomit (Palmera).

Possible effects of alcohol poisoning include:•Irregular heart beat•Choking (from vomiting)•Coma•Decrease in body temperature (hypothermia)•Brain damage•Seizure•Strange breathing patterns•Inhalation of vomit causing a halt in breathing patterns (asphyxiation)•DeathDeath from alcohol poisoning usually occurs in one of three ways:•The blood alcohol level reaches such a high level that the depressant effects of the drug slow down the parts of the brain and nervous system that control breathing and the heart.

Usually the drinker dies because they have stopped breathing and their heart has stopped,