The Effects of Alcohol

Essay by elicachoUniversity, Bachelor'sA, February 2010

download word file, 4 pages 4.3

lDo you like alcohol? What repercussions do you think alcohol does? Do you agree with the people who say that by drinking alcohol makes people have more fun than if they were not drinking? If you are under the influence of alcohol, it is important to know that alcohol does provoke many repercussions that may change people's lives forever. Alcohol is the second cause of death in the United Status just after tobacco, but if this is true, how come it isn't illegal if it causes the death of almost 21,000 people per year. By drinking alcohol, you hurt yourself and may hurt people around you.

Alcohol is a central nervous system depressant; it causes many symptoms to people who drink it. It lowers inhibitions, slows reflexes and impairs reaction time, cause drowsiness, vomiting, unconsciousness, and even coma, but why does that happens? It is very simple. Alcohol is soluble in lipid and water solutions.

Therefore, alcohol gets into the bloodstream very easily causing neurochemical effects. Also, alcohol can damage the frontal lobe of the brain if its use is abused. In addition, alcohol causes a reduction of the brain size. It may lead to alcohol addiction, and may develop the Wernicke's Encephalopathy Syndrome which is characterized by impaired memory, confusion and lack of coordination. Drinking also might be a factor of having a heart attack. Moderate drinking causes a significant rise in blood pressure, but if it is abused it will cause a high blood pressure and an enlargement of the heart, which may increase the risk of heart attacks.

Another important consequence of alcohol is Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS). This syndrome may cause defects on newborns. Smaller heads, mental retardation, poor coordination, hyperactivity, and abnormal facial features as small eye openings, short noses, flat faces and many more things are just some of the defects that babies may present. This syndrome takes happens when pregnant women drink alcohol. Then, it passes easily through the placenta and then reaches the fetus provoking in the future not a normal brain development. Alcohol damages the cerebellum and the development of the corpus collasum which is the main connection between the right and left hemispheres of the brain from the fetus. Furthermore, if pregnant woman drink, even if moderate, they will provoke the child's IQ to go lower.

When somebody drinks alcohol, it directly goes to the stomach passing through the intestine, and then it is absorbed by the bloodstream until reaching the brain. By drinking a can of beer, the person will feel relaxation. By the third can, it can affect the drinker's judgment, and by the fifth can in less than two hours can lead to the illegal alcohol intoxication losing consciousness. Therefore, alcohol can lead people to have car accidents, to have unwanted sexual relationships, and to be violent. From 1982 to 1993, more than 250,000 deaths in the U.S. were related with alcohol. In 1995, 17,274 crashes were also related to alcohol; making an average of 30 minutes per accident. Furthermore, the rate goes higher when it happens in nights and weekends. About 54% of accidents take place in weekends because people tend to drink more alcohol on these days. Another thing that does not go well together as alcohol and driving is alcohol and sex. People lose conscious after being drinking. An alcoholic person can increase the chances to have unprotected sex, and therefore, have an unwanted pregnancy or sexual transmitted disease.

Alcoholics can be easily prone to sexual assaults. Alcohol is the main reason why rapes occur. Alcohol also makes people not to remember what happened in the night before they drank, so it is a hard thing to deal with because you will not know what you did that night.

Violence is also related to alcohol. Even though researches say that alcohol is not always the main cause for violence, sometimes it is. A research made by a laboratory showed that men become more aggressive when they are drinking water but in reality they believe it is an alcoholic beverage. They also become less aggressive if they think they are drinking water while drinking alcohol. The same thing happens with sexual behavior. Men tend to feel more sexually aroused when they think they have been drinking alcoholic beverages even if they haven't. Therefore, sexual and aggressive behaviors may be sometimes related to alcohol, but what we know is that it is just a psychological effect.

In conclusion, alcohol is bad for people, even in minimal doses. I believe alcohol causes many repercussions to people's lives. Being the second most death in this country, I think there should be something done about the amount of alcohol that beer has. Beer or any type of alcohol may make you feel better, happier, less stressful, but the harm that people do to themselves is very severe. By being drunk, people may lose consciousness, reflexes, and time reactions while driving provoking big car accidents. If the alcohol dependence is more severe, people can get in a coma, to reduce their brain size, to be more prone to heart attacks than people that do not drink. Also, in women it is very dangerous. If pregnant women drink, their babies will have the same amount of alcohol as them because it goes straight to the fetus. The baby then might be born with the FAS, making them have defects as smaller heads, poor coordination, hyperactivity, and even abnormal facial features. Alcohol harms the body since it stays inside the system for a long time. In addition, the responsibility to drink alcohol also comes along with security. Many sexual assaults happen because of the alcohol effects. People tend to die in a high rate of car accidents, related with car accidents. Finally, I believe that people should be more aware of the effects and problems that alcohol may cause.

http://www.drugfree.org/Portal/drug_guide/Alcoholhttp://health.howstuffworks.com/alcohol5.htmhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Short-term_effects_of_alcohol