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If You Drink Alcohol Regularly, You Should Read The Following

If You Drink Alcohol Regularly, You Should Read The Following

Currently, alcohol is usually consumed at family reunions, parties with friends, or a glass of wine or beer on the way home after a hard day's work. Thus, alcohol is often associated with pleasure. However, if you drink alcohol regularly, you must read this!

Indeed, the regular consumption of alcohol, even if it is a drink a day, can lead to dependence as well as health problems.

If You Drink Alcohol Regularly

Alcohol dependence

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), to diagnose with certainty a dependence syndrome of a psychoactive substance, including alcohol, must be recognized in at least three of the following:
  • A powerful or compulsive desire to drink alcohol,
  • Difficulties in managing and controlling the use of alcohol,
  • The appearance of a physiological withdrawal syndrome as soon as there is a decrease or an interruption of alcohol consumption. This is illustrated by heart trouble, anxiety, panic, oppression, and so on.
  • A phenomenon of tolerance towards alcohol, it is always necessary to increase the dose,
  • A gradual abandonment of other sources of pleasure and interest in favor of the substance,
  • The continuation of alcohol consumption while there is a degradation of social and family ties, a deterioration of health, financial problems etc.

Alcohol dependence differs according to each person and its intimate relationship with alcohol. In the long term, it causes non-negligible psychological and physical disorders such as:

1. Pancreatitis

Chronic pancreatitis is an irreversible and progressive disorder of the pancreas characterized by inflammation, fibrosis and scarring of the organ. Several factors are involved in the development of this disease but alcoholism is the most important risk factor in adults. 

In addition, a study conducted by the Department of Gastrointestinal Surgery at the Karolinka University Hospital (Stockholm, Sweden) and published in the British Journal of Surgery reveals that the consumption of large quantities of alcoholic beverages opportunity greatly increases the risk of suffering from acute pancreatitis, a rapid inflammation of the pancreas. Of 84,601 people aged 46 to 84 years and followed for a long time, 513 of them developed acute pancreatitis and the researchers found that the risk of developing acute pancreatitis increases by 52% in five alcohol consumed (knowing that a glass contains 4cl of strong alcohol) on the same occasion.

2. Cancers
The consumption of alcoholic beverages increases the probability of suffering from certain types of cancer, and this, from a glass of alcohol consumed per day. In fact, alcohol is classified as carcinogenic to humans by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) because of ethanol contained in alcoholic beverages, which is transformed in the body into compounds that promote the development of cancers. Alcohol increases the risk of suffering from cancers of the mouth, esophagus, breast, liver, pancreas and colon. This risk increases as alcohol is associated with tobacco and a sedentary lifestyle.

3. The Depression
Excessive alcohol consumption is often associated with mental disorders such as anxiety and depression. This is a vicious circle in which alcohol leads to depression and depression to alcohol. Thus, although at the moment alcohol may seem to be a solution to strong anxiety in view of its disinhibiting character, in the long term it can be at the origin of depressive and suicidal behavior. 

According to neurobiologist Jean-Pol Tassin, alcohol affects norepinephrine, which plays a role in arousal, alertness and sleep, and serotonin, which helps regulate mood and emotions. Thus, as the secretion of these two neuromodulators is disrupted, a person under alcohol no longer has the notion of danger and she suffers from mood disorders, then pushing her to risky behavior.

4. Liver diseases
Alcohol abuse promotes the development of liver diseases including alcoholic hepatitis, cirrhosis or alcoholic steatohepatitis or alcoholic fatty liver disease. 

This ethanol substance causes oxidative liver stress, inflammation and impaired liver function. For example, people who are used to drinking alcohol may suffer from liver disease. This is shown in a scientific study by the Department of Hepatology at Copenhagen University Hospital and the National Institute of Public Health in Denmark. 

Researchers have shown that daily alcohol consumption is associated with an increased risk of cirrhosis. 257 men and 85 women developed alcoholic cirrhosis in 55,917 study participants with an average consumption of 14 drinks per week. Scientists add that the earlier alcohol consumption begins, the higher the risk of alcoholic cirrhosis.