Friday, April 10, 2015

Alcohol and its Horrendous Effects on Our Bodies
          Something I’ve noticed living on a college campus is that alcohol is a big part of the culture, obviously. What I’ve seen on campus is that students are surrounded by peers who encourage alcohol abuse and contribute to all the drunk nights, but what I have not seen is anyone telling students to ease up and take care of them selves. This is seeing as there have been few to no campaigns talking about the effects of alcohol on your body. This has inspired me to educate my peers about the tolls that alcohol can take on your body. Some of the things alcohol abuse takes a toll on include…

The Pancreas
            So first let’s establish that your pancreas is the organ the produces and regulates insulin, and a lack of insulin is what results in diabetes. Ok, now that you know that we can continue. Considerable alcohol consumption can cause the pancreas to excrete toxic fluids and that would eventually result in pancreatitis. This can destroy the pancreas, which would lead to a decrease in insulin production, and then diabetes. So by killing your pancreas alcohol can give you diabetes. Scary huh.

The Liver
            There is a lot of science behind this, but it’s a bit too much to explain here, so I’m just going to go through and tell you about all the great liver related diseases you can get from alcohol. The first is alcohol hepatitis, which is an inflammation of the liver. This can result in jaundice, which causes your skin and eyes to turn yellow. Still not convinced? Alcohol abuse can result in cirrhosis, which is scaring in the liver, and ultimately liver failure. That means a really expense liver transplant while your body fills with toxins. And no thats not some sort of turd, its a liver.

The Brain
            So the obviously shift in cognitive abilities while under the influence is a result of alcohol on the brain, but the other effects you don’t usually hear about are much worse. After extended use of alcohol the frontal lobes in your brain will shrink. What this means is that when you try and get sober you’re at risk for eye paralysis, Vitamin B deficiency, seizures, delirium, and tremors.


For more information on alcohol and its effect on your body click here

2 comments:

  1. I'm glad you posted something like this! I'm a nontraditional student. I went to school the first time around when I was 18 and just like everyone else, I drank...and drank...and drank.. I drank so much that my liver actually hurt afterwards. I also think what people don't realize is when you actually become physically addicted and it's not just for socializing anymore. And I think it happens a lot more than everyone's realizes. After college (the first time around) I got pregnant and had to stop drinking and the withdrawal was horrible! I've been sober now for 8 years and I feel better than ever.

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  2. I am glad you posted about this. I am sober and have been for over a year now and I hate seeing all my friends going out on the weekends and not being able to tell me everything they did. It's hard to be the person who tells the others how bad these habits are for them and I am so glad someone did!

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