Long Term Effects Of Alchool

Keith McGrenaghan

12th Grade

Alcohol essay

The Long-Term Effects of Alcohol Use

Alcohol is primarily absorbed through the stomach and the small intestines. It is considered a food because it has calories, but does not need to be digested and proceeds directly into the body through the digestive system. After ingestion it is carried through the blood stream and crosses the bloodÐ'-brain barrier, at which time impairment begins. A greater amount of ingestion causes greater impairment to the brain, which, in turn, causes a person to have a greater degree of difficulty in functioning. The majority of alcohol in the body is eliminated by the liver. Ninety percent is eliminated through the body, while ten percent is eliminated through sweat and urine.

Alcohol is a central nervous system depressant which causes people to act differently. Also it is considered to be the most abused drugs in our society today. It can cause server damage to a developing fetus in a woman. Alcohol has some short term and long term damages. For short term it reduces sensitivity to pain, which can cause someone to injure themselves but not realize because of the alcohol which can cause damage to the person. Also while drinking alcohol it causes vision problems by narrowing the field of vision, reduces resistance of glare, and lessens sensitivity to colors.

On the other hand the long term effects of alcohol are much more server. Abuse of alcohol can damage the liver, heart, and the pancreas. Also the abuse is linked to different types of cancer like, esophagus, stomach, liver, pancreas, and colon. If drinking alcohol while taking other medicines can cause much more damage then if drinking it alone.

In addition to reacting differently to the initial effects of alcohol, it appears that adolescents are also affected differently than adults by repeated, heavy drinking. Many adolescents engage in a pattern of chronic intermittent exposure (CIE) sometimes referred to as binge drinking. Chronic intermittent exposure is a special case of chronic alcohol administration that involves discrete, repeated withdrawals. There is mounting evidence that repeated exposure to alcohol during adolescence leads to long-lasting deficits in cognitive abilities, including learning and memory, in humans. The ages 15 and 16 years old in in-patient treatment for alcohol-dependence perform more poorly on test of memory and attention than healthy control subjects from the surrounding community.

Research with human adolescents clearly suggests that alcohol abuse during the teen years has long lasting effects. It appears that adolescents might be particularly vulnerable to the long-lasting effects of alcohol use. The causes of these long-lasting changes are unclear, but they might involve brain damage and alterations in normal brain development. Prolonged, heavy use of alcohol can lead to addiction (alcoholism). Sudden cessation of long term, extensive alcohol intake is likely to produce withdrawal symptoms, including severe anxiety, tremors, hallucinations and convulsions.