Posted on: November 13th, 2014 by Pacific Ridge
I was looking back at some of the earlier posts here. I decided that it was time to write about some more about the health associated with drinking. Yea, we all know that drinking can affect your liver and drunk driving is the leading cause of accidents on the highways. Even in the face of that, some people continue to drink heavily, either by choice or by addiction. So lets look at some additional scary facts about heavy and long term drinking that perhaps you did not know.
Alcohol Weakens the Body’s Defenses
Chronic drinkers may appear to be healthy, but if they do become ill or injured, they may find it more difficult to heal. Long-term alcohol consumption can harm the body’s ability to respond to stressors like illness or injury. Too much alcohol can cause you to get sick by weakening your body’s defenses.
Alcohol and Trauma
Alcohol intoxication is associated with 40 to 50 percent of traffic fatalities; 25 to 35 percent of nonfatal motor vehicle injuries; up to 64 percent of fires and burns; 48 percent of hypothermia and frostbite cases; and about 20 percent of completed suicides. I think it is safe to say that drinking leads to poor judgment and accidents.
Alcohol and Stress
This is really interesting, because so many people claim that drinking helps them to relax. It ain’t necessarily so. The stress response is a complex process; the association between drinking and stress is more complicated still. Much research demonstrates that alcohol actually induces the stress response by stimulating hormone release by the hypothalamus, pituitary, and adrenal glands.
Alcohol and Blood Pressure
Even modest amounts of alcohol consumption can cause blood pressure to increase, especially in older adults, according to two recent studies. Even very low alcohol consumption can be a health risk for many — almost one in every four Americans.
With all this information about the negative effects of alcohol consumption, the decision as to whether to imbibe is more important than one may realize. While there are some claimed positive aspect about drinking, it is easy to conclude that the negative effects outweigh them.
If you or someone you love may be drinking to much, call us and talk to us. We provide residential treatment for those addicted to alcohol. We design a program for each individual and help him or her through it. We have been serving Oregon and the west coast for many years, more that almost any other treatment facility around. We are still here because we know what we are doing and we are very good at it. We have clients from all over Oregon and the west coast, including Seattle, Vancouver, Portland, Salem, Eugene, Medford, Klamath Falls, Sacramento, San Francisco, San Diego, and many more cities too numerous to mention here. Alcoholism treatment in our residential treatment center may be someone’s last and best hope to return to a normal and healthy life.
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