Are Your Habits Showing Signs Of Drinking Too Much Alcohol?

When do you need to worry about drinking too much alcohol?

A lot of people slide into problem drinking territory but spend a huge amount of time trying to pretend that they are still a harmless 'social' drinking and nothing more.

Don't be one of those drinkers who prefer to stick their head in the sand and ignore the problem. Check out my post today and get the truth about alcohol and some free advice on what your next step should be.

First, don't fall for the 'I am only having a few glasses a night' line. Back when I was a drinker, my wine glasses were so big I believed that a bottle of wine only contained four glasses.

Conventional drink size and alcohol consumption guidance vary between states.

In the USA, a typical alcoholic beverage contains roughly 14 grams of alcohol, which is the quantity usually found in twelve ozs (357 ml) of standard lager, 5 ozs (157 ml) of red or white wine, or 1.5 ounces (47 ml) of whiskey or vodka.

What does moderate drinking even mean?

According to the Nutritional Standards for Americans, U.S.A Department of Agriculture, moderate drinking entails a single beverage each day for women and up to a couple of drinks daily for males. Not much is it?

If you can keep your drinking to within that level, you only have a 2% chance of developing an alcohol use disorder. Sadly, problem drinkers who find this website have mostly long since passed that window.

Once you lose control of alcohol it's virtually impossible to return to moderate drinking. That may sound scary but it doesn't need to be.

Get a free copy of 'Alcohol Lied To Me' by Craig Beck and discover how to stop drinking without any of the usual struggles.

Quitting is much easier than moderating

The Drug Abuse and Psychological Health Services Administration describes binge alcohol consumption as 4 or more drinks for females or 5 or more drinks for males concurrently or within a couple of hours.

Substantial alcohol consumption or heavy alcohol use is described as binge drinking on 5 or more days of the past month.

Alcohol addiction is when you can't control your drinking, and continue to use it regardless of negative repercussions. When your body becomes physically dependent on the drug you may be given the label 'alcoholic'. At this point, you need more than a website like this and should seek inpatient medical care.

What alcohol does to your body

Excessive alcohol consumption impacts your physical health and virtually every area of your system. It can not only harm important internal organs but also impact your state of mind and behavior.

Mind

Using excessive alcohol can have terrible consequences on your central nervous system.

Numerous variables impact how and to what degree it affects your mind, including how much and how frequently you drink, the age you began consuming alcohol, your sex, and more.

The early impacts of alcohol on your central nervous system include slurred speech, memory problems, and weakened hand-eye synchronization. Numerous reports have linked heavy persistent alcohol use with memory shortfalls.

Alcoholism is a significant risk variable for forming Alzheimer's disease, particularly in women.

Additionally, it's predicted that alcohol-related mental retardation might justify 10% of early-onset Alzheimer's disease cases.

Even though alcoholic brain damage seems partly reversible after a lengthier period of abstaining, severe and extreme alcohol consumption can permanently harm your gray matter.

Liver

Liver organ injury is one more repercussion of long term binge alcohol consumption.

The majority of the booze you consume is metabolized in your liver. This generates potentially toxic by-products that can harm your liver cells. As you continue drinking gradually, your liver well-being slides.

Alcoholic fatty liver disease is the initial phase of alcohol-induced liver organ harm. This disorder can happen gradually when excessive booze results in an accumulation of fat in your system's liver cells, which can impede liver operation.

This is one of the most usual physical reaction to persistent alcohol use and can develop in as many as 90% of men and women who persistently consume alcohol more than 5 drinks daily.

As heavy drinking carries on, fatty liver disease can ultimately progress to liver swelling, cirrhosis, and even liver breakdown, which is a deadly affliction.

Dependence

The consequences of alcohol consumption may be psychologically and physically addictive.

Experiencing an uncontrollable desire to consume alcohol, stressing over where or when you'll have your next drink, and finding it difficult to enjoy yourself without drinking alcohol are all usual indicators of alcoholism.

The root cause of this dependency may be complicated. It can be triggered in part by your genetics and family tree, but your environment can play a substantial part too.

Other Effects

There are lots of other side effects of persistent alcohol use. Although physical health consequences differ between people, alcohol consumption is frequently associated with clinical depression and anxiety.

Some individuals might use alcohol as a stopgap to cope with the pressure of modern life and decrease stress and anxiety, but this generally only offers temporary alleviation. In the long term, it can wind up aggravating your general psychological state and well being.

Consuming alcohol can also impact your weight and body proportion.

Although the analysis of alcohol's influences on body weight is varying, both modest and substantial use has been tied to excess weight gain.

Gender and genes impact alcohol metabolism

Your sex and genes may influence the rate at which your system metabolizes alcohol

The main molecules associated with alcohol metabolism are alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) and aldehyde dehydrogenase.

Women typically have lower ADH activity than males. For that reason, women can metabolize alcohol at a more measured rate, making them more susceptible to its consequences.

Alcohol's consequences on your body can also differ based upon your body structure.

For example, females' bodies have more body fat and less water than men's bodies, generally. This might lead to higher blood alcohol amounts in women, even when they consume the same quantity as men.

For many people, having an occasional drink generally does not cause too much harm. Nevertheless, in specific circumstances and with particular people, alcohol needs to be eliminated completely.

Pregnancy and breastfeeding

A study has revealed that there actually is no risk-free amount of alcohol use while pregnant.

Lots of reports have concluded that alcohol use while pregnant raises the danger of losing the unborn baby, birth deformities, and intellectual and developmental issues.

One report discovered that congenital malformation is 4 times more likely if the mother has been consuming alcohol heavily in the initial trimester.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), alcohol use while pregnant is the top reason for avoidable birth deformities, developmental impairments, and brain damage in the USA.

It is necessary to keep in mind that alcohol can also enter breast milk is used by the breastfeeding mom.

Nursing moms ought to wait for the total elimination of alcohol from breast milk after drinking alcohol. This takes about 2-- 2.5 hours per alcoholic beverage, depending upon your body measurements.

Extra reasons to avoid alcohol include:

Clinical disorders.

Alcohol may intensify preexisting health problems like liver disease, diabetic issues, and renal disease.

Medicines.

Alcohol can interact with over the counter holistic and prescribed drugs, including antidepressants, anti-biotics, and opioids.

Underaged alcohol consumption.

Underage drinking, particularly substantial and regular usage, has been linked with immediate and long term repercussions.

Current and recovering alcoholics.

Recovering from an alcohol use disorder may be challenging. Recovering alcoholics need to quit drinking entirely and avoid their triggers for misuse.

Conclusion

Alcohol use while pregnant raises the danger of birth deformities. It's advised to avoid alcohol consumption if you have specific preexisting medical disorders, are underaged, or take specific prescription medications.

The bottom line

The vast majority of people can have the odd drink and not see any real damage to their lives. Unfortunately when you start drinking you have no idea if you are going to be one of those lucky 'take it or leave it' types of folk.

Alcohol kills over 3,000,000 people every year but the damage it does to families, relationships, mental health, and careers are so much greater.

If you believe you have crossed the line into 'problem drinking' territory, now is the very best time to take action and deal with this.

Click here to join us for a free quit drinking webinar and find out the unusual way a 44-year-old family man quit drinking without willpower, cravings or rehab.