There is no point in arguing that Alcohol is not good for us. It is just a fact that Alcohol cause diseases that can be sometimes be fatal, or worse, put us in a condition that we wish we were dead. It is not totally bad to drink alcoholic beverages, it is part of socializing. Most people drink in social gatherings, whatever the formality, beer or other hard drinks in casual drinking and wine in formal parties.
Even the Church is not against drinking, since it is part of the holy Eucharist. It must be pointed out that, what the writer is stating in this position paper is the harmful effects of excessive drinking. But first we must first define what an alcohol is.What is Alcohol?The National Institute in Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAA) simply defines Alcohol as a depressant. So to understand the harmful effects of alcohol are, we must first define what a depressant is. Britanica on-line defines a depressant as:…a drug or other agent that slows the activity of vital organs of the body.
Depressants acting on the central nervous system include general anaesthetics, opiates, alcohol and hypnotics. Tranquilizing drugs (ataractics) act primarily on the lower levels of the brain, relieving tension without reducing mental sharpness.Alcohol is not only a beverage that relaxes the body, some alcohol are used in the field of medicine. Bur for this paper’s purpose we would concentrate on the alcoholic beverage.
Alcohol is made by fermenting (using bacteria to make food, or drinks, out of other materials that has sugar) certain grains or fruits, like rice in the Japanese drink sake and grapes in varieties of wine.Alcohol is ‘bad’Since drinking alcohol causes someone to react differently or unpredictably. We can never tell if we can control our drinking. Probably the best way to avoid getting drunk is not to drink at all. The same principle I apply in avoiding hang-overs.
Simply just don’t drink. If you’re already a drinker, I hope you just drink occasionally and not treat vodka as drinking water.There’s always a place and time for everything, and drinking is no exception. Know where to drink, when to drink, and especially who you drink with. Alcohol obscures our judgement of people, they might already be on pissed and you’re just taking that person lightly. Remember, alcohol causes us to be more talkative than usual.
Most secrets, ours or others’, are spilled during drinking sessions.Alcohol is not totally bad, there are, however little, benefits that can be derived from drinking alcoholic beverages (to be discussed later in the paper). However, there are more ways that alcohol can harm us than it can help us.The number of deaths alone in drunk driving incidents trumps all the good reasons for drinking alcohol. Death doesn’t come only in the combination of alcohol and cars.
Excessive drinking, by itself is enough to kill an individual, through the diseases caused by drinking too much alcohol and alcohol poisoning.These are the very reasons why I believe Alcohol is harmful. It does more harm than good. Maybe I would have a different opinion about alcohol if it is helpful all the time. But it’s not.
If anything has the capacity to be destructive, or harmful, we might as well not acquaint ourselves with it. It is better to play safe than to end up six feet under or in a hospital bed eating from a straw.Harmful Effects of AlcoholThere are a number of reasons why alcohol is harmful to us, all of them leading to health complications. It’s either directly or indirectly.
Directly if we actively put alcohol in our system or indirectly by dying in a car accident or getting hit by a drunk driver. It’s always a failing organ or organs that lead to death.Excessive drinking can cause memory loss. Heavy drinkers are known not to remember a thing that happened the previous night they spent drinking. That’s the good part, continued excessive drinking can cause permanent memory loss or even brain damage that leaves the patient nothing more than a body on life support.
Alcoholics often suffer from thiamine deficiency, or vitamin B1, which is just a common nutrient found in poultry and grains. Another effect of alcohol on the brain is the Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome, a disease that causes mental confusion, problematic muscle movement including movement of the eyes. (NIAAA)Before the brain, the fist organ that suffers is the liver. The liver functions as filter that reduces the alcohol into non-toxic chemicals. But like any other machine, a machine that is constantly punished is bound to malfunction.
And a malfunctioned liver means a malfunctioned brain which would result into a brain disease called hepatic encephalopathy (Butterworth 143).
