I ran across a very informative article entitled “How Alcohol Damages the Body”, by Dr. Emmanuel Rubin.
Although the research is a few years old, it is clear that the evidence against excessive alcohol consumption has been known for a long time.
Rubin went into great detail on why and how alcohol is so bad, and how it damages the body it in almost every way possible.
Of course, most of us are aware of the immense harm alcohol does to the liver. But the article goes on to explain that alcohol can be just as deadly to our muscle tissue, which includes the heart. Also in danger are our sex organs (including testicular atrophy), our brains, and our individual cells.
Examples of How Alcohol Damages the Body
- Your Brain. Excessive consumption of alcohol leads directly to brain lesions and cognitive problems. Further, years of heavy drinking will cause alterations to the neurons, resulting in reductions in the size of brain cells. This shrinking brain mass is largely responsible for poor motor skills, quality of sleep, learning and memory.
- Your Liver. Long-term alcohol abuse will damage and/or destroy liver cells. This prevents your liver from doing what it’s designed to do: filtering harmful substances from your blood. It also impacts your liver’s role in processing food into the energy and nutrients required by your body.
- Your Heart. Long-term alcohol abuse will eventually weaken the heart muscle. This can cause it to sag slightly in the chest. A weakened heart is incapable of pumping enough blood, often resulting in severe damage to organs and tissues. Symptoms include difficulties in breathing, constant fatigue, swollen feet and legs. It can even lead to heart failure.
- Your Pancreas. Heavy alcohol consumption will often result in either acute or chronic pancreatitis. Resulting symptoms include upper abdominal pain, swollen abdomen, fever, nausea, vomiting and an increased heart rate. Other symptoms may include extreme weight loss caused by malabsorption of food.
- Your Stomach. Alcohol acts as an irritant in your digestive system, which interfering with the digestive process. This, in turn, robs your body of necessary vitamins and minerals. Chronic irritation will also lead to severe damage of the stomach lining.
- Your Kidneys. Alcohol interferes with your kidney’s ability to filter the waste that builds up within your body. Furthermore, it causes cell damage, kidney enlargement, and has a negative impact on many metabolic processes.
Alcohol Damages the Body, But Repair is Possible
Fortunately, the human body is a miracle of design. It is able to repair itself from almost any damage we force upon it, and this includes damage from alcohol. The more we learn about how it’s hurting us, the more committed we will be to once-and-for-all remove alcohol from our lives.
I urge you to continue to educate yourself about how damaging alcohol is to your body. Read every article and book that you can on the subject, until the true impact is fully understood.
If you need a few additional reasons to stop drinking alcohol, see my article Reasons to Quit Drinking Alcohol. If you are not sure that you presently have the strength to quit or cut back right drinking, please read Take Action to Overcome Alcoholism.
Make up your mind to do something today about your addiction – no matter how small of an action you take. Let your body heal itself by refusing to drink any more alcohol. You’ll be glad you did. ♦