Introduction: As is well known, “A little drink cheers you up, but excessive drinking harms your health.” Some people enjoy drinking, while others have to drink for various reasons.
Especially for male friends, there are times when it’s hard to escape from drinking, so they reluctantly drink and end up facing health issues they didn’t anticipate.
Long-term and heavy drinking can burden the body and increase the risks of liver diseases and heart problems. Therefore, quitting drinking early is crucial. Alcohol metabolism usually takes about 48 hours. If male friends quit drinking early, they can see significant benefits after just one week.
What are the harms of long-term drinking?
Inducing liver diseases
Long-term drinking can numb the liver due to alcohol, causing local cell necrosis and hindering metabolism. This can lead to weight maintenance difficulties and symptoms like jaundice and indigestion.
Damaging the heart
Alcohol can poison heart muscle cells, impair their contraction ability, accelerate heart rate, cause arrhythmias, and ultimately harm heart health. Also, high water content in many alcoholic beverages can strain the heart, potentially leading to heart failure in the long run.
Damaging the stomach lining
Long-term drinking can irritate the stomach lining, leading to stomach function disorders. Consumption of strong alcohol can result in gastric perforation, ulcers, and in severe cases, gastric bleeding.
Damaging the kidneys
Alcohol can stimulate the kidneys, accelerate metabolism, increase uric acid levels in the blood, and induce gout. Beer, in particular, significantly damages the kidneys due to its lupulin content, especially if consumed with certain foods, further exacerbating metabolic issues and kidney damage risks.
Men who decide to quit drinking can see improvements in several areas of their bodies after one week:
Digestive system
Alcoholic beverages primarily contain alcohol, which can irritate and affect the digestive system, including the intestines, stomach, and liver.
By quitting drinking, one can start to restore their digestive system to normal gradually within a week, mitigating issues like liver and gastrointestinal illnesses. This change helps protect the digestive system and liver.
Nervous system
Long-term drinkers often have an overactive central nervous system, leading to nerve function disorders. Positive quitting actions improve the nervous system and sleep patterns back to normal gradually.
Circulatory system
Long-term drinking can harm the cardiovascular system, leading to atherosclerosis and increasing the risk of cardiovascular diseases. About a week after abstaining, changes in heart rate become normalized, and discomforts like palpitations and chest tightness related to drinking become minimal.
Immune system
Alcohol can suppress the immune system, weakening the body’s ability to fight diseases and making it vulnerable to bacterial and viral infections. Quitting drinking can enhance the immune system, reducing the risk of illness, making it a positive step for overall health.
Effective ways to quit drinking: Remember three points
Gradual reduction
Reducing alcohol intake gradually allows the body to adjust until quitting completely becomes feasible.
Self-discipline
Avoid finding excuses to drink. Firmly determined individuals can successfully quit drinking.
Refusal of temptation
Refuse any persuasion to drink and maintain a strong commitment to quitting. Otherwise, succumbing to temptations can jeopardize efforts to quit drinking.
Learn three methods to reduce alcohol harm
Our country has a culture of alcohol consumption, making it challenging to avoid drinking at gatherings or banquets. How can we minimize the damage alcohol does to the body?
Eat something before drinking
Consuming a protein drink or eating main courses, vegetables, and fruits before drinking helps reduce the stimulation of the stomach lining by alcohol. It also delays alcohol absorption, aiding in liver protection.
Consume low-proof drinks slowly
High-proof alcohol causes more liver damage. Opting for low-proof alternatives and drinking slowly can reduce alcohol concentration spikes, preventing excessive intoxication and organ damage.
Avoid mixing various alcoholic beverages
Consuming different types of alcohol together can lead to unintended overconsumption due to varying alcohol strengths. Additionally, alcohol mixing intensifies its effects, accelerating absorption and causing more significant harm to the body.
Additional Reading: How does alcohol cause memory loss?
After getting drunk, individuals may experience symptoms like dry mouth, headache, and memory loss, commonly known as blackout. How does alcohol induce memory loss?
Excessive drinking numbs the brain’s temporal lobes responsible for memory and affects the hippocampus’s memory function, resulting in brain memory decline and subsequent memory loss episodes after drinking.
