Men and women...guys and girls...
know the truth!!!
Hold your mouse over the text in the chart to read about THE HARMFUL EFFECTS OF ALCOHOL.
BRAIN & CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM
IMPAIRED BEHAVIOR, JUDGEMENT, MEMORY, CONCENTRATION, AND COORDINATION
o Drinker experiences mild euphoria and loss of inhibition as alcohol impairs regions of the brain controlling behavior and emotion. Alcohol impairs judgment, memory, concentration, and coordination as well as inducing extreme mood swings and emotional outbreaks.
BRAIN DAMAGE AND AFFECT
o Alcohol acts as a sedative on the Central Nervous System, depressing the nerve cells in brain, dulling altering, and damaging their ability to respond. Large doses cause sleep, anesthesia, respiratory failure, coma, and death.
BRAIN DISORDERS AND ADDICTION
o Long term drinking may result in permanent brain damage, serious mental disorders, and addiction of alcohol.
o Impaired visual ability
o Unclear hearing
o Dulled smell and taste
o Loss of pain perception
o Altered sense of time and space
o Impaired fine motor skills
o Slows reactions
o Impaired sexual performance
o Distorted vision and ability to adjust to lights. Pinpoint pupils and red eyes.
EARS
o Diminishes ability to distinguish between sounds and perceive their direction.
MOUTH
o Slurred speech. Dulls taste and smell reducing desire to eat.
THROAT
o Irritation and damage of lining of esophagus, induces severe vomiting, hemorrhaging, pain, and difficulty swallowing. Cancer.
HEART
o Weakens the heart muscle and ability to pump (Cardiomyophathy).
o Heart enlargement, abnormal heart signs, and irregular heart beat.
o Increases blood pressure, risk of heart attack, and strokes.
o Inhibits production of white and red blood cells.
o Muscles become weaker and atrophy, pain, spasms, and tenderness.
STOMACH
o Irritation of stomach lining, peptic ulcers, inflammation, bleeding lesions, and cancer.
PANCREAS
o Significant risk of pancreatis, a chronic inflammation of pancreas.
INTESTINES
o Irritation of the lining of the intestinal tract and colon. Chronic drinking may result in inflammation, ulcers, and cancer of intestines and colon.
o Nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, sweating, and loss of appetite are common.
o Alcohol impairs small intestine's ability to process nutrients and vitamins.
BONES
o Alcohol interferes with body's ability to absorb calcium resulting in bones being weak, soft, brittle, and thinner (Osteoporosis).
LUNGS
o High amounts of alcohol may cause breathing to stop; then death.
o Lowered resistance to infection.
LIVER
o Chronic heavy drinking may cause alcoholic hepatitis (inflammation and destruction of liver cells) and then cirrhosis (irreversible lesions, scarring, and destruction of liver cells). Impairs the liver's ability to remove yellow pigment and skin appears yellow (Jaundice).
o Liver damage causes fluid to build in extremities (Edema).
o Decreases production of blood-clotting factors; may cause uncontrolled bleeding.
o Liver accumulates fat which can cause liver failure, coma, and death.
REPRODUCTIVE SYSTEM
MALES AND FEMALES
o Sexual functioning can be impaired and deteriorate, resulting in impotence and infertility, sometimes irreversible. Females also have high risk of developing breast cancer.
PREGNANCY AND UNBORN BABIES
o Drinking during pregnancy significantly increases chance of delivering a baby with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome; small head, possible brain damage, abnormal facial features, poor muscle tone, speech and sleep disorders, and retarded growth and development.