April is Alcohol Awareness Month.
During Alcohol Awareness Month, Canyonlands Healthcare encourages you to learn about the dangers of drinking too much. Even a single binge-drinking episode can result in significant bodily impairment, damage, or death. Over time, excessive alcohol use can lead to the development of many chronic diseases and other serious health problems; including:
- Mental Health Problems – Including depression and anxiety, lost productivity, family problems, and unemployment.
- Brain Damage – Alcohol alters the brain receptors and neurotransmitters, and it interferes with a person’s cognitive function, moods, emotions, and reactions on multiple levels. It disrupts fine motor coordination and balance, often leading to injuries from falls. Excessive drinking can cause “blackouts” or the inability to remember events. Long-term heavy drinking can speed up the brain’s normal aging process, resulting in early and permanent dementia.
- Cancer – Chronic alcohol consumption can increase the risk of developing different cancers, including cancers of the mouth, esophagus, larynx, stomach, liver, colon, rectum, and breast.
- Liver Disease – Chronic drinking alters the liver’s metabolism of fats, and excess fat accumulates in the liver. Between 10 and 20 percent of heavy drinkers will develop cirrhosis.
- Pancreatitis – Around 70 percent of cases of pancreatitis affect people who regularly drink large amounts of alcohol.
- Ulcers and Gastrointestinal Problems – Alcohol interferes with gastric acid secretion and can cause problems with the digestive system, such as stomach ulcers, acid reflux, heartburn, and inflammation of the stomach lining. Also, alcohol’s ability to interrupt the bone marrow’s red blood cell production and to cause bleeding from gastric ulcers may lead to the development of iron deficiency anemia.
- Immune System Dysfunction – Drinking too much weakens the immune system, making the body vulnerable to infectious diseases.
- Osteoporosis and Vitamin Deficiency – Because nutrients are not broken down properly, they are not adequately absorbed from the gastrointestinal tract into the blood. Alcohol interferes with the balance of calcium, vitamin D production, and cortisol levels, adding to the potential weakening of bone structure.
- Heart Disease and Stroke – Excessive alcohol intake has long been linked to multiple cardiovascular complications, including angina, high blood pressure, and a risk of heart failure. Stroke is a potentially deadly complication of binge drinking. Fluctuations in blood pressure and increases in platelet activation are common during the body’s recovery from a binge. This deadly combination heightens the chance of ischemic stroke.
- Accidents and Injuries – Drinking alcohol in any amount is linked to car crashes, domestic violence, falls, drowning, occupational injuries, suicide, and homicide.
Read Rethinking Drinking
Our goal at Canyonlands Healthcare is to offer accessible and inclusive medical and behavioral services for you and your family without stigma.
Canyonlands Healthcare offers individual and family counseling and integrated health care — a collaboration between your primary care physician and mental health therapist to address your physical, psychological and emotional needs. We are now addressing substance abuse disorders and opioid addiction by offering MAT (Medication-Assisted Treatment) combined with psychotherapy.
Addiction: A Family Disease
Addiction is often described as a “family disease” because addiction in one person creates a dysfunctional system that disrupts the healthy emotional development and functioning of all the members of the family. Looking at the big picture can be beneficial for men and women who want to try recovery.
Whether a person decides to use alcohol or drugs is influenced by peers, family, or availability; however, once a person uses alcohol or drugs, the risk of developing alcoholism or drug dependence is largely influenced by genetics.
If you have a family history of alcoholism or addiction, you are four times more likely to develop a problem.
Alcoholism and drug dependence are not moral issues, are not a matter of choice or a lack of willpower. Plain and simple, people’s bodies respond to the effects of alcohol and drugs differently.
This year for Alcohol Awareness Month, the CDC is drawing attention to the risks to women from binge drinking. Alcohol can cause problems for a developing baby throughout pregnancy, including before a woman knows she’s pregnant.
Drinking alcohol during pregnancy can cause miscarriage, stillbirth, and a range of lifelong physical, behavioral and intellectual disabilities. These disabilities are known as fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASDs).
Download the FASD Fact Sheet
