Most teenagers know the short term effects of alcohol before they ever reach the legal drinking age. They know that drinking impairs vision and coordination. They know that they may experience vomiting and hangovers. They may even pass out. If they drive, they risk death or causing death. What they seldom know or are taught, however, is the long term health impacts of drinking alcohol.
The Long Term Effects on the Brain
If you are a heavy drinker, you can damage your brain. Each sip you take is killing off more of your brain cells. Recently, it has been determined that even those who only get drunk once a week or once every couple of weeks can eventually have less cognitive functioning in the brain.
The most common form of brain damage from alcohol is Alcohol Dementia. Additionally, binge drinking can have an adverse effect on the memory – including memories that you already have, and remembering new things that are introduced. You might say that drinking in this way is not only stupid, it can also make you stupid.
The Long Term Effects on the Liver
After years of drinking, you could have alcohol liver disease. Occasionally, the damage done can be reversed, depending on how much damage has been done before it is caught and if you are still drinking or not. In most cases, it cannot be reversed.
Furthermore, there are only so many donor livers to go around, and a committee decides if you get a liver or not – regardless of being a match for a transplant. When they compare you to someone who has a liver disease that was not caused by alcohol abuse, that person will get the liver – not you. Donor livers tend to go to those who are less likely to damage the new liver. This means that if you develop alcohol liver disease, you will most likely die from it.
The Long Term Health Effects of Risky Behavior
When you drink, you lose control. This is a short term thing, which may have long term results. For example, when you drink and get drunk, you are more likely to engage in risky sexual behavior. Ten years later, you may learn that you contracted HIV or AIDS during that drunken interlude.
When you get drunk, you may be more willing to increase this great feeling that you are having by trying drugs that you would never try if you were sober. Now, you’ve just become addicted to Heroine, which is a hard habit to kick – if you can kick it at all. Drinking leads to risky behavior which seriously has some long term ill health effects.
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