Alcohol

Alcohol affects your brain. Drinking alcohol leads to a loss of coordination, poor judgment, slowed reflexes, distorted vision, memory lapses, and even blackouts.
Alcohol affects your body. Alcohol can damage every organ in your body. It is absorbed directly into your bloodstream and can increase your risk for a variety of life-threatening diseases, including cancer.
Alcohol affects your self-control. Alcohol depresses your central nervous system, lowers your inhibitions, and impairs your judgment. Drinking can lead to risky behaviors, such as driving when you shouldn’t, or having unprotected sex.
Alcohol can kill you. Drinking large amounts of alcohol at one time or very rapidly can cause alcohol poisoning, which can lead to coma or even death. Driving and drinking also can be deadly.
Alcohol can hurt you--even if you're not the one drinking. If you're around people who are drinking, you have an increased risk of being seriously injured, involved in car crashes, or affected by violence. At the very least, you may have to deal with people who are sick, out of control, or unable to take care of themselves.
Know the risks. Alcohol is a drug. Mixing it with any other drug can be extremely dangerous. Alcohol and acetaminophen--a common ingredient in OTC pain and fever reducers--can damage your liver. Alcohol mixed with other drugs can cause nausea, vomiting, fainting, heart problems, and difficulty breathing. Mixing alcohol and drugs also can lead to coma and death.
Keep your edge. Alcohol is a depressant, or downer, because it reduces brain activity. If you are depressed before you start drinking, alcohol can make you feel worse.
Look around you. Most teens aren't drinking alcohol.
How can you tell if a friend has a drinking problem? Sometimes it's tough to tell. But there are signs you can look for. If your friend has one or more of the following warning signs, he or she may have a problem with alcohol:
• Getting drunk on a regular basis
• Lying about how much alcohol he or she is using
• Believing that alcohol is necessary to have fun
• Having frequent hangovers
• Feeling run-down, depressed, or even suicidal
• Having "blackouts"--forgetting what he or she did while drinking
Q. Aren't beer and wine "safer" than liquor?
A. No. One 12-ounce bottle of beer or a 5-ounce glass of wine (about a half-cup) has as much alcohol as a 1.5-ounce shot of liquor. Alcohol can make you drunk and cause you problems no matter how you consume it.
Q. Why can't teens drink if their parents can?
A. Teens’ brains and bodies are still developing; alcohol use can cause learning problems or lead to adult alcoholism.5 People who begin drinking by age 15 are five times more likely to abuse or become dependent on alcohol than those who begin drinking after age 20.6
Q. How can I say no to alcohol? I'm afraid I won't fit in.
A. It's easier to refuse than you think. Try: "No thanks," "I don't drink," or "I'm not interested." Remember that the majority of teens don't drink alcohol.

Hazardous drinking by young adults

What exactly is hazardous drinking?
It’s drinking that’ll damage your mental or physical health in the long term. No one can say exactly when this will happen, but it will.
There’s a lot about ‘binge drinking’ in the news, which conjures up images of all-day sessions, but what it’s actually referring to is drinking double the safe amount. It’s probably easier to think of a binge as drinking with the intention of getting drunk.
Hazardous drinking is an equal opportunity activity. Did you know that about two-thirds of men aged 20-24 and a third of women aged 16-19 are hazardous drinkers? The latest government statistics show that more and more young women are binge drinking, even though, on a drink-for-drink basis, alcohol affects women more than men because of their build and body fat.
So what does drink do to your physical and mental health?
Alcohol can have a permanent effect on your brain, especially if you drink while your brain’s still growing and maturing, which is up to 20 years old.
Binge drinking will affect your ability to learn and to concentrate long after your hangover has gone. As yet, doctors don’t know if the brain damage caused by hazardous drinking can be reversed.
There’s a lot of debate among scientists about how much it’s safe to drink. The reality is that alcohol’s a poison – too much will damage your health and could kill you.
In the short term, we know alcohol affects reaction times and coordination, so you’re more likely to have an accident.
Alcohol affects the bit of your brain that deals with impulse control, so after a few beers you find it harder to say no. You’re more likely to take risks, such as drink driving, or doing something you later regret, such as having unprotected sex. Alcohol can also make you aggressive and violent.
Over time, alcohol affects every part of your body. We’ve all heard about liver disease, but did you know it’s also responsible for infertility, skin conditions, heart problems, brain damage, cancer and strokes?
Addiction to alcohol (also called dependence) is characterised by a compulsion to drink. If you don’t drink, your body starts to react and you have withdrawal symptoms.
If you start drinking heavily before you’re 14, you’re about four times more likely to become dependent on alcohol.
The more you drink, the more you need to drink to get the same effect. This is called tolerance, and is often seen as the ability to ‘hold your drink’. It’s a bad idea because you don’t become tolerant to the damage caused.
in small doses alcohol helps us relax and feel more confident. Even though alcohol might make you feel better, it affects the chemistry of your brain in a way that increases negative feelings, so it just makes matters worse.

so what's safe and what's harmful?

After lots of research, it seems a small amount of alcohol (say one glass of wine drunk with a meal) might help to protect against heart disease, but consuming much more than that starts to damage your body.
The safe limits for men are up to four units a day and for women it’s three units (two small glasses of wine).
But it’s not a good idea to drink this much all the time, in fact most experts advise at least two alcohol-free days a week. It’s also good to have at least two days off the booze after a big night out to give your body a fighting chance to recover.

What about alcohol and drugs?

Alcohol and drugs don’t mix. Alcohol increases the effect of sedatives and opiates to the extent that you could go into a coma or stop breathing.
Smoking dope can stop you from throwing up, but vomiting is one of the ways your body tries to prevent alcohol poisoning.
Drinking on top of normal medicine is also be a bad idea because alcohol can increase or reduce the medicine’s effectiveness. Always read the label!

How do I cut down if I’m worried about my drinking?

Ask yourself why you drink. Drinking is part of our culture, but it’s important to remember that you’re in control.
Probably the easiest way to cut down is to alternate a soft drink with each alcoholic drink. Try to avoid drinking in rounds and remember that going to the pub/club is not the only way you can socialise.
If you find it hard to say no when your mates are up for a big session, try to avoid situations where you’re expected to drink.
If you drink less, you’ll be healthier, physically fitter, look better and be able to think more clearly. If this isn’t enough incentive, think of the money you’ll save.