How does alcohol it affect your health

Alcohol is both a blessing and a curse, a poison and a food, a 'pick-me-up' and a 'lay-me-down', both an appetite stimulator and a destroyer; it is truly a mass of contradictions.

The very name whiskey originates from the ancient Gaelic word "usquebrugh"—water of life! Over 65 per cent of the United States population (more than 100 million Americans) drink alcoholic beverages. Of these, 76 per cent are men and 24 per cent are women. The occasional drinkers total 48 per cent; 27 per cent of men and 8 per cent of women are regular drinkers—that is, people who drink moderately or heavily at least three times a week. There are over 3 million heavy, constant drinkers, and over 750,000 alcoholics or addicts of "hard liquor".

Billions of dollars are spent each year on alcohol in the U.S.A. alone, more than is spent by Americans for their own health and medical care. All figures show the growing increase in the drink¬ing habit as part of life and social custom in our country.

Let us now consider briefly some of the main systems of the body and the effects of alcoholic damage upon them.

Alcohol can be harmful to the emotions and the mind. Since we began this discussion with the beneficial effects of alco¬hol on the psychic and mental processes, let us now see what the pharmacologists like Sollman find in their texts on the subject.
The habitual, even moderate, use of alcohol (not even to the point of intoxication) induces relaxation, the easing of strain (tension), of maladjustments, of excessive inhibitions, indeed euphoria, all of which may be beneficial. But it also leads to diminished efficiency, especially in accuracy, im¬paired judgment, increased liability to auto accidents, loss of self-reliance, perhaps diminished resistance to disease, danger of excesses, higher incidence of venereal disease and general disrespect for law and order.

In answer to the popular notion that alcohol is a "stimulant," the principle that alcohol is actually a depressant was first advanced in 1883 by the noted German pharmacologist, Schmeideberg. The following quotation is from the American translation by Doctors R. N. Harger, H. R. Hulpieu and G. N. Thompson:
The subjective and objective states and manifestations, from which alcoholic drinks are considered stimulants, are usually attributed to the stimulating effect of the alcohol. One refers to the manifestations which we observe under these conditions, namely to certain exaltations of the psychic functions resulting in loud and profuse speech, and vivacious acts, also to accelerated pulse rate, engorgement and flush¬ing of the body surface and the face, and a sensation of increased warmth. However, a closer consideration of these manifestations shows that they are the results of a beginning paralysis of certain parts of the brain, (italics mine)!

Since this finding was first expressed in 1883, the idea that alcohol acts as a stimulant to the nervous system has been dis¬proved in a host of pharmacological laboratories by countless scientists.

To continue:
In the psychic sphere there is first lost the finer grades of attention, judgment, reflection, and ability to comprehend. This serves to explain the typical behaviour of persons under the influence of alcoholic drinks. The soldier becomes more courageous since he observes the danger less, and reflects upon it less. The speaker is not tormented and in-fluenced by the proximity of the public; he, therefore, speaks freer and with more animation. One's self-appraisal rises greatly. Often one is astounded at the ease with which he expresses his thoughts and with the keeness of his judgment in matters which are beyond his mental sphere when sober, and is later ashamed of this delusion. The drunken indi¬vidual attributes to himself great muscular strength and wastes this through unaccustomed and useless exhibits of strength without thinking of the harm which may ensue, while the sober person willingly spares his strength.

This conclusion is now verified and accepted by all present-day pharmaceutical experts in the field of medicine and drugs. Even the public is thoroughly versed in the excessive effects of alcohol in causing poor or double vision, the unsteady, clumsy gait, the impairment of muscular coordination, the delayed reaction time, and the loss of normal judgment and self-control.