Just 3 Article Submissions
Per Week Is One Of The Most Powerful Ways To Gain SE Traffic, Establish Yourself AND Earn A Great Living. Just Do It!

Home | Health

Explaining Alcoholism...

By: Ed Philips.

Should you be suffering from alcoholism, you may just trick yourself into thinking that you are just consuming alcohol. If the truth is to be known it is alcoholism that is consuming you as well as your income, your energy, your precious time and most of important of all, your health.

Alcoholism means addiction to consuming alcoholic beverages despite the knowledge of their detrimental physical and social consequences. Medics define alcoholism as a disease which disables a person from controlling the urge to take alcohol. Alcoholism, therefore, implies a tendency for compulsive consumption of alcohol and an inability to acknowledge its negative effects.

There is another type of person who although has problems with consuming alcohol, is able to suppress its characteristics and symptoms. You could classify this type of conduct as alcohol abuse, which would imply that while alcohol is consumed in large quantities, the abuser is in some way able to have certain control over its use. We would have to conclude then that an alcohol abuser is not fully dependent on alcohol as is an alcoholic.

According to the estimates of the National Council of Alcoholism and Drug Dependence, around 18 million Americans abuse alcohol. More than 100,000 Americans die of alcohol generated health problems. Half of road accident deaths are caused due to driving under the influence of alcohol.

Even the hardened alcohol drinkers quite often refuse to admit they are addicts. They, therefore, try to drink stealthily. They keep their quota of drinks hidden at unlikely places in home, workplace or cars. Once they start drinking, they find it difficult to control their urge to drink more. They start gulping the liquor greedily ordering 'doubles'.

Their memory begins to fail them as they begin to forget their social commitments and this is medically termed as 'blacking out'. Interest is lost in any pleasurable entertainment or activity as their mind begins to only focus on the next drinking occasion. Irritation is caused if they are unable to get their next dose and they will eventually fall out with the most important people in their lives. Their tolerance to high alcohol levels grows and they end up just drinking more and more in order to feel its effects.

Alcoholism or in other words, a physical dependence on alcohol can be described as a disease that will slowly but surely take over the body. Brain chemicals like gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) will suffer an alteration in balance due to an increased alcohol intake, but although this can help to keep impulsive behaviour under control, the presence of glutamate will only excite our nervous system. Excitable behaviour is also provoked by the increased level of dopamine in the brain. The habit of drinking alcohol will have an effect on the levels of these chemicals in the brain and will just cause the body to crave for more alcohol.