Cindy’s Other Blog

Although smoking is best known for causing lung cancer, this habit is also among the biggest threats to your skin. Next to sun and chemicals, tobacco is one of the major accelerators of your skin natural aging process, and it is thought to be one of the fastest acting threats. Young people start showing signs of early skin aging after as little as 10 years of smoking. If you think this is a long period of time, you should keep in mind that many young people start smoking in their teen years (16-19 year olds) and are still below 30 when the first signs appear. Smoking causes the narrowing of blood vessels throughout your body, including those that supply the outermost layers of the skin with oxygen and nutrients. Thus, your skin is slowly starved of vital oxygen and other substances, such as immunity-boosting Vitamin A. Alcohol has a similar effect by destroying the body supply of Vitamin A. This will lower the role of skin as the first line of defense against bacteria and infections.

As an addictive substance, alcohol can be as bad as drugs. Alcohol abuse and addiction, often referred in general terms as alcoholism, is a common problem in many communities, able to cut across economic and social barriers. It also produces a physical dependence and when it does, it becomes a chronic disease. The use of too much alcohol, like drugs, can also increase tolerance and produce withdrawal symptoms. Like drugs, alcoholism can lead to family, health and social problems. It’s not uncommon for alcoholics to destroy family and social relationships, lose their jobs or turn to illegal activities in order to support their habit. It also causes health problems that are potentially life threatening, such as liver cirrhosis and cancer. The danger of alcohol: Alcohol affects different people in different ways, and for some that may be trouble. Some individuals, for example, are more prone to suffer from the effects of alcohol compared to others who drink the same amount. However, the danger of using alcohol cannot be emphasized enough. The devastating effect of alcoholism on families and society is well documented and recognized.

Stress can be seen from two perspectives. There is the subjective feeling of the individual that is experiencing the stress and the underlying physiological and psychological changes that are going on inside that persons body. From a subjective perspective consuming alcohol is often seen as a way to reduce stress but some studies have shown that the stress responses in the body are in fact increased when alcohol is taken. This article will discuss stress and the affect that alcohol has on the body. Most people have ‘let off a bit of steam’ on Friday night at the end of a long working week. Quite often this involves drinking alcohol. Alcohol is thought to reduce inhibitions and generally allow the person to be themselves. This is seen as a good way to relieve stress and take the persons mind off troubles at work or problems with relationships. But drinking too much alcohol or doing it too frequently is believed to actually increase the bodies responses to stress.

Alcohol can also lead to: Dementia - memory loss, rather like Alzheimer’s dementia. Psychosis - long- term drinkers can start to hear voices. Dependence - if you stop drinking, you get withdrawal symptoms such as shaking, nervousness and (sometimes) seeing things that aren’t there. Suicide - 40% of men who try to kill themselves have had a long- standing alcohol problem. - 70% of those who succeed in killing themselves have drunk alcohol before doing so. What is the connection between depression and alcohol? We know that there is a connection - self-harm and suicide are much more common in people with alcohol problems.

Drinking has become a habit when you or a loved one uses alcohol to relieve anxiety, relax or to get to sleep. The use of alcohol has become a habit if you consistently drink so that you will feel more comfortable in social situations. When drinking is used as a way to avoid thinking about unpleasant or sad situations, it may have become a habit. The same is true if you spend quite a bit of time socializing with other drinkers. There may come a time when the consumption of alcohol begins to take over your life. One sign that this is happening is if you worry about having enough alcohol for the evening or the weekend. If you hide alcohol or purchase it at various stores so that people won’t know how much alcohol you are consuming you may have reached the point of having alcohol take over your life. When you are at a social gathering do you try to avoid letting others know how much alcohol you are drinking? Do you attempt to get extra drinks and hope that others will not see you doing it?

It may be that many people do not have a good understanding of alcoholism. In this article you will find information about what alcoholism is and what can be done to treat it. Another definition of alcoholism is alcohol dependence. Alcoholism is a disease that is characterized by four symptoms. The first symptom is a craving or strong or need to drink. The second symptom is the loss of control. This is when a person can not stop drinking once drinking has begun. The third symptom of alcoholism is physical dependence. After a person has stopped drinking they experience nausea, anxiety, shakiness or sweating. The fourth symptom is tolerance or the need to drink more and more alcohol to get high. There are people who do not understand that alcoholism is a disease. These people think that a person could stop drinking if they really wanted to or had more self-control. When a person is an alcoholic their craving for alcohol can be as strong as the need for food or water.

Just ask yourself these four quick questions. 1 - Is your drinking habit getting on your spouse’s nerves? 2 - Do you feel that your family is slowly drifting away from you? 3 - Is your life moving in a direction that you otherwise don’t want to go? 4 - Are you one of the millions of people suffering from alcoholism? Often times it is difficult to accept the fact that one is already suffering from the symptoms of alcoholism. Sometimes this starts out as light indulging with a group of friends. Sometimes work dictates the occasion of alcohol consumption, maybe a few shots of alcohol with important clients, but sometimes this innocent indulging can progress into chronic bouts of heavy alcohol drinking and before you can say no to another drink you are already deep into the habit. An alcoholic can neither refrain from drinking nor control the amount of alcohol he consumes. Once the addiction has set in, physical and psychological dependency on alcohol are expected. There is an estimated 5.6 million people in the United States alone that are alcoholics and about one fourth of them are suffering from serious complications.