Effects of Alcohol on Human Body

Alcohol is a commonly used depressant drug. When ingested, it affects the entire body system in various ways. We shall examine how the reproductive and cardiovascular systems are affected amongst others.

Cardiovascular System and Alcohol

Increased HDL

The presence of alcohol in the bloodstream results in higher levels of high density lipo-proteins. These valuable molecules are responsible for moping up fats and low density lipo-proteins from the bloodstream. Critical function is aided as alcohol actually increases the transport rates of apolipoproteins A-1 and A-11. This results in more efficiency in the manufacture of HDL and results in its abundance.

Dilated cardiomyopathy

Abusing alcohol over a long time can weaken the heart muscle. Cardiac muscle activity is inhibited by alcohol. Continued abuse causes free radical damage and prevents protein synthesis. The effect of this behaviour is a weakening the heart walls and thereby causing dilated cardiomyopathy. Symptoms include waking up to urinate at night, having heart palpitations and feeling uncharacteristically weak among others. It is very dangerous and can lead to complete heart failure and affect other major organs.

Effects of Alcohol

High Blood Pressure

Overconsumption of alcohol can put the body under stress. The body goes into fight or flight mode, releasing hormone cortisol. This causes non-critical body functions to slow or shut-down. It also causes arteries to constrict and increasing the pressure within the blood vessels.

Arrhythmia

As mentioned before, ethanol weakens the heart muscle. This can result in the heart beating too fast or with an irregular beat. Neither is good. If left to continue, they weaken the heart and increase the possibility of chronic cardiovascular diseases like heart attacks and strokes.

Reproductive System

Erectile Dysfunction

An erection starts with receiving and reacting to sexual stimuli. Alcohol interferes with many of the processes necessary to creating and sustaining an erection. A psychoactive drug, it may interfere with a person’s perception of what is desirable. It also interferes and slows with the nervous communication with the gametes. Constricted arteries and blood vessels prevent the rush of blood required to create and sustain an erection.

Hypogonadism

Alcohol is toxic to the gonads. It damages the endocrine system. Endocrine organs become less effeicient the longer alcohol is consumed and with excessive abuse, these organs shrink and atrophy. In men the testes become less active. Production of the main male sex hormone, testerstorone is impaired while in women, similar effects are experienced with oestrogen and the ovary. This depressant drug also impairs the other sex organs that regulate sex hormone production. Hormone balance is disrupted in both men and women making it hard to maintain fertility.

Amennorehea/Infertility

Chonic and sustained alcohol use is related to infertility. The body, unable to maintain the delicate mix of hormonal balance, becomes unable to produce gametes. Ovarian function in a depressed state cannot maintain a regular monthly menstrual cycle where eggs mature and are released for fertilisation. Testes on the other hand do not produce the numbers and quality of sperm required for successful impregnation. Apermatozoa damaged by alcoholic overuse tend to be mis-shapen, have low motility or simply not many enough. All of the above are classic signs of male and female infertility that can be by alcoholism.

Spontaneous Abortion

Alcoholic pregnant women may go through a spontaneous abortion. A body under alcohol-induced stress is unlikely to successfully bear a pregnancy to term. Most of the symptoms do indeed get worse – high blood pressure, impaired endocrine function etc. may all work to create an uninhabitable environment in a woman’s body. The growing and unmet, nutritional and organ support needs result in a spontaneous abortion.

Other Effects

Osteonecrosis

Over prolonged abuse of the alcohol has been known to reduce the blood supply to skeletal tissue. As living bones are malnourished and unable to replenish the old worn out edges, they die and become brittle. Of course this effect can compounded by the loss of bone density as one grows significantly. The result is weak, fragile bones that are prone to breakage. The thigh bone is particularly prone to such damage often resulting in a condition known as avascular necrosis of femoral head.

Alcoholic myopathy

Muscle fibres of all kinds have their functions impaired by alcohol presence in the bloodstream. Fast twitching fibres are the first to be affected. Users may report a feeling of weakness and tiredness perfroming simple tasks. Over long periods, the slow – twitch fibres get affected and result in a general feeling of fatigue. The muscles perform at a fraction of their normal capacity for strength, flexibility etc.

Liver-Diseases

Fetal Alcoholic Syndrome

Babies who have ingested alcohol through the uterus may be born weighing a fraction of their normal counterparts. They are also low in meeting their developmental milestones for their age group. Activities such as talking, motor functions, holding their heads upright and saying their first words are more likely to be delayed in people born with this syndrome.

Avascular necrosis of femoral heads

Alcohol’s effect on the cardiovascular system: arythmia, high blood pressure and raising levels of good fats create a mixed picture. Perhaps the trick in balancing the risk/reward for heart health scale lies in moderation and never exceeding the recommended daily limits. In the endocrine system however, there are fewer redeeming effects of alcohol with fertility and related functions being the most affected.