Alcohol and the heart
Alcohol and
the law
Buying alcohol is legal if you are over 18.
If anyone under 18 buys alcohol, they are breaking the law.
Why do people drink?
People drink for loads of reasons. They drink to feel relaxed, to
have a laugh, feel more sociable, more attractive, and less in
control. Young people quite often drink just because their mates
do, or because they want to feel more grown up. The thing is, young
people are not used to alcohol and what it does to them, so they
quite often drink dangerous amounts.
Why can alcohol be a problem?
Drinking can cause a lot of problems. Some young people drink too
much and they get alcohol poisoning. This is when there is so much
alcohol in your body you can fall unconscious. Your breathing can
be affected too, which means there’s a risk of choking to
death.
Also, people can make bad choices when
they are drunk which means you could get in trouble with the
police, or risk STIs or an unplanned pregnancy.
People find that drinking can affect
their school work or stop them being able to hold down a job. Some
people start to feel that they can’t cope with life without
drinking, so they become dependent on alcohol.
Isn’t red wine good for your heart though?
Red wine is not medicine. For older people there are
some benefits from drinking a small amount of red wine. But for
younger people, although it shouldn’t do any harm in small amounts,
red wine won’t protect the heart.
What can alcohol do to your heart and
circulation?
Drinking alcohol quite often can cause your blood pressure to go up
too high, and this can cause your heart muscle to become
bigger and damaged. It can trigger abnormal heart rhythms too.
What can alcohol do to the rest of your
body?
- It is a depressant so it can make you
feel very low
- It can destroy brain cells
- It can increase the risk of getting
breast cancer and cancer of the liver
- It can cause permanent liver damage
- It can cause stomach and intestinal
ulcers, and internal bleeding.
How does alcohol affect people’s
looks?
- Putting on
weight
Drinking can make you put on weight. Alcohol
is high in calories, and alcoholic drinks often have a lot of sugar
in too.
Excess calories that aren’t burned get stored in the body as fat,
even though the drink may not have any fat in it
Small amounts of alcohol can increase your appetite too, which can
make you eat more and put on weight.
- Skin
Drinking alcohol can dehydrate you, especially if
you drink a lot. Being dehydrated makes your skin look dry and
dull. Heavy drinking can also cause red blotches, make your nose
red, and give you a red face.
Safety risks
People sometimes take more risks when they have drunk alcohol.
Drinking affects judgement so people don’t always know when to
stop. It is easy to get carried away, and do things that you
wouldn’t normally, like not using a condom when you have sex, or
getting in someone’s car that you only met that night.
People get into fights and sometimes have accidents like falling
off high buildings, or onto railway lines because their brain is
affected by the alcohol. There is even more of a danger if they
have taken drugs as well.
When people drink they have slower
reaction times. This is why drinking and driving is dangerous
because people think they’re fine but they aren’t actually able to
drive safely.
Young people who drink too much can end
up in hospital with alcohol poisoning. Sometimes they have to have
their stomach pumped. Every year young people die from drinking too
much. Often this is because they choke to death on their own vomit
in their sleep.
If you decide to drink alcohol
If you decide to drink, try not to drink too
much.
Follow these tips so that you don’t end up in an embarrassing or
dangerous situation:
- Some drinks are a lot stronger than
others – try and go for drinks that have a lower percentage of
alcohol in them. The alcohol percentage is always on the label
- Remember, alcohol takes a while to have
an effect so don’t drink loads of drinks in a row. Give it a while
to see how you feel
- Drink plenty of water when you drink
alcohol
- Don’t try and drink as much as other
people. Loads of people lie about how much they drink
anyway
- Never take drinks off people you don’t
know, or leave your drink sitting around while you are off dancing
or in the toilet. There have been cases of people putting drugs in
someone else’s drinks.
Find more info on drinking, looking after
drunk mates and whole load of other useful stuff at www.thesite.org.uk
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