The Effect of Alcohol on the Human Body - Essay Example

AGING The current report looks at how alcohol affects the body and the effects which alcoholism tends to have on people, particularly in relation to aging. Long term and short term effects of alcohol on the human body and mind are considered, including how people become alcoholics, and a consideration of how to stop alcoholism. Looking at the alcoholism in terms of biological aging, which reduces the differentiation of primary and secondary aging to point out a general decrease in muscular and cardiovascular fitness through age groups, one can see signs of increasing risks. Alcohol is particularly hard on the stomach, pancreas, and liver. Some elderly individuals have less incidence of decreased fitness in these areas than other individuals. In turn, some other older or elderly individuals show more decreases in cardiovascular fitness than representatives of the older mature years. As clients grow older, they are also at a greater risk to sustain injuries from repeated use of alcohol. However, across all age groups, those clients who have higher activity levels (walking, exercising) tend to have lower blood pressure, better muscle fitness and coordination, and more acceptable insulin levels. In determining what keeps some individuals healthy, it must be remembered that diet is important to consider as well as exercise. “Those who often drink too much run a high risk of suffering physical damage. The level of damage depends on the amount. The organs that are used for the absorption and digestion of alcohol, like the stomach, the liver and the pancreas, are vulnerable. The brain also suffers from continuous abuse.” (Long, 2009). Alcohol affects the body in many ways. There are many considerations of aging, the human body, and how alcoholism affects it; that is, the biorhythmic and other systems, including the respiratory system and the neurological system, can be looked at from the perspective of how alcohol abuse affects the elderly person in terms of looking at what makes them crave alcohol and engage in the cyclical and often devastating behavior of addiction. Some authors have hypothesized that this cycle of abuse “is the expression of internal operational models of attachment, composed of a set of conscious and unconscious rules, needed in the organization of relevant information for attachment. To modulate the use of this information, the operational models govern emotions, attention, memory, cognitive processes and, ultimately, behavior” (Katz, 2005). This focuses on the biological subsystem in its primary implications, which could also be a trigger for increased chemical dependency. One of the more common addictions associated with this personality however is that of alcohol abuse (whatever the medium) rather than other equally serious addictions that other people have such as addictions to gambling or smoking. Generally when one is talking about addiction it refers to a limited set of specifics that define the addiction, but the idea of the addictive personality is to see who may be predisposed to be addicted to various activities or things. Addiction is also increasingly accepted and tolerated in society so that many activities and things which may have not been considered addictive in the past, such as food, exercise, work, and relationships, are now also accepted increasingly as valid addictions. Many experts according to one source try to narrow down the definition of an addictive personality, therefore, by dividing addictive behavior into five conceptual categories: patterns, habits, compulsions, impulse control disorders, and physical addictions (the person cannot live without it) (Katz, 2005). Alcohol abuse among the elderly is a relevant and important topic because the elderly are a growing population in the US today, and the US as a nation has a tendency to treat its elders worse than in some other cultures. As more so called baby boomers grow in the US, in terms of the popualtion of elders, “The sheer size of this population cohort will mean that the size of potential problems will grow. Moreover, there is some suggestion that the baby-boom generation is more likely than earlier generations to have been exposed to drug and alcohol use and may drink or consume alcohol at greater rates after age 65 (Levin & Kruger, 2000; Marks, 2002; Ondus, et al.)” (Substance, 2002). This may not be true across all substances; it is true that there was more drug experimentation in this generation, but other substances such as alcohol, it must be remembered, are also addictive. Alcohol abuse affects the elderly particularly hard because its etiology is over the lifespan, and they likely have developed risk factors due to previous abuse of substances. Obviously the elderly can’t turn back the clock to reduce their risk factors. But they can monitor their lifestyle and cut back on those things that they can change, just as anyone else in any other age group can modify these things. Some of the most important risk factors for an event in which an elderly alcohol abuser re-abuses which people can look for include pre-existing other conditions like addictive personality disorder, family history, a possible genetic or congenital link in this manner, and alcohol abuse in the past; as well as other factors that can be controlled by lifestyle change like the ability to change risk addictions from substances like cigarette smoking, heavy drinking, eating lots of unhealthy food, or alcohol abuse problems including narcotic and other drug use. If a person has some of these abovementioned factors that they can change, and they are over the age of sixty five, it is in their best interest to try to reverse some of these risk factors of abusing alcohol. This is not to say, however, that as mentioned above, it is not also the need of younger people to watch out for some of these same risk factors. This is not just because things like heavy drinking and smoking are dangerous for other health problems as well, but also because a statistically significant percentage of those having abuse problems are young. “Substance use, abuse, and dependence are elusive constructs when it comes to assessing problem behavior among individuals who are elderly (defined as individuals over the age of 65). While it is clear that drug and alcohol use, abuse, and dependence occur among this age cohort, the extent, types and outcome of use, abuse, and dependence are speculative, at best” (Substance, 2002). This is a problem in specifically defining the etiology, because of a lack of cohesive information about both alcohol abusers and the elderly, rather than as these conditions considered separately. Alcohol are a potential problem for elderly individuals who lack structured activity in their lives, and offer a counter-productive solution that often results in social entropy and other serious problems that compromise the individual’s future as a productive member of society. Alcohol are also often correlated with other typified negative behavior patterns, as being around alcohol is seen to increase the likelihood of being around other sources of crime. Alcohol also generally tend to lead towards more alcohol, and elderly individuals that begin with an experiment or an attempt to ease chronic pain often wind up finding that their social life and what otherwise could have been community life is now centered around filling a personal need, often to the exclusion of productive relationships with family and peers. Those elderly individuals who turn to alcohol often suffer from decreased social contacts and may exhibit poor work achievement and a decreased sense of interest in the positive contributions engendered by positive and social aspects of their lives, which generally seek to expand rather than narrow horizons. REFERENCE Katz, E. (2005). Cognitive ability as a factor in engagement in drug abuse treatment American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse. Substance abuse and the elderly (2002) http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0825/is_2_69/ai_102024782 Long term alcohol abuse (2009). http://www.web4health.info/en/answers/add-alcohol-longrun.htm Read More