Get help for halting your drinking problem | Self Improvement

By DanFeildman
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The overuse or abuse of alcohol (alcoholism) or other drugs is called substance abuse. It is common and costly. It can cause or worsen many medical problems and destroy families and lives. Alcohol abuse causes over 100,000 deaths in the United States and Canada each year. It is the drug most commonly abused by children ages 12 to 17. Alcohol-related motor vehicle accidents are the leading cause of death in teenagers. People who drink alcohol are more likely to engage in high-risk sexual behavior, have poor grades or job performance, use tobacco products, and experiment with illegal drugs. Alcohol and drug use may be an unconscious attempt at self-treatment for another problem, such as depression. You have an alcohol problem if your use of alcohol interferes with your health or daily living. You develop alcoholism if you physically or emotionally depend on alcohol to get you through your day.

Is alcohol a problem for me? You have a "drinking problem" when drinking causes problems in your life or health. Drinking alcohol affects your judgment, energy level, work performance and health. Even small amounts of alcohol may be a problem if you: Have any short- or long-term health problems, Are taking medicines (even over-the-counter or herbal medicines), Have people in your family who have a problem with alcohol, Have had problems in your life or health because of alcohol, Feel down or depressed.

students may choose to engage in activities like funneling and binge drinking or drinking games like beer pong and flip cups. Making decisions about alcohol can be crucial in a student's first year. According to a 2002 college task force report to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, some first-year students are among those who drink the most in college.

There are approximately 10 million alcoholics in the United States. On top of this staggering figure you can also add 20 million alcohol abusers. Most of these alcohol abusers are teens and college students. Figures show that 2 out of 3 adults use alcohol. It has been determined that over half of all suicides, accidental deaths and homicides are related to alcohol. More than 10,000 young people were killed and 40,000 more are injured annually in accidents that involve drinking and driving. As you can see the cost of using alcohol is high and these are just the human costs. Let's also add the cost of productivity and health expenses that occur because of alcohol addiction and abuse. It happens without warning. It creeps into your life and all of a sudden, you're hooked. At first you're the life of the party, and later you're the drunk of the party. When you're young, twenties and thirties, your body can handle all the booze, no problem. But mentally it impairs the way you view and feel the world around you.

Most of the time, alcoholics don't know that alcohol has taken hold of their life. This is called the denial stage. Alcoholics feel that if they can get up and go to work everyday, even though secretly they have an excruciating headache, they don't have a problem. But what keeps the alcoholic going throughout the workday is in knowing that after work, they'll have those highballs or beers, which will in fact, make them feel like their old self again. The problem is, that's not our old self, but our new old self on alcohol. You see, alcohol changes the person we are inside, not only does alcohol, with time, rot our insides, but it rots what comes from within us. What we do, how we treat others, and our spirituality. The potential to be a whole person has been put on hold because of alcohol. The booze stunts the mental capacities and impairs the ability to see the world clearly enough to get passed the weakness and mistakes we make in life.

The falling-down phase of being drunk. It is about the alcohol level of 0,15 g/100ml the cerebellum becomes affected and keeping your balance could become difficult. With a bit of luck, your friends would by this time have lain you on the ground somewhere safe. The down-and-out phase of being drunk. We hope you are lying down in a safe place, because at this stage the wave is crashing at 0,25 g/100ml over your diencephalon and the mesencephalon (midbrain). You become tired and very unsteady - you are now probably out for the count. You start shaking and you vomit. Maybe your reflexes will not be so badly suppressed that you cannot protect your airways, otherwise you could inhale your own vomit and die. Your consciousness is now suppressed, and you may be comatose.

Consuming alcohol on a regular basis also becomes a habit after a while, just like driving down a familiar road. If there is a problem, or a social setting that calls for alcohol, you may be grabbing that bottle of beer or glass of wine without even thinking about it. Once you get in the habit of drinking alcohol on a more or less regular basis, your body gets used to the alcohol in the blood stream and reacts with withdrawal symptoms when you stop drinking. These withdrawal symptoms can range from mild to severe.

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Having a hard time getting rid of the drinking problem? With this new report that will aid you stay sober

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