April Is Alcohol Awareness Month

Alcohol is a legal and socially acceptable substance, widely consumed in everyday life. Unfortunately, its prevalence has led to the misconception that it is safe. Alcohol is an addictive drug linked to numerous illnesses and deaths worldwide. If you regularly drink alcohol, you should be aware of how it can impact your physical and mental health – and the progression of alcoholism as a disease.

Understanding How Alcohol Affects Your Body and Brain

Though it may seem harmless in moderation, regular alcohol use has cumulative effects, which often go unnoticed until severe health complications arise. Alcohol’s effects extend to nearly every organ, often causing long-term harm.

• Brain: Chronic alcohol use can damage your brain’s structure and function, leading to cognitive decline and increased dementia risk. Severe cases can result in Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome, a neurological condition caused by vitamin B1 deficiency.
• Liver: Your liver bears the brunt of processing alcohol. However, there is a limit to how much it can eliminate. Over time, heavy consumption can lead to fatty liver disease, hepatitis or cirrhosis – severe and potentially life-threatening conditions.
• Heart: Excessive drinking raises the risk of high blood pressure, irregular heartbeats and cardiomyopathy, weakening your heart’s ability to pump blood.
• Digestive system: Alcohol irritates your stomach lining and makes you more likely to develop ulcers, pancreatitis and gastrointestinal cancer. Earlier this year, U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy issued a warning about the link between alcohol use and cancer.

Alcoholism – America’s Silent Public Health Crisis

Alcoholism is a chronic brain disease, not a moral or psychological failing. It is also one of our nation’s most pressing public health issues. Millions of Americans struggle every year – yet only a fraction seek treatment.

Alcohol use disorder is a progressive illness that develops in stages.

• Problem drinkers may drink in harmful ways or amounts but can modify their habits when given the appropriate information and motivation. In this stage, you might experience isolated consequences, like getting a DUI, without being dependent.
• Heavy drinkers consistently consume large quantities, often through binge drinking or high-intensity drinking. This pattern can harm your health and create a foundation for addiction.
• Alcoholic use disorder manifests in physical and psychological addiction, where the urge to drink overrides your self-control despite adverse consequences. Withdrawal symptoms, increased tolerance, and an inability to stop drinking despite a desire to quit characterize this stage.

How Alcohol Alters Your Brain

By understanding how alcohol use progresses from tolerance to full-fledged dependence, you can start appreciating why addiction is a physical condition as much as a behavioral one.

Alcohol essentially hijacks the brain’s reward and pleasure system by releasing a flood of dopamine. This neurotransmitter creates feelings of euphoria and satisfaction, which reinforces a drinking habit. Over time, routine alcohol consumption will disrupt your natural balance of brain chemicals, making it hard to derive happiness from any other source.

As your alcohol dependence grows, your brain will reduce its natural dopamine production and sensitivity to compensate for the artificially high levels caused by drinking. This shift leads to a high tolerance, where you need larger amounts of alcohol to achieve the same effect. At this point, your brain will struggle to regain its equilibrium if you stop drinking, resulting in withdrawal symptoms that can range from mild discomfort, such as irritability and anxiety, to severe physical and psychological effects, including tremors, hallucinations, and life-threatening seizures. 

Choose a Healthier Future

Alcohol use disorder requires medical supervision and psychological support, as readjusting to sobriety can be exceptionally challenging. Acknowledging that you have a problem you cannot solve alone is an act of resilience and courage.

This Alcohol Awareness Month, take time to reflect on your relationship with alcohol. Frequent blackouts, guilt about your drinking habits, or difficulties carrying out your responsibilities are all red flags that something needs to change. 

Help is available if you rely on alcohol and worry about its impact on your physical or mental health. R&A Therapeutic Partners offers recovery coaching and monitoring to help you deal with the temptations and obstacles that may impede your progress. Our personalized strategies empower you to establish new routines reinforcing your new, alcohol-free lifestyle. Contact us today to learn more about these tools and resources. 

At R&A Therapeutic Partners Raymond Estefania and Ana Moreno specialize in substance use and mental health disorder evaluations, treatment, intervention and therapeutic/educational consulting for clients throughout the greater South Florida area, as well as nationally and internationally. For more resources and information please visit Therapeutic-Partners.com or on Facebook.