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Chapter 21

Alcohol

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Lesson 1

The Health Risks of Alcohol Use

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Alcohol• What do alcohol advertisements show?• Alcohol is…..

– Addictive, physically damaging, often an entry into other drug use

• What is in alcohol?– Ethanol

• The type of alcohol in alcoholic beverages– Can affect brain development in teen years if used

– Fermentation• The chemical action of yeast on sugars

– Water, flavoring, and minerals are mixed with ethanol to make beer, wine, and flavored malt-liquor drinks

– Alcohol can also be processed to make liquors such as vodka or whiskey

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Short-Term Effects of Alcohol

• Alcohol is a Depressant – A drug that slows the central nervous system

• Using alcohol slows reaction time, impairs vision, diminishes judgment

• Intoxication – The state in which the body is poisoned by alcohol or

another substance, and the person’s physical and mental control is significantly reduced

• Alcohol stays in a person’s system until the liver can metabolize it, or break it down

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Short-Term Effects of Alcohol cont.

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Factors that Influence Alcohol’s Effects• Body size

– A smaller person feels the effect of the same amount of alcohol faster than a larger person does

• Gender– Alcohol generally moves into the bloodstream faster in females than

males• Food

– Food in the stomach slows down the passage of alcohol into the bloodstream

• Rate of Intake– If a person drinks alcohol faster than the liver can break it down, the

person becomes intoxicated• Amount

– As the amount of alcohol consumed increases, the level of alcohol in the bloodstream rises

• Medicine– Alcohol can interfere with the effects of medicines, and medicines

can heighten the effects of alcohol

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Alcohol and Drug Interactions

• The body may absorb the drug or alcohol more slowly, increasing the length of time that alcohol or the drug is in the body

• Alcohol use can decrease the effectiveness of some medications, and increase the effectiveness of others

• Enzymes in the body can change some medications into chemicals that can damage the liver or other organs

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Long-Term Effects of Alcohol

• Physical, Mental/Emotional, and Social • Physically:

– Damage to brain cells and a reduction in brain size– Increase in blood pressure, which may lead to a heart

attack or stroke– Build up of fat cells in the liver, which can lead to cell

death– Damage to the digestive lining of the stomach causing

ulcers and cancer of the stomach– Destruction of the pancreas

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More Long-Term Effects of Alcohol Abuse

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Binge Drinking and Alcohol Poisoning• Binge Drinking

– Drinking five or more alcohol drinks at one sitting• Impairs a drinker’s physical mental and physical abilities• Choosing to drink large amounts of alcohol in one session

can be fatal

– It can lead to:

• Alcohol Poisoning– A severe and potentially fatal physical reaction to an

alcohol overdose• Alcohol acts as a depressant on body organs• Involuntary actions such as breathing and the gag reflex that

prevents choking may be impaired• Alcohol is a stomach irritant

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Effects of Alcohol Poisoning• When someone

drinks too much they may pass out

• Is it good to let someone “sleep it off”?

• What happens when in the body when someone is unconscious from drinking too much?

• Symptoms for alcohol poisoning– Mental confusion/stupor– Coma and an inability to be

roused– Vomiting and seizures– Slow respiration– Irregular heart beat– Hypothermia or low body

temperature

*****Call 911 immediately if someone is experiencing any of these symptoms