Alcohol, a serious and overlooked drug, can have many effects on someone’s life, mostly negative ones. Alcohol is more dangerous than people make it out to be and should be used with precautions. Alcohol, used in excess, has many negative effects on one’s life such as health complications, social issues, and emotion problems. Excessive drinking is considered different when comparing men and women, men being more than 4 drinks a day or 14 throughout the week, while women it is defined as 3 drinks a day or 7 per week. Usually, anything exceeding that limit may be considered to be at risk for developing a drinking disorder. Alcohol misuse can be avoided when the awareness of negativity that it causes is taught to adolescents and minors at an early age. Medically, excessive drinking lead to things like having high blood pressure, strokes, more likely to have liver diseases, can affect one’s immune system, brain complications, heart problems, pancreas diseases, and increased risk of cancerous cells. Socially, alcohol can affect one’s family and or friends lives by causing mental complications. There is also a link between violence and excessive drinking. Another social aspect to consider is one’s reputation and how people may view their personality. There are also emotional impacts that alcohol may have on one’s life in relation to excessive drinking such as; affecting one’s sleep pattern, mood changes, more likely to develop depression, anxiety, or psychiatric problems with coordination (Viner). Another problem, dealing with alcohol, is the excessive use or expectation that college students have in relation to drinking. There are events like tailgating or watching sporting events, day partying over the weekends, and functions or formals that happen during college that influence people to drink excessively. Once again, alcohol is a dangerous gateway drug, and when used the wrong way or too much, it can change one’s life negatively. A productive solution in order for individuals to avoid becoming alcoholics is to make sure that adolescents are aware of all the negatives prior to developing this bad habit of drinking. 

One of the most influential ways that alcohol may have negative effects on someone’s life, is that one can develop medical problems within the body. The more common health risks are liver disease, pancreatitis, cancer, ulcers and gastrointestinal problems, immune system dysfunction, brain damage, malnourishments and vitamin deficiencies, osteoporosis, heart disease, and injuries happening when under the influence. The liver is one of the most common organs in the body that will be effected by excessive drinking, which is linked with many studies of alcohol effecting its function by eventually developing an alcoholic fatty liver (Alcohol’s Damaging Effects on the Brain 2004). The more one drinks the more they enable them self to things like alcoholic hepatitis, which is the inflammation of the liver, which then progresses the risk by 40 percent of exposing them self to cirrhosis, which is a liver condition that scars the liver (Haelle 2015). Pancreatitis, a painful inflammation of the pancreas, is also a common disease that can come about from drinking too much alcohol. This type of health risk is more likely to happen to a long term alcoholic of about 5 to 10 years. There are two types of pancreatitis; acute and chronic (Alcohol and Pancreatitis). Acute referring to only lasting a few days and happens when enzymes from alcohol interfere with your body and has minor symptoms like abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, and slight fever. On the other hand, chronic pancreatitis occurs when the pancreas is inflamed because of alcohol and is long-term, therefore it doesn’t work like it’s supposed to anymore. Symptoms of chronic pancreatitis include severe pain, weight loss, foul-smelling feces, pain in the back, and jaundice (Davis 2015). Cancer is a horrid disease that is the uncontrollable division of abnormal cells.  Cancer, the diagnosis that no one wants to hear that they have, is another thing that can be the outcome to excessively drinking alcohol. The different types of cancer that can be developed from alcohol are cancers of the mouth, esophagus, larynx, stomach, liver, colon, rectum, and breast. Alcohol heightens your risks to developing any of these types of cancer (Davis). The immune system being weak is another thing that may be more subject to when drinking excessively, therefore an individual would be making himself more likely to develop diseases and get sick. This happens to the immune system because when alcohol is consumed, it drops the white blood cell count (Davis). Another high risk involving one’s health when abusing alcohol is one is more susceptible to brain damage. When drinking alcohol, one’s body undergoes the altering state of brain receptors and neurotransmitters, therefore this effects one’s thinking ability, emotions, and reactions to different things (Davis). Alcohol is considered a central nervous system depressant, and this means that it causes problems with processing information and decision making (Alcohol’s Damaging Effects on the Brain). Alcohol also effects serotonin and GABA receptors and this may reduce one’s fear, therefore they are more likely to do things that involve taking risk or getting in trouble. Another way that the nervous system is affected by alcohol is that it influences motor coordination and balance, and can cause injuries from falling or running into things (Haelle 2005). Memory is another thing affected by alcohol and can be as serious as developing permanent dementia over long term alcohol abuse periods, which can cause memory disorders, personality changes, and impaired reasoning. It can also make a person “blackout”, or not be able to remember anything that they may have done after excessively drinking (Haelle). Heart problems are another thing that could be obtained from alcohol abuse. Things like high blood pressure, cardiomyopathy, arrhythmias, heart attack, sudden cardiac death, and stroke could be causes by excessive drinking. The heart, being a vital organ, when affected by alcohol is a major health risk because one needs the heart in order to pump the blood throughout the body (Davis). Another thing to consider when alcohol is involved is that one is putting them self at more harm’s way of being in an accident or obtaining an injury. When drinking alcohol excessively one is putting them self in danger when getting in a car, driving a boat, drowning, or even suicide and homicide. Alcohol is the leading cause of most of the injuries that come into the emergency room, caused by carelessness and reckless decisions (Davis). Medically, the effects that alcohol could have on someone’s body should be enough of a reason to avoid alcohol abuse or excessively drinking. Every time one makes the decision to drink they are putting themselves more prone to develop any of these health risks. The more one drinks chronically, the more one is harming the body. Alcohol, when taken in more than able to metabolize, is stored in the bloodstream, therefore alcohol is being circulated throughout the body, which is the major reason why alcohol comes with many health risks. A major factor that can affect one’s probability to developing any of these health risks of alcohol is their age. The younger one is, the more prone one is to develop diseases and health problems because the body itself is not finished developing. This being said, people who start to drink at a young age are 4 times more likely to attain alcoholism and put them self at risk to developing problems (Haelle). Making sure that minors are aware of all the things that alcohol can actually do to the body may affect one’s decision to take up drinking at a young age. 

Drinking alcohol can cause problems socially, such as problems with one’s family, friends, job, and reputing a bad reputation for oneself. Alcoholism has a huge effect on one’s peers. Alcohol causes people to have an altered judgment which causes people to not make the best decisions towards the people that they love. This can happen physically, mentally, or verbally when under the influence and causes divorce of parents, emotional problems to the rest of the family, and other hardships. When a person is under the influence thoughts and decisions are altered and one may misinterpret what the victim is doing or saying. When a child has an alcoholic as their guardian they are more likely to be fearful of their surroundings, have anxiety, and eventually become depressed (Viner). They may also be afraid to make new friends because they are embarrassed of what the friend might think or to invite them over because they never know what could happen. First hand, I can relate to alcohol affecting my life because growing up as a kid being my dad was an alcoholic. When I was about 5 years old, he actually ended up drinking and driving one night, hit a car at his fault, and killed a man. Me being his daughter is a great example of how excessive drinking can influence a person’s family. This had the most effect on my mom having to raise 4 kids without help from the father. He was sentenced to prison for 6 years and me being so young I only remember visiting him and thinking he was an awful person for being there. This whole experience has had a big influence on my life and made me realize that drinking isn’t worth it and it shouldn’t be overlooked. Realizing this at a young age is beneficial because it made me aware of the effect that it has on family’s. The younger a person starts drinking, the more chance that it has to effect family life in the future because being addicted to alcohol comes overtime and only worsens (et al. Davis, Solomon 1986). Abusing alcohol can also affect the types of friendships one may have or even may lose because a virtuous friendship, as I learned in philosophy, is a friendship between good men who are alike in virtue, meaning enjoying to do the same things. When someone becomes addicted to alcohol, they could lose friendships and the respect of friends because of different views. Also, friendships could arise with another substance abuser because the desire to drink, which can end up in bad situations. Either way losing a good friend that has good intentions, or gaining an alcoholic friend will both have negative effects on a person’s social life with friendships. Another negative effect that alcohol can have is on one’s job. Alcohol abuse can lead to absences in the workplace, or just showing up later than expected. This can happen for many reasons like waking up late, waking up to a hangover, staying out late the night before going into work, waking up still drunk, or just losing motivation to go. Excessive drinking may also influence a decrease in one’s work productivity. This means that the full potential of one doing the job decreases and this could be harmful to them self and the company at which they work for. Missed deadlines is another big issue because if one has tasks that are due the next day but instead decide to go out and drink with some friends, they are abandoning their responsibilities. Another effect that alcohol may have in the work place is fighting with colleagues because alcohol heightens one’s mood and may cause something out of the ordinary character. Carelessness is another thing that might be affected by alcohol at work. Alcohol alters one’s perception and it may be to the extreme to where the employee might just stop caring about their job in general. Alcohol will make people do things out of the usual; therefore, misbehaving in public or doing something that regretful. This could build a bad reputation for that person and could potentially affect the social aspect. Alcoholics tend to misbehave at social gatherings like wedding receptions, parties, celebrations, festivals, concerts, sporting events, vacations, functions, and many other social events that involve alcohol during different holidays. Misbehaving at these gatherings or events can have a negative outlook socially, because then people will think differently of that person who did make a fool out of themselves and got too drunk. No one wants to have a bad reputation, and this could be avoided by knowing personal limits when drinking at social gatherings or avoiding drinking generally. 

Controlling alcoholism and then getting through being an alcoholic may seem far to some people, but it is definitely possible. There are many groups and resources in order to help recovering alcoholics. The first step to overcoming alcoholism is admitting to being an alcoholic. With the support of loved ones, this is easily accomplishable. The most effective way to overcome being an alcoholic is going to rehab. At rehab, one is secluded from temptations and are surrounded by people who are in the same position. Another common and effective way to recover from being an alcoholic is A.A, which stands for Alcoholics Anonymous. This is more of a fellowship to connect with other people who have had a drinking problem. During A.A. meetings, individuals will tell their testimony to the members of their group, which is a safe place for them to open up and relate to each other to then lean on each other to get through this phase in life (What is AA?).  In order to avoid becoming an alcoholic in the first place, one should start out drinking at the appropriate age, 21 in the United States, and they should limit themselves to begin with. Limiting intake is a very important part of drinking alcohol because then one is less likely to become addicted to alcohol. Another way to control drinking behaviors is by not drinking when emotional. Also, another way to avoid alcoholism is by not going out too often and not hanging out only with people who are drinkers as well. Drinking excessively is becoming a bigger problem but can be controlled easily and becoming an alcoholic can be avoided. 

 Underage drinking is getting significantly worse than before because teenagers are finding it easier to get their hands on alcohol as the years go on. Alcohol influences underage drinkers the most because their brains aren’t fully developed until early 20’s so they are putting themselves at risk when drinking before the designated drinking age. The part of the brain that this most effects deals with judgement and planning, the hippocampus. Another major effect of underage drinking is that it also has a greater possibility to increase the risk of developing depression. Adolescents learn to rely on alcohol when they are emotional and therefore whenever they feel sad they will take up drinking in order to temporarily cure their pain (TEDxTalks). Alcohol influences underage drinkers to do things that aren’t regularly like themselves such as; criminal behavior or causing any types of problems. Underage drinking is becoming a problem but can be avoided by a few different ways depending on the severity, that were previously discussed when talking about the control of alcoholic behaviors (et. al. Kormo, Toomey 2002). 

Alcohol consumption of minors is becoming a bigger deal as the years go on. Minors are now possessing fake ID’s and are finding it easier to get hands on alcohol. At fraternity events, alcohol is handed out freely, with no form of identification confirming that one is of age, making adolescents more prone to drink alcohol, especially in college. For this to be controlled, there will be to be law enforcers at these parties and events to ID and make sure that everyone is of age to be drinking. A few potential ways that are good for not exposing minors to alcohol would be teaching kids while in school to gear away from forming alcoholic habits, parents having supervision and effective discipline, and lessening the advertisement of alcoholic beverages. The school’s involvement in this situation is important because that’s where students spend most of the adolescence at. The school should be sure to bring attention to the things that alcohol can do to one’s life and should teach students to prevent the use of alcohol. Parents play a huge role in the control of alcoholism because if a child is disciplined with positive reinforcement, the child is more likely to follow the rules that are established, legal and parental. Advertisements can also play a role in the likelihood for a minor to consume alcohol because advertisers make it look enjoyable and harmless without displaying any negative effects (et. al. Kormo, Toomey). 

Before one drinks, consideration should be intact that alcohol comes with many cons. Alcohol is proven to affect one’s health, mentality, and the social aspects of life. A way to prevent becoming an alcoholic is by starting to obtain knowledge while growing up and knowing the negative effects that alcohol has on the body, mind, and life in general at a young age. People turn to alcohol when things in life aren’t going the way planned and people should start to do other activities instead of alcohol intake. Another way to prevent becoming an alcoholic is by being surrounded by people who care and love for that person. Being educated on the subject of alcoholism is an important step to preventing alcohol abuse because a well-educated person is more likely to avoid the use of alcohol because knowing what it can do to one’s life can change the outlook of alcohol and one will be more likely to disregard alcohol. Next time temptation is near, be sure to turn the other way and find something that is enjoyable and healthy. 

 