Alcohol – Alcohol Coach.com

Archive for the Alcohol Category

Causes and Risk Factors of Alcoholism

By Coach | Filed in Alcohol, Alcoholism, Heavy Drinking

Alcohol addiction and physical reliance on alcohol occurs slowly.

Over time, drinking alcohol changes the balance of a few chemicals in your mind, like gamma-amino butyric acid (GABA), which reduces impulsiveness, as well as glutamate, which excites nervous system. Alcohol even raises the level of dopamine in the mind, which is linked with the agreeable features of drinking alcohol. Extreme, long-term drinking could increase or deplete the levels of a few of these chemicals, making your body to desire for alcohol to reinstate good feelings or to keep away from the negative feelings.

Other factors could lead to unnecessary drinking which adds to the addiction procedure. These comprise:

Genetics: Some genetic factors might cause an individual to be susceptible to alcoholism or additional addictions.
Emotional state: High level of anxiety, stress or emotional ache can direct some individuals to drink alcohol to chunk out the disorder. Certain stress hormones could be linked with alcoholism.
Psychological factors: Having low confidence or despair might make you more possible to abuse alcohol. Having a close partner or friends who drink frequently however who not abuse alcohol might be able to endorse extreme drinking on your fraction. It might be hard for you to distance yourself from these "enablers" or in any case from their drinking habits.
Cultural and social factors: The stunning way that drinking alcohol is represented in publicity and in media might send the message that it is OK to drink extremely.

Risk factors

Stable drinking over time could produce a physical reliance on alcohol. Drinking over 15 drinks per week for men or 12 drinks in a week for women augments the risk of rising confidence on alcohol. Though, drinking by itself is only one of the peril factors that add to alcoholism. Additional risk factors comprise:

Age: People who start drinking at an early age by age 16 or earlier are at a high danger of alcohol reliance or abuse.
Genetics: Your hereditary makeup might augment your danger of alcohol need.
Sex: Men are more probably to turn out to be needy on or neglect alcohol than are women.
Family history: The danger of alcoholism is high for citizens who had a parent or parents who abused alcohol.
Emotional disorders: Being harshly unhappy or having anxiety places you at a larger risk of abusing alcohol. Adults with concentration deficit/hyperactivity chaos also might be more probably to turn out to be reliant on alcohol.

Although a lot of people imagine otherwise, alcoholism is treatable disease. Medications, self-help and counseling groups are amongst the therapies which can give continuing support to facilitate you improve from alcoholism.

Article Source: About the Author; Dennis Draking

28% of Kids Exposed to Alcoholism

By Coach | Filed in Alcohol, Alcoholism, Psychological

One in four children exposed to family alcohol abuse or alcoholism

A study in the January 2000 issue of the American Journal of Public Health reports that approximately one in four U.S. children (19 million children or 28.6 percent of children 0-17 years) is exposed at some time before age 18 to family alcohol dependence (alcoholism), alcohol abuse, or both.

"The design and methods of today¹s report provide the most precise estimate to date of children affected by family alcohol problems," said Enoch Gordis, M.D., Director, National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. "Given the prevalence of alcohol abuse and alcoholism in the U.S. adult population, however, the number of exposed children shocks but regrettably does not surprise."

Estimated adult alcohol use disorders (alcohol abuse and alcoholism) and children exposed to those disorders were based on a survey of 42,862 people conducted in conjunction with the census.

Researchers used the Alcohol Use Disorders and Associated Disabilities Interview Schedule (AUDADIS) to assess the presence of alcohol dependence characterized by;

impaired control over drinking,
tolerance,
withdrawal syndrome when alcohol is removed,
neglect of normal activities for drinking, and
continued drinking despite recurrent related physical or psychological problems)
and alcohol abuse; characterized by clinically significant impairment or distress that does not entail physical dependence) according to standard diagnostic criteria.

NIAAA earlier reported that 7.1 percent of American adults (14 million persons aged 18 and older) met standard diagnostic criteria for alcohol dependence or alcohol abuse.

Approximately 18.2 percent of adults were estimated to experience an episode of alcohol abuse or dependence at some time during their lives.

Research has shown that families with an alcoholic member live in environments that are disorganized and unstable. Children of alcoholics may be neglected or abused and frequently face economic hardship and social isolation. They also are vulnerable to psychopathology and medical problems, including an increased risk for themselves developing alcohol abuse or alcohol alcoholism.

According to Dr. Gordis, "These findings once again call attention to the enormous impact of alcohol in our country and the need to confront its personal, social, health, and economic consequences head on."

From a press release at EurekAlert

Clergy Vital For Alcohol Abusers

By Coach | Filed in Alcohol, Alcoholism, Heavy Drinking

People talk to clergy about alcohol abuse

Majority of those who used services from clergy also used professional services at some point

Persons with alcohol problems are finding comfort in speaking about their situation to clergy, a new study shows.

Among 1,910 people with any alcohol-related problems, 14.7% said they used clergy services. The study also indicates the majority of those who used services from clergy also used professional services at some point; only 0.5% used clergy services exclusively for their alcohol use-related problem.

Although professional services are used more commonly, these findings show that clergy services are an important part of the overall system of care for persons with alcohol problems.

Researchers sought to examine the prevalence of use of clergy services among those adults who received help for an alcohol use problem in the United States, as well as characteristics and correlates of individuals with alcohol-related problems who used clergy services compared to individuals who used other types of services. Researchers also examined the degree to which individuals who receive help from the clergy receive other types of services as well.

The factors that were associated with an increased likelihood of clergy service used included

being Black, (although whites were not excluded)
aged 35-54 years,
a lifetime history of alcohol abuse and dependence,
major depressive disorder and
personality disorder, according to the data from the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions.

Individuals who met criteria for alcohol dependence (alcoholism) were more likely to have used clergy services for alcohol use-related problems than individuals who never met this criteria or who only met criteria for alcohol abuse.

"This may in part reflect the fact that individuals who meet criteria for alcohol abuse by definition have experienced legal, occupational, and/or social problems due to their alcohol consumption, and may be more likely to enter treatment through the legal system, employee assistance programs, or social services," says lead author Amy Bohnert, Ph.D.

What makes ministers, priests and rabbis ideal are they are involved in their communities, know their congregants well, and see them on a regular basis, researchers say.

"Clergy are in a unique position to notice changes in behavior over time," says Brian Perron. "Their roles as senior leaders of churches, their embodiment of important tenants of their faiths, and their formal roles as caregivers of their congregations also lend clergy considerable credibility, particularly within African American communities. Clergy are often seen as being deeply committed to their congregants and willing to honor desires for confidentiality."

Article: The American Journal on Addictions, Volume 19, Issue 4 (p 345-351) From a press release at Eurekalert

Addictions counselor explains ‘substance abuse continuum’

By Coach | Filed in Addiction, Alcohol, Alcohol Abuse, Alcoholism, Heavy Drinking

Carter explained the “substance abuse continuum,” which outlines varying stages of alcohol addiction, and how individuals in those stages respond to negative consequences, such as being arrested for a DUI.

Here’s how Carter explained the five stages:

No alcohol use or abstinence
Non-problem alcohol users
Alcohol misuse
Alcohol abuse
Alcohol dependence or alcoholism

Full story at; Addictions counselor explains ‘substance abuse continuum’ / LJWorld.com.

Female Heavy Drinkers have Smaller Brains

By Coach | Filed in Alcohol, Heavy Drinking, Women

Female drinkers lose brain volume more quickly than men, according to researchers at the University of Heidelberg in Germany.

The BBC reported May 15 that researchers took brain scans of 150 women – about half of them alcoholics – and found that the heavy drinkers have smaller brains.

Female alcoholics were found to lose the same brain volume as male alcoholics, but suffered atrophy much more quickly.

"Women typically start drinking later in life and consume less" said lead study author Karl Mann. "But there is evidence for a faster progress of the events leading to dependence among female alcoholics and an earlier onset of adverse consequences of alcoholism. This suggests that women may be more vulnerable to chronic alcohol consumption."

From Join Together Online

Mann, K., Ackermann, K., Croissant, B., Mundle, G., Nakovics, H., & Diehl, A. (2005) Neuroimaging of Gender Differences in Alcohol Dependence: Are Women More Vulnerable? Alcoholism: Clinical and Epidemiological Research, 29(5): 896-901.

Parental Drinking Encourages Youth Alcohol Use

By Coach | Filed in Alcohol, Alcohol Abuse, Heavy Drinking, Youth

Parental Drinking Encourages Youth Alcohol Use, Hurts Discipline

Older adolescents’ drinking decisions are strongly influenced by their parents’ drinking habits, and parents who drink often suffer breakdowns in monitoring youth alcohol use, the Washington Post reported Feb. 4th 2008.

Finnish researchers studied more than 4,700 male and female adolescents and their parents, questioning the teens about their alcohol use at ages 14 and 17.5 and querying parents about their current rates of alcohol use and intoxication and alcohol-related problems over their lifetime.

Researchers found that parental monitoring and discipline played a stronger role in drinking behaviors among the younger youths, whereas parental drinking habits had a stronger effect on the older teens, who often increased their drinking when parents attempted to discipline them.

"With respect to individual aspects of parenting, our analyses show that parental alcohol use, intoxication, and problem-drinking symptoms are consistently associated with decreases in monitoring and increases in discipline," Latendresse said. "Decreases in monitoring are related to higher levels of adolescent alcohol use at age 14 and more frequent intoxication at both 14 and 17.5. Likewise, increases in discipline are linked to more frequent use and intoxication but only when adolescents are 17.5."

"It is important to note that excessive discipline may actually have the unintended effect of conveying greater risk for alcohol-related behaviors among adolescents as they get older and are seeking a greater sense of autonomy," Latendresse added.

The research was published in the February 2008 issue of the journal Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research.

Alcohol Damages Memory

By Coach | Filed in Alcohol, Alcohol Abuse, Heavy Drinking, High-Risk, Men, Women

Image via Wikipedia

ALCOHOL DAMAGES DAY-TO-DAY MEMORY FUNCTION

Researchers know that heavy alcohol use damages retrospective memory.
New research shows that heavy alcohol use also damages day-to-day memory, which
includes prospective memory (remembering to do things at some future point in time) and everyday memory (remembering to complete daily activities).
This damage occurred within drinking limits suggested by U.K. government guidelines.

Research has shown that heavy alcohol use clearly damages

retrospective memory, that is, the learning, retention and retrieval of previously presented materials. Less is known about the effects of alcohol on day-to-day memory function, specifically,
prospective memory (remembering to do things at some future point in time) and
everyday memory (remembering to complete daily activities).

A study in the June issue of Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research uses Internet-based technology to find that heavy alcohol consumption has a negative impact on day-to-day memory.

“Prospective memory impairments include things like forgetting to send someone a birthday card on time, or forgetting what you’re going to say in the middle of a sentence,” said Jonathan Ling.
“Everyday memory failures include telling someone a story that you’ve told them before, or forgetting where things are normally kept.

Obviously we all forget things from time to time, however, heavy users of alcohol make noticeably more of these mistakes than either non- or low-users of alcohol.” Ling added that most of what is known about heavy drinkers’ retrospective memory function is based on laboratory research, and even less is known about alcohol’s effects on normal memory-related tasks that people perform from day-to-day.

For this study, researchers collected data from 763 participants (465 female, 298 males) using a specially created Web site. Memory was assessed using two self-report questionnaires: Respondents also self-reported their level of use of alcohol and other drugs.

The results indicate an amount-dependent effect of alcohol use on day-to-day memory function. “We found that heavy users of alcohol reported making consistently more errors than those who said that they consumed little or no alcohol,” said Ling.

“A typical heavy user of alcohol reported over 30% more memory-related problems than someone who reportedly did not drink, and
almost 25% more problems than those who stated they drank only small amounts of alcohol.

More specifically, those participants who reported higher levels of alcohol consumption were more likely to miss appointments, forget birthdays and not pay bills on time. Deficits in everyday memory included problems with remembering whether they had done something like locking the door or switching off the lights, or forgetting where they put items like house keys.”

Colin Martin, said “This study is important because it extends our knowledge of alcohol-related memory impairment to everyday situations that most people can identify with, in contrast to laboratory-based memory tasks.”

“We also found a significant increase in reported memory problems by people who claimed to drink between 10 and 25 units each week in comparison to non-drinkers,” added Ling. One unit of alcohol is the equivalent of 10 ml of ethanol; roughly half a pint of beer or one small glass of wine. Current U.K. guidelines for maximum safe units per week are 21 units for women and 28 units for men. “This is an important finding, as it indicates that even if people are using alcohol within the limits suggested by U.K. government guidelines, these individuals still report experiencing memory problems.”

Martin concurred. “Interested readers may wish to reflect on the relevance of government recommended safe drinking limits, since decreased memory performance was observed even within what is generally acknowledged as safe drinking levels,” he said. “Recommended levels may be safe for the liver, but we can’t be sure that they represent safe limits for optimum brain function.”

Article is based on the following published research: Ling, J., Heffernan, T.M., Buchanan, T., Rodgers, J., Scholey, A.B., Parrott, A.C. (June 2003). Effects of alcohol on subjective ratings of prospective and everyday memory deficits. Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, 27(6), 970-975.

Alcohol Abuse and the Liver

By Coach | Filed in Alcohol, Alcohol Abuse, Heavy Drinking

Alcohol abuse affects our health and our body in a variety of ways.

Several key organs and internal functions can be irreparably damaged because of heavy drinking over an extended period of time. Chief among those areas at risk is the liver – one of our body’s most crucial organs. Once the liver is damaged by alcohol, a number of serious health problems can ensue – many of which eventually lead to death.

The liver is “in charge” of processing the alcohol that enters your body. A healthy liver is able to properly process about one drink (one ounce of alcohol) per hour. If you drink more than this, the liver is unable to do its job and body starts to become saturated with alcohol.

What happens when your body becomes saturated with alcohol? The unprocessed alcohol goes straight to your brain and causes the kind of behavior commonly associated with drunkenness (impaired judgment, loss of inhibitions, etc.).

But over time, a much bigger problem begins to occur.

When someone engages in heavy drinking over a long period of time, the liver becomes swelled and fatty. A fatty liver causes several key internal problems:

It chokes off the supply of blood coming into the liver – which keeps oxygen and crucial nutrients from being delivered.
The lack of oxygen and nutrients causes liver cells to sicken and die
The live liver cells are replaced with scar tissue (this process is known as cirrhosis of the liver).

Once cirrhosis of the liver occurs, the individual is no longer able to properly tolerate alcohol because the liver lacks the proper cells to process and metabolize it.

How likely is a person to get cirrhosis of the liver?

Genetics play a big role in whether or not someone is stricken with cirrhosis of the liver. If the drinker has a history of the problem in his family, then he might show symptoms relatively quickly (in as little as a year of consuming 3-4 drinks per day).

On the other hand, there are some people who drink heavily on a regular basis for their entire lives and never get cirrhosis.

What happens if the liver fails because of excessive alcohol consumption?

The results can be fatal. The liver is a crucial part of our how our body functions. It is responsible for so many vital operations that we cannot live without it. The liver is:

The largest organ in the human body
Responsible for most of the blood flow between the intestinal tract to the heart
The storage area for glycogen – the body’s breakdown of sugar which is used to generate energy
Responsible for breaking down toxins that occur with the body’s metabolism.

One of the most prominent warning signs of cirrhosis of the liver is jaundice. Jaundice is characterized by a yellowing of the skin and the eyes.

Not only older people are candidates for cirrhosis of the liver. Young people just out of their teens (who have already been drinking for years) have experienced liver failure brought on by cirrhosis of the liver.

Article Source: Author: Scott Briggs

Religiosity in Adolescence may Deter Alcohol Use

By Coach | Filed in Alcohol, Heavy Drinking, Youth

: Image via Wikipedia

During the teen years, adolescents have ample opportunity to experience initiation into alcohol consumption. While research has shown that many environmental factors such as the number of drinking friends, family income level and parental involvement all contribute to how adolescents decide whether to drink, there are also biological factors at play.

More at Religiosity in Adolescence may Deter Alcohol Use | Addiction Treatment.

Adolescent Development and Alcohol (recoveryissexy.com)
Can alcoholism be cured? (recoveryissexy.com)

Steps to Overcoming Addiction

By Coach | Filed in 12 Steps, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcohol Abuse, Alcoholism, Heavy Drinking, Intoxication, Recovery

In Recovery—Steps to Overcoming Addiction.

Seek treatment. The first step to recovery is to decide to seek treatment. It’s hard for people to recognize or admit they have a problem, even when they are putting their lives – or the lives of others – at risk. It doesn’t help that the brain’s decision-making center is impaired when under the influence of drugs or alcohol. Treatment may mean medications, behavioral counseling, or a combination of the two.

More at In Recovery—Steps to Overcoming Addiction.

Alcohol Coach.com

Archive for the Alcohol Category

Causes and Risk Factors of Alcoholism

Related Reading:

Subscribe to Alcohol Coach.com Updates by E-mail

28% of Kids Exposed to Alcoholism

Related Reading:

Subscribe to Alcohol Coach.com Updates by E-mail

Clergy Vital For Alcohol Abusers

Related Reading:

Subscribe to Alcohol Coach.com Updates by E-mail

Addictions counselor explains ‘substance abuse continuum’

Related Reading:

Subscribe to Alcohol Coach.com Updates by E-mail

Female Heavy Drinkers have Smaller Brains

Related Reading:

Subscribe to Alcohol Coach.com Updates by E-mail

Parental Drinking Encourages Youth Alcohol Use

Related Reading:

Subscribe to Alcohol Coach.com Updates by E-mail

Alcohol Damages Memory

ALCOHOL DAMAGES DAY-TO-DAY MEMORY FUNCTION

Related Reading:

Subscribe to Alcohol Coach.com Updates by E-mail

Alcohol Abuse and the Liver

Related Reading:

Subscribe to Alcohol Coach.com Updates by E-mail

Religiosity in Adolescence may Deter Alcohol Use

Related Reading:

Subscribe to Alcohol Coach.com Updates by E-mail

Steps to Overcoming Addiction

Related Reading:

Subscribe to Alcohol Coach.com Updates by E-mail

Recovery Site

Categories

Recent Posts

Meta

Donate

Archive for the Alcohol Category

Related Reading:

Subscribe to Alcohol Coach.com Updates by E-mail

Related Reading:

Subscribe to Alcohol Coach.com Updates by E-mail

Related Reading:

Subscribe to Alcohol Coach.com Updates by E-mail

Related Reading:

Subscribe to Alcohol Coach.com Updates by E-mail

Related Reading:

Subscribe to Alcohol Coach.com Updates by E-mail

Related Reading:

Subscribe to Alcohol Coach.com Updates by E-mail

ALCOHOL DAMAGES DAY-TO-DAY MEMORY FUNCTION

Related articles

Related Reading:

Subscribe to Alcohol Coach.com Updates by E-mail

Related Reading:

Subscribe to Alcohol Coach.com Updates by E-mail

Related articles

Related Reading:

Subscribe to Alcohol Coach.com Updates by E-mail

Related Reading:

Subscribe to Alcohol Coach.com Updates by E-mail

Categories

Recent Posts

Meta

Donate