Alcohol can be good or very bad.It can make you happy or very sad.This all depends on how much is taken and where it goes. A little wine can be good for the stomach and make your heart rejoice.Too much though can make you unhappy anywhere, and even those around you!
In moderation, a cocktail, wine or beer can temporarily relax you and relieve anxiety, lift your spirits and make you a more social companion. It can also offer some protection against heart attacks by relieving stress and increasing your HDL (high-density lipoprotein). But even small amounts of alcohol lower your reflexes, so driving a car is not recommended even after moderate drinking. And it contains a lot of calories, so it is not very compatible if you have weight problems.
Lets follow your cocktail as it flows through your body. It does not take long on an empty stomach and alcohol quickly enters the bloodstream in the intestines. Blood transports it to the liver, where it is broken down and excreted, eliminating it from the bloodstream. That way, the liver can handle the alcohol in one cocktail, one glass of wine or a can of beer in an hour.
Drink more than that in an hour and the alcohol will be in the blood and transported to the brain. A little can make you more sociable there, too much can make you disgusting. If 5 hundredth of one percent of your total blood volume is alcohol,it means you will get tipsy. Ten to fifteen hundredth will get you drunk.
What does this excess alcohol do as it moves through your system? The first stop is your stomach. There it can remove the mucous membrane that protects the gastric mucosa from stomach acid. It can also cause the stomach to make more acid.
Alcohol removes water from the body's cells. Excessive amounts of alcohol dehydrate the liver cells and eventually destroy them, causing liver cirrhosis. The damaged liver can no longer supply enough sugar to the bloodstream, paving the way for hypoglycemia. It cause the liver to become less and less effective in removing alcohol from the blood. Alcohol then spreads throughout the body, draining and killing cells everywhere. The arteries narrow, less blood flows to the heart and the muscles weaken.
When alcohol reaches the brain, it drains the brain cells and stops producing electrical messages. When alcohol leaves the system, your brain cells regain their water. However, drinking excessive amounts for a long time can affect intelligence and memory. The size of the brain decreases when cells are destroyed and the IQ decreases permanently.
Excessive alcohol consumption can cause men to develop feminine characteristics. Men produce male and female hormones, but the liver removes female hormones. But an injured liver allows them to stay. Excessive alcohol use increases the likelihood that pregnant women will miscarry or give birth to a stillborn child. If the baby is born alive, there is a special risk of birth defects.
For pregnant women and alcoholics,any amount of alcohol consumption is too much.For men and women in general, drinking in moderation can only allow a small amount of alcohol to reach the brain. Several drinks in a short time is not too much for anyone. A drink for the alcoholic is too much.
The conclusion: a little wine for the stomach, but not much for the liver, heart and brain and those around.