You may already be aware that alcohol abuse can impair your job performance, relationships, and overall sense of well-being. Heavy drinking has such a potent impact because alcohol is harmful to the human mind and body.
Entering the treatment process gives you the chance to develop the healthy lifestyle that you deserve.
Alcohol affects your ability to perceive and respond to events around you. It impairs judgment, decreases observational skills, reduces your natural sense of restraint, and hampers physical coordination. Drinking can also lead to poor decision-making. This may include driving under the influence or settling disputes with violence.
Memory lapses, unconsciousness, and distorted vision and hearing all come with alcohol abuse. Other short-term effects include:
Drowsiness
Slurred speech
Diarrhea and stomach pain
Headaches
Breathing difficulties
Loss of red blood cells (anemia)
Alcohol can have negative effects on your relationships and isolate you from loved ones. You may find yourself becoming distant from others as you try to hide your drinking and its impacts.
Alcohol is a depressant. Over time it can make you lethargic and worsen conditions such as depression and anxiety. You may struggle to do your work and neglect activities that used to be important to you. Side effects of heavy drinking, such as muscle cramps and nerve pain, may deter you from playing sports that you used to enjoy.
Long-term alcohol abuse increases your chances of damaging your heart, lungs, and liver. You are also at greater risk of stroke and certain cancers.
Drug and alcohol abuse is complex. In part, substance use disorders are about the body's interaction with the substance of abuse, but there is much more to it than that. A substance use disorder often grows from underlying causes such as co-occurring disorders and environmental influences.
Substance use disorders are:
Physical
Emotional
Psychological
Social
For some, alcohol is a form of self-medication used to cope with other problems, such as mental health issues or difficult life events. For this reason, treatment centers provide therapy and other mental health care to help the client address these problems.
At Vita Recovery, our substance abuse treatment services tackle the physical, psychological, and emotional aspects of the disease. You will also be helped with the emotional, psychological, and social aspects of your addiction.
