The Great Teenage Drinking Debate

Jan. 31, 2012 - PRLog -- Most adults are aware of the dangers of drinking to excess but most will admit that drinking as a teenager – that’s drinking to excess as a teenager – is part of growing up.

And on a completely unscientific straw poll of friends and relatives, most will admit to getting drunk until they were sick at least once when they were teenagers.

So here is some widely reported information that might have passed you by. According to a study some years ago by the Institute of Child Health, teenage drinkers were more likely to use drugs, become alcoholics and acquire criminal convictions.

At the time (2007) this study found that in its research of 11,000 children, by the time they reached the age of 30, they were 60 per cent more likely to be an alcoholic and twice as likely to have a criminal conviction.

Added to that there are the health risks associated with drinking, which is why experts have long urged people to have some alcohol awareness in Colchester, Brighton, London or your own home town.

Did you know, for instance, that from the second you take a sip of alcohol it starts to have an effect on the mind and the body? After one or two drinks a person feels much more sociable but after downing just a small amount more, for some, can mean their vision, walking and talking are affected.

Some of the effects of alcohol disappear overnight, but others can be with a person for a lot longer. Research from the Department of Health says that a man drinking five pints of beer in a week consumes the same amount of calories as eating 221 doughnuts a year.

It’s not good for the skin either as it dries it out and can lead to premature skin ageing. If you drink heavily you can develop a skin condition called acne rosacea – this is a skin disorder that starts with a tendency to blush and flush easily but can lead to permanent facial disfiguration called rhinophyma.

Experts also estimate that the tally for alcohol-related deaths is 33,000 a year in the UK and while rates of liver disease are reducing in the rest of Europe, here in the UK, alarmingly they are rising.

There was a time when the unenviable liver disease was the strict domain of middle-aged people – not any more. It is believed that up to one in three adults in the UK drinks enough alcohol to be at risk of alcohol-related liver disease.

And if you get liver disease, what does this mean for you? There are four stages of liver disease, the first being a “fatty” liver, which is reversible if you don’t take alcohol. The second is a fatty and inflamed liver, which can lead to jaundice.

The third stage is fibrosis – scarring of the liver and the next progression is cirrhosis of the liver, where the normally soft organ is divided into pea-sized pockets wrapped in fibrosis. It’s a serious condition and mortality rates depend on whether a person continues drinking.

But don’t despair if you have a drink problem, be smart, seek alcohol awareness in Colchester, Chelmsford or any other place in the UK. There is always someone to help.

Visit : http://www.essexhealth.co.uk/

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