Having a drink or two at a social gathering is considered a social norm. Drinking one bottle of beer after day's work, may not harm you that much. However, if you are among those who reach bar every evening and continue drinking till the bar closes, then maybe its time you start worrying about your health. Excessive alcohol intake affects our body in many ways. Our body metabolism is affected badly.
How Alcohol Affects Your Overall Body?
Excessive drinking, besides affecting the muscular system, it also slows down our motor and judgemental skills. Effects of alcohol on our various body systems are discussed below:
Muscles: Excessive drinking reduces the blood circulation to the muscles which result in muscle weakening and in extreme cases muscles start deteriorating.
Hormones: Increases the fat deposition and fluid retention in the body by decreasing the testosterone level in the body.
Liver: Creates imbalance which may result in fatty liver, hypoglycemia, or hyperlipidemia.
Brain: It stops the oxygen supply to the brain, which may result in the killing of thousands of brain cells. This may further result in blackouts.
Studies have proved that too much drinking effects almost every system of our body, including the circulatory system, muscular system, nervous system, and endocrine system.
In this article, we will discuss how alcohol affects our muscular system?
Many a time, people after drinking alcohol faces various muscles related issues, but they overlook them, or they fail to link the connection between the two. Some of the symptoms that show that alcohol is affecting your muscular system are:
- Pain or muscular cramps
- Less endurance
- Fatigue
- Numbness in muscles
- Weakness
- Losing muscle coordination
- Poor athletic performance
If your body shows any or few of the symptoms mentioned above regularly, then maybe its time to keep a check on your alcohol intake. In case you have an addiction to alcohol, then you might need some professional help to get rid of addiction. In Denver, there are numerous
Denver sober living centers which would help you in becoming sober.
Let us understand the biology of the effects of alcohol on the muscular system.
Medical professionals state that alcohol intake may affect our muscular system in various ways. These includes:
Effects our brain: Brain controls each and every movement and reaction of our muscles. The brain sends these instructions through nerves. After reaching a certain level, alcohol starts hampering nervous systems, which result in slowing down muscular judgment, reactions, and muscular abilities. Alcohol also affects our muscular coordination, which may result in fatal accidents while driving.
Intake of alcohol hampers absorption of calcium: Calcium helps in muscle contraction and strengthening of muscles. Alcohol intake hampers the flow of calcium in the muscles, which may result in weakening of muscles.
Hampers release of Creatine Kinase in muscles: Creatine Kinase (CK) is the chemical released by muscle cells in case of an injury. CK also helps in generating energy in muscle cells, which is used by muscles to carry out various functions. Hence, if your blood test shows high CK levels, this represents that there is muscle damage. Alcohol might be the reason behind the damaged muscles.
May result in pain or muscle cramps: Liver carry out the function of removing toxic substance from our body. Our liver considers alcohol as a toxic substance. When you take alcohol, your liver changes its priority and start focussing on removing alcohol from your blood stream. As a result, other harmful substances start accumulating in the body. One such substance is lactic acid. The body produces lactic acid during physical activity like exercise. Accumulation of lactic acid in the body may result in muscular pain and cramps.
Besides this, alcohol also acts as a depressant as it suppresses the brain's ability. Alcohol also causes dehydration. Besides this, alcohol may also result in sleep disorder. In extreme cases, drinking alcohol may also result in liver damage.
Conclusion:
Taking a drink or two in a day, won't harm your health, but in case you are getting dependent day by day on alcohol than its time to get sober and work on your addiction. We understand that it won't be easy for you, but it's never too late.
Contact a rehabilitation center in Denver, which would help you in quitting your drinking habit and live a healthy life.
