How alcoholic beverages entered the life of society is, perhaps, a topic for a separate study. Alcohol accompanies modern man everywhere: a glass of beer with friends, a glass of champagne at a holiday, a glass of vodka with barbecue. All these are indispensable attributes of a fun pastime. How not to miss the moment when the effect of alcohol on the heart becomes unsafe?
Why do we drink alcohol
Small doses of alcohol give the effect of relaxation, the mood rises, everything bad fades into the background. This is why alcohol is dangerous: temporary euphoria requires continuation, all problems are forgotten, at least for a while. The trouble comes when more and more intoxicants are required to achieve satisfaction. Alcoholism becomes a disease, and it becomes more and more difficult for a drinking person to stop drinking.
The reasons that make the hand reach for the bottle are different:
- Psychological emptiness: death of a loved one, betrayal of a friend or loved one, forcedloneliness.
- Excessive stress at work.
- Breaking stereotypes, crushing hopes, depression.
- Family problems.
- The need for self-affirmation.
- Teenagers and young people tend to strive to be like everyone else and not stand out in the company.
- Genetic predisposition.
Even if the addiction to alcohol is temporary, this stage does not pass harmlessly to he alth. Result: sick heart, hypertension, vascular problems.
A small dose is not harmful?
The main component of any alcoholic beverage is ethyl alcohol. It begins to enter the blood within 5-7 minutes after ingestion. The effect of alcohol on the heart depends on the frequency and amount of alcohol consumed. But even a small single dose increases the load on our main organ: vasospasm occurs, and the heart needs to work doubly to deliver blood. Immediately, the pulse quickens by 10-15%. Smoking that accompanies drinking doubles the stress.
After two or three hours, ethyl alcohol penetrates to the myocardium. Its toxic effect causes arrhythmia, there is a temporary decrease in pressure. The harmful effects of alcohol quickly pass, the functions of the heart and circulatory system are restored, but the trouble is that the first dose is followed by the second and third.
Heart function with large amounts of alcohol
Large doses of alcohol (or small doses for several hours) cause a hangover. What is it connected with? The effect of alcohol on the heart and blood vesselsmanifests itself in a steady increase in blood pressure and heart rhythm disturbance due to acetone poisoning. In addition, ethyl alcohol causes dehydration and thickening of the blood. That is why with a hangover I really want to drink. By the way, the popular method of alleviating a hangover with brine has scientific confirmation. It is the sour-s alty liquid that restores balance faster. Constant alcohol loads lead to the formation of blood clots and blockages of blood vessels.
Alcohol for cores
If quite he althy people begin to feel unwell after excessive drinking, then a sick heart reacts to alcohol much more seriously. Already 20-60 ml of pure alcohol poses a threat to the core.
Large and frequent drinking further provokes an increase in blood pressure, increases the risk of heart attacks and strokes, increases the development of concomitant diseases. More than 30 percent of sudden cardiac arrests are associated with alcohol-related pathologies.
Heart of an alcoholic
Prolonged and heavy drinking leads to a gradual deformation of the human engine. The growth of connective tissues and cavities contribute to the fact that the size of the heart increases, respectively, the strength and speed of its contractions decrease. This is how heart failure, edema of all organs, hypertension and atherosclerosis of blood vessels develop.
Diseases of the "alcoholic heart"
The effect of alcohol on the heart is manifested by a number of diseases:
- Ischemicthe disease is a very severe disease of the coronary arteries, which cease to supply enough blood to the myocardium. Stages of ischemia: arrhythmia - heart failure - angina pectoris - cardiosclerosis, heart attack - sudden death.
- Atherosclerosis is a disease of blood vessels due to atherosclerotic plaques formed on the walls. The narrowed lumen of blood vessels leads to increased pressure, causing strokes and heart attacks.
- Cardiomyopathy. The increased weight of the heart causes persistent arrhythmia, shortness of breath, swelling and coughing.
Alcohol and heart medications
Drinking people often, without thinking about the consequences, combine alcohol and drugs, including heart drugs. This should not be done categorically.
- Alcohol slows down the action of the drug. This is at its best.
- Dilating blood vessels, alcohol, along with a drug of the same effect, can lead to acute heart failure. Result: fainting, loss of strength, death.
- Sedatives designed to calm down can have the opposite effect: increase excitability or double, triple the effect and "calm down" forever.
- The combination of alcohol and cardiovascular or sedative drugs leads to a change in the mental state of a person.
Recovery from alcohol
It often happens that alcoholics respond to exhortations from relatives that they can stop at any moment and stop drinking someday. Refusal of alcohol suspends all negative processes in the body, the initial stagesheart failure are recovered by a he althy lifestyle, proper nutrition, sports and fresh air.
Morphological changes and increased size of the heart can never be returned to normal! Dystrophy and thickening of the tissue occur after two or three years of drinking. Affected organs are not restored. After a complete rejection of alcohol, you can slightly restore metabolism and the functioning of the autonomic system. People who drink should stop drinking as soon as possible. Return to normal life and restorative therapy can give joyful moments for many more years.
Beer and heart
The influence of alcohol on the heart is known to many, but since few dare to give up drinking and look like a black sheep in the company, strong alcohol is replaced by beer. There is confidence that this is a weak, and therefore completely harmless drink. The "unobtrusive" suggestion of advertising about the benefits of derivative products distracts attention from the fact that the strength of some modern beers reaches 14%. This is more than in dry wines. A bottle of light beer, which some drink just to quench their thirst, is equal in alcohol content to 60 grams of vodka. In addition, cob alt is added to the drink to hold the beer foam. For lovers of this intoxicating product, the content of cob alt in the tissues of the heart muscle exceeds the permissible norms by a dozen times. Where does this lead? All to the same deformation and growth of muscle tissue.
Negatively affects blood vesselsand carbon dioxide, which is filled with a drink. Excessive overcrowding of the blood vessels leads to the expansion of the veins and heart. Doctors have such a thing as "beer heart", or "kapron stocking" syndrome. This phenomenon occurs as a result of excessively expanding the size of the myocardium and slowing down its work on pumping blood.
Is alcohol good?
People who drink often attribute their addiction to alcoholic beverages to supposedly confirmed by official medicine data on their he alth benefits. “We do not drink, but we are treated” - such a slogan often justifies the abuse of alcohol. What is really behind this? What do cardiologists say about this?
Interesting data is provided by statistics on the relationship between heart disease and alcohol consumption. The performance curve has a U-shape. That is, there is the smallest percentage of cores among those who take alcohol, but in very small doses. The following standards are considered normal: for an adult male, a harmless daily dose consists of 60-70 grams of vodka, or 200-250 ml of dry wine, or 300-350 ml of beer. Women's norms are three times less than men's.
How good is alcohol in such quantities?
- The concentration of "bad" cholesterol on the walls of blood vessels decreases, respectively, the risk of atherosclerosis decreases.
- Small doses of alcohol contribute to the production of "good" cholesterol, which displaces "bad" from the body.
- Dry wines have bactericidal properties.
- Red wines increase hemoglobin levels inblood.
Why don't doctors offer alcohol treatment? The fact is that the line between the norm and the supernorm is very fragile. Most people, after taking alcohol, simply cease to feel this line, and constant “treatment” passes into the stage of alcoholism. But here the effect on the heart and other organs is sharply opposite. Reception of small portions of alcohol, mainly a glass of dry red wine, is offered to older people, if there are no contraindications from hypertension or diabetes.
Think before you fill your glasses and be he althy!
