Binge Drinking Effects

Drinking is second nature to the people of the 'modern' world, today. People consume a lot of alcohol these days and blame it on the stress caused due to the ever-increasing demands from life. It has become a fad to consume not one, not two but five or more drinks in a row. Women are not lagging behind, they also consume this amount of alcohol, easily. This continuous consumption of five or more alcoholic drinks, in a row, is known as binge drinking. There are some who drink this amount of alcohol at least twice or thrice a week which is also known as alcohol abuse and it leads to tons of side effects.

College going students have also joined this bandwagon of binge drinking. They do it due to peer pressure and because they want to belong in the 'group'. The rate at which this young generation is getting influenced by binge drinking, is alarming and a cause of concern.

Continuous consumption of alcohol can lead to various problems relating to the various organs of our body. The list mentioned below will make this point clearer. Binge drinking increases:

• the chances of kidney problems
• the risk of getting a stroke and a heart attack
• the chances of cardiovascular diseases
• the risk of cancers like tongue, mouth throat
• the risk of infertility
• the risk of contracting STDs and AIDS
• the problems of hand-eye coordination
• the risk of vomiting and seizures
• the chances of suffering from breathing problems like irregular breathing

Apart from the above, a significant increase in the blood pressure is one of the effects of binge drinking on blood pressure. Liver cancer, liver cirrhosis and permanent damage to the liver are the effects on the liver. A binge drinker may suffer from alcohol poisoning too. Also, the person suffers from weight gain that causes further problems. Furthermore, alcohol leads to depression and alcoholism.

Brain, the most vital organ in our body, is also the victim of binge drinking.

• Too much alcohol consumption can kill the brain cells.
• The reasoning skills become weaker. The memory also becomes impaired.
• There are episodes blackouts and memory losses.
• Brain shrinkage is another dismaying binge drinking effect.
• Serious brain disorders like Wernicke-Korsakoff Syndrome (WKS) are also caused due to binge drinking. This syndrome leads to mental confusion and also paralyzing the various nerves in the brain.
• The muscle coordination is also affected.
• There is a persistent learning and memory problem which results in poor concentration.

College students are affected in the worst possible way as they are just in their teens. Peer pressures and the stiff competitions are the reasons cited for binge drinking in them. In order to save the young generation, it is vital that they are appraised of all the effects of binge drinking. The following are the effects that they face.

• Drinking affects the sleeping pattern in human beings. Students wake up with a bad case of hangover which makes them moody. The students' life gets affected due to irregular sleeping patterns resulting in poor concentration and performance, ultimately leading to dropping out of college.
• Drinking alcohol make the students angry and irritated. This leads to severing of friendships and other relationships.
• Students get into depression because of excessive consumption of alcohol.
• Binge drinking increases muscle pain and swollen muscles which leads to weakness in the overall body muscles.
• Intoxication leads to losing control of your mind and actions. This, in turn, leads to an increase in the criminal behavior of the college students. They start fighting on unnecessary issues which, many times, turns very violent.
• Drinking and driving is potentially dangerous to human lives. College students drink and then drive which leads to more than 50% of the total road accidents.
• Students getting addicted to smoking also which increases other medical issues in them.

Permanent brain damage, losing a limb in a fight or an accident, liver damage, kidney failure, hypertension and overall destruction of one's life are the harrowing. Drug addiction is another side effect of binge drinking. College going girls suffer from many health issues, apart from the above ones. Women, who binge drink, may face issues in pregnancy along with other medical problems.

As you can see from the above, the effects of binge drinking are many and most of them are permanent. Alcoholism and binge drinking destroy the life of people. Stop drinking alcohol to save your own life. If you know someone who is a binge drinker, make them aware of these binge drinking facts and side effects that they will face throughout their lives.