Alcohol is used to make wine, beer, spirits and liqueurs. It is a legal, sedative drug that can cause addiction or dependency for people who drink too much.
Alcohol can change behaviour. Alcohol abuse harms your health and damages relationships and society through violence, crime, accidents and drink driving. The long-term effects on your health are more serious when you binge drink or regularly drink too much. Young and old people can have a drink problem depending on how often they drink and the way they drink. An alcoholic cannot control or stop their harmful drink. You can die from alcoholism. It is an illness where you have an addiction or dependence on alcohol.
You experience withdrawal symptoms if you stop drinking. Binge drinking means drinking too much alcohol in a short time. For a man, drinking more than eight units of alcohol on one occasion is a binge.
If you binge drink, you could develop long-term or permanent health problems. Binge drinking can cause:. A hangover follows a bout of heavy drinking. You also:.
Alcohol is the second biggest risk for cancer after smoking. If you regularly drink above the weekly alcohol limits, you're at greater risk of developing:. The more you drink, the greater the risk. Oestrogen is essential for normal sexual development and functioning female reproductive organs. But it can stimulate the growth of breast cancer. Alcohol can cause high blood pressure , which increases your risk of having a heart attack or stroke. Alcohol also weakens heart muscles, which can affect the lungs, liver, brain and other body systems, and also cause heart failure.
