Alcohol and Your Body
Drinking alcohol can worsen the effects of:
• Arthritis
• Asthma
• Bronchitis
• Diabetes
• Emphysema
Drinking alcohol can lead to:
• Cirrhosis
• Gastric ulcers and digestive bleeding
• Hepatitis
• Impotence
Drinking alcohol can interfere with:
• Balance, vision, reaction time, memory, and coordination. These problems can lead to falls and can make moving around difficult.
• Sleep and increase the number of times someone wakes during the night
• The way that the body processes and absorbs nutrients
Alcohol use can also lead to:
• A loss of appetite, which can in turn lead to malnutrition. Alcohol plus malnutrition causes confusion.
• Higher blood pressure
• A faster rate of bone loss in people who have osteoporosis
Next: Treating Alcoholism
