With the way the world is set up today, enjoying a few drinks here and there just seems like the best thing to do if that’s what you’re into. Do you enjoy bottomless mimosas at Sunday brunch? How about a glass (or two) of wine on a Wednesday night after a long day at work? What about a turn-up session at your favorite club or lounge with your peers on Saturday night? However you like to indulge, if you want a drink, you’re going to have one. But what happens when that drink becomes one too many, too often? What do you do when you feel as though you need it all the time? It’s a good time and a way to relax but when it comes to a drink, maybe you shouldn’t have it. liver failure
A Drink A Day Will Not Keep The Doctor Away
Though a glass of wine can be helpful and aid in some health benefits, that doesn’t mean too much of it won’t cause any damage. Wine has antioxidant properties that can be beneficial if taken in moderation but even that can cause a doctor's visit.
Alcohol can cause a lot of medical problems to your body over time. It can cause an addiction by making you dependent on it after a while. It can cause weight gain and bloat due to the excessive amount of calories that are in some of the drinks you consume and it can cause extreme and even fatal health problems.
Imagine being extremely intoxicated and you think you’re good enough to drive and now you’ve been in a bad accident and lost limbs, your life, or caused someone else to lose theirs.
It can also worsen any symptoms you’re currently living with or cause extreme and irreversible damage to your insides, like liver failure.
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How Overindulging Ruins Your Liver
Your liver is one of the main parts in your body that filters out toxins from your blood. Your liver also helps fight infections and diseases, helps digest the foods you eat, and helps regulate the body’s blood sugar and cholesterol levels. Your liver is such a prominent and strong organ in your body that it can even regenerate itself. As amazing as that is to have an organ with that type of function, always remember everything has a kryptonite and unfortunately alcohol is one of your liver’s biggest enemies.
Though your liver has the ability to regenerate new liver cells, every time the liver has to filter out alcohol from the body, some of the liver cells die. If you are constantly indulging or binge drinking then over time your liver will struggle with being able to produce more cells because it destroys the liver's ability to regenerate and this leads to permanent liver damage.
Liver Damage And Hepatitis C
Once you have consumed one too many alcoholic beverages over the years and it leads to liver damage or failure, you are then susceptible to many other medical illnesses that can worsen your symptoms, such as Hepatitis C. Hepatitis C is a viral infection that causes inflammation in your liver.
There are many ways to contract hepatitis C. One way is through the use of sharing needles for drugs, being born by a woman who has hep C, getting a piercing or a tattoo from unsterilized equipment, and more.
Not only can it worsen symptoms if you already have liver damage but it can also cause liver damage as well. This is why you should monitor your alcohol intake.
When figuring out if you have hepatitis C, many people don’t know that there are no symptoms that show you are living with the virus if it has just developed in the body. So while you are drinking more than you need to, you could be living with hepatitis C and causing more damage and harm.
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How To Enjoy Without Binging Or Overindulging
Circling back to the point of the article, when it comes to a drink, maybe you shouldn’t have too many too often. You can definitely enjoy a drink or two without overindulging or binging.
The first way you can do this is by knowing and learning your limits. See how you feel after 2 drinks and try not to go past that.
The second way is to avoid alcohol when you’re feeling overly sad, mad, anxious or depressed, or even when you’re feeling extremely happy and wanting to celebrate. These are moods and feelings that may take you over your limit if you decide to have a drink.
Also, get tested and checked out by your doctor. You’ve probably heard this plenty of times before but it’s always better to be safe than sorry.
So enjoy your drink (or two), but make sure you are always aware and up to date with where your health stands.