Will drinking really lead to longevity? The answer is no, there is a saying among people who like drinking: "wine is the best medicine", which is plausibly said by our ancestors. This statement is indeed well-founded, which comes from the record of eating goods in Hanshu. Since ancient times, wine and medicine have been inextricably linked. The traditional writing of "medicine"-there is a unitary word under "medicine", which means wine. Wine itself is one of the oldest drugs in the world. A small amount can dredge meridians and promote blood circulation, which is exciting. Taking it in large quantities will anesthetize the nerves and make people sleepy, so wine was used as the earliest stimulant and anesthetic. But ancient wine is a low-alcohol beverage brewed with millet or rice. A small amount of drinking can enhance the circulatory mechanism and strengthen the metabolic function, so it is helpful to relieve some disease symptoms. But the white wine we often drink now is very different from the old saying "wine".
According to the Global Report on Alcohol and Health released by the World Health Organization (WHO), in 20 16, the number of people who died of improper alcohol use in the world was as high as 3 million, accounting for 5.3% of the global deaths. In other words, in every 20 deaths, 1 is due to alcohol. Of all the deaths attributable to alcohol, 28% are caused by trauma, such as traffic accidents, self-mutilation and violent conflicts, 265,438+0% are caused by digestive dysfunction, 65,438+09% are caused by cardiovascular diseases, and the rest include infectious diseases, cancer, mental disorders and other diseases. The report also pointed out that the global disease burden caused by intentional and unintentional injuries caused by drinking is as high as 10%, so now more and more countries are beginning to vigorously control drinking-related problems.
According to Dr. Zhou Xuhui, director of the Department of Alcohol Addiction and Internet Addiction of the Second People's Hospital of Hunan Province (Hunan Brain Hospital), there are more than 60 kinds of diseases related to drinking, especially long-term heavy drinkers (drinking 80 g a day for more than 10 years), which are prone to systemic diseases. What's the harm of drinking regularly?
Damage to digestive system: wine is absorbed through the digestive system, so the damage is also the most direct, including mouth, esophagus, gastrointestinal tract, liver, spleen, pancreas and so on. Long-term drinking will lead to inflammation and even cancer in these parts. The liver is one of the most severely damaged organs by alcohol, which may lead to fatty liver and alcoholic hepatitis, and further development will lead to cirrhosis and primary liver cancer, and even some alcoholics directly progress to cirrhosis and liver cancer. Long-term drinking can also damage the pancreas and cause acute pancreatitis with high mortality.
Damage to cardiovascular system: Many people think that drinking a small amount of alcohol can relax muscles and promote blood circulation, but studies have found that the damage of alcohol to cardiovascular system far exceeds its limited benefits. Alcohol and its metabolites have direct damage to the heart. If accompanied by smoking, the incidence of cardiovascular diseases is higher, such as arrhythmia, heart failure, alcoholic cardiomyopathy, hypertension and so on. Malnutrition, vitamin deficiency and irregular work and rest caused by long-term drinking will also damage the cardiovascular system. The mortality rate of heavy drinkers due to cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases is much higher than that of non-drinkers.
Damage to blood system: Alcohol has a direct toxic effect on red blood cells and white blood cells, and also inhibits the functions of platelets and coagulation factors. Long-term heavy drinking can easily lead to anemia, leukopenia, thrombocytopenia and so on. The function of human immune system is extensively impaired. Therefore, people who often drink alcohol are more prone to infection, gastrointestinal bleeding, and it is difficult to stop bleeding or even thrombosis after bleeding.
Damage of metabolic function: Alcoholics eat less after drinking and have unbalanced nutrition. In the long run, there will often be symptoms of malnutrition, which will lead to complications such as brain injury and liver injury. Alcohol can also affect glucose metabolism, causing hypoglycemia or hyperglycemia. Long-term heavy drinking can also cause edema and electrolyte disorder in different degrees.
Mental and nervous system damage: alcohol is easy to combine with lecithin, the main component of brain tissue, resulting in long-term toxic effects. After drinking for a long time, brain tissue will be damaged and gradually aggravated, such as brain atrophy, cerebellar dysfunction, memory and intelligence decline, thinking ability and emotional behavior control ability weakened, peripheral neuritis, seizures and so on. Some long-term heavy drinkers can cause chronic alcoholic mental disorders, such as alcoholic hallucinations, alcoholic delusions, such as auditory hallucinations, hallucinations, sensitive and suspicious emotions, depression or mania, as well as personality changes (becoming self-centered, only interested in drinking, not caring about others, decreased sense of responsibility), delirium tremens, alcoholic encephalopathy and so on.
Long-term drinking will not only damage one's health and social function, but also bring risks to the next generation. The next generation of alcoholics may have fetal alcohol syndrome, which is characterized by low birth weight, mental retardation and serious damage to growth and development.
Excessive drinking will cause trauma, family breakdown, social relations problems, legal problems and so on. Crime and domestic violence are more likely to occur after drinking, and the direct cause of crime and violence is the decline of control after drinking too much. In addition, alcohol interacts with many drugs, and the consequences are very serious, so don't drink alcohol when taking medicine!
Dr. Zhou Xuhui particularly emphasized that people who have been addicted to alcohol can no longer think that "a small amount of drinking is good for health" after abstinence, because as long as they start drinking the first sip of wine again, they will soon become uncontrollable, or after serious abstinence treatment, exercise and strengthen their physique is the right way!
Therefore, drinking alcohol is harmful in general! Drinking not only affects healthy life, but also poses a direct threat to life.
Contributed by: Alcohol addiction, Internet addiction, Mao Hao
Editor: Wen Yang
Image: from the network, invaded and deleted.