How Smoking and Alcohol Damage Your Body Over Time

How would you remember a great night out? We feel younger and scream with anticipation, the alcohol flows and is mixed in myriad ways to create delicious concoctions and maybe a smoke on the side to wrap it all up. Let us not forget the hookah too, or the oily but super tasty snacks/sides/touchings to go with the good time. Now, fast forward to the next morning where you feel lousy, dehydrated and just don’t want to get anything done in life. This is just after one ‘cool night out’. What happens when you do that repeatedly? Not only does it sound exhausting, it can also affect your organ systems adversely.

How Smoking And Alcohol Impact Overall Health

Smoking is normally begun in adolescence or right after, when we think it is a great idea to sneak off and take a few puffs. What could go wrong? You look twice as cool, mysterious and have a reputation of being rebellious. From just a few puffs, it can go up to many packs per day in just a few years. Throw in the stresses of a university education, the dreaded job hunt and then working a stressful job- smoking can begin to feel like a coping mechanism. It can affect you systemically and not just the lungs and heart, though they get harmed the most. Likewise, drinking alcohol regularly can cause major issues for almost all parts of the body. Both are known agents that can cause cancer in the future. Let us learn some specifics below.

Alcohol Damage To The Body Over Time

The cons of drinking or regular consumption of alcohol include the following:
Extreme dehydration from drinking.

• Alcohol can depress your nervous system and aid in poor decision making.
• Your digestive system gets affected adversely – ulcers in the stomach are not a great idea.
• Your blood glucose levels can be all over the place and affect your pancreas.
• Your liver can get affected – cirrhosis.
• All the tasty bar snacks are greasy, so they can do a number on your arteries and heart health.
• Trying to become a parent- like a father? Then stop drinking to protect your swimmers.
• Women – you shouldn’t drink too much either. Can still affect your reproductive system and cause premature birth along with other issues if you drink after getting pregnant.
• Addiction-plain and simple

Effects Of Smoking On The Lungs And Heart

Smokers-beware!

• You inhale a lot of tar and other cancer causing agents, which can turn your lungs literally black in colour.
• Breathing issues – you may wheeze and not be able top catch a breath
• You could be affected by issues like asthma, emphysema, COPD, bronchitis or even lung cancer
• Smoking can affect your arteries and damage your nerves too
• What’s worse – you can cause health problems for others around you when they inhale second hand smoke
• You could weaken your immune system gradually, making you susceptible to more opportunistic infections than usual.
• Risk of cancer is always there too.

Conclusion

Both habits feel good and rewarding but can get addictive in a very short span of time. You will also get immune to regular exposure and will need to drink or smoke more to feel the good high. Your brain can get affected adversely, along with almost every other organ system in the body. We are not asking you to quit or go cold turkey. Addiction is a serious issue and needs a proper step wise approach to ensure you don’t go back to drinking or smoking – in stressful situations especially. So, get all the help you can. In the meantime, try to reduce the number of times you drink or smoke. Talk to your doctor if it affects your daily quality of life and interactions with everyone around you. You will only come out of it stronger and sharper than ever.