How alcoholism affects your health and mind-the slow killer

Alcoholism is an insidious disease because it creeps up on you in such a way that you are not even aware of it. You can start with a little social drinking and then progress to an obsession in a very short time. The progression is so subtle that you are not aware of the hold your drinking has on you until your world starts falling apart. Even then it may take a drastic happening in your life to really bring you back into reality and get you to seek help.

How alcoholism affects your health and mind:

1. You do not eat properly: because you are busy drinking and sleeping, you skip meals and get into poor eating habits. You start taking quick snacks instead of regular meals. Sometimes you just rely on the snacks at the bar. These snacks are often full of salt and cause you health problems. When you rely on snacks you usually become dependent on junk food, and further deteriorate your health. Malnutrition is not uncommon with alcoholics.

2. You become depressed easily: Because of the alcohol and poor eating habits, you find that you get emotionally upset and depresses easily. When this happens you mind starts to play tricks on you. You get paranoid and feel that people are after you and hide out alone most of the time. Your depression can get quite dangerous and even lead to suicide.

3. You cannot sleep properly: alcohol induced sleep destroys your natural sleeping cycles. When these are disrupted you will find that even after sleeping you will still feel tired. This will affect you mentally and physically. Your sleep patterns get disrupted and you feel tired and upset when you are awake. You do not function well mentally or physically. This affects your work, social life and family life. It will also seriously affect your schoolwork.

4. You experience memory loss: This is a sign that your mind is getting affected by your drinking. Alcohol is a type of drug and slowly but surely will destroy your mind. Memory loss and a decrease in cognitive thinking is a sign of this. You should get help as soon as possible as this will get worse over time.

5. You experience hallucinations: This is when alcohol is really affecting your brain. When you start seeing things that are not really there, and experiencing odd sounds and sensations, you should really get help. By this time your physical health will be deteriorating as well.