If you are caught up in the habits of smoking and excessive drinking, now is a good time to quit. The sooner, the better, for your health and the well-being of those around you. When you stop smoking and stop drinking, your body begins to recover and you will start to experience more energy and better health.
Those who drink excessively experience many health problems. Although one has not developed dependence on alcohol yet, drinking alcohol excessively has its immediate effects on someone's health as a result of binge drinking like unintentional injuries, injuries related to traffic, burns, drowning, and unintentional firearm injuries.
Alcohol has also been found to lessen the inhibitions of a conscious mind, thereby increasing the prevalence of violence and abuse, regardless of location. Around 35% of victims of domestic violence and child maltreatment revealed that their offender was under the influence of alcohol during the time of the violence.
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Did you know that smoking is often related to alcoholism because the two seem to complement each other chemically, as far as their effects to the brain is concerned. In the United States, around 75,000 deaths are attributed to alcohol abuse, making alcoholism the third leading cause of death in relation to a person's lifestyle. In fact, alcohol abuse is responsible for 2 million hospitalizations back in 2003.
So one might wonder why alcoholic drinks differ in their effects. In U.S. measurement, a standard alcoholic drink contains about 13.7 grams (equal to 0.5 ounces or 1.2 tablespoons) of pure alcohol. And often, this amount is generally found in 12-ounces of regular beer (or wine cooler), 8-ounces of malt liquor, 5-ounces of wine, and 1.5 ounces of 80-proof distilled liquor such as rum, vodka, gin, and whiskey.
A healthy intake of alcohol should be limited to only one drink per day for women and two for men. Not all people who drink are alcoholics but that does not eliminate the occurrence of abuse. There are two patterns of drinking that a person can get involved in: binge drinking and heavy drinking. Excessive drinking can be described as either of both or a combination.
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Among the illnesses attributed to smoking, stroke is the third leading cause of death in the United States. Each year, approximately 600,000 incidents of stroke occur in the U.S. and 30 percent from this number result to mortality.
Smoking is one of those habits that jeopardize a person's life at the same time result in the $167 billion every year in health insurance costs, including $92 billion lost to productivity due to mortality; and $75.5 billion in excess medical expenditures.
Pregnant women who smoke also jeopardize the health of the unborn child. Cigarette smoking has been linked to premature labor, low-birth weight newborns, and sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). These incidents could have been prevented if the number of smokers in the U.S. and elsewhere in the world is reduced.
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