Alcohol and Drugs: Deceptive Risk in Life, Health, Happiness & Destiny
Moderate drinking causes brain atrophy in 30-year study; cancer, heart & dementia risks; CBS News. “Alcohol is an example of what drugs do,” says physician
“Alcohol has many effects on the body that science is just beginning to understand,” says Richard Ruhling, MD, who taught Health Science at Loma Linda Univ. He says, “Alcohol distorts our perception of life, happiness and destiny.” http://www.
We all know that heavy drinking can lead to serious health problems, including risks of cancer, heart disease and dementia, but new research suggests that even moderate levels are dangerous. (CBS News)
Alcohol makes the blood sticky so blood pressure goes up. The stickiness causes the red blood cells to clump (agglutinate) and this causes mini-strokes in the most delicate parts of the brain, the frontal lobes where we reason and make our decisions.
Prof. Melvin Knisely, Medical College of S. Carolina, was featured in a film, “Just One” in which he identified students who had two drinks the night before and those who had none by looking at the blood vessels in their eyes. He concluded damage begins with the first drink.
His research was published in Reader’s Digest decades ago, and if you don’t remember it, maybe you’ve been drinking!
More than any other part of the body, the brain is who we are. Do we want to lose it bit by bit? There are no pain receptors in the brain to alert us to sudden loss of tissue. We just don’t remember or make the mental connections. We can lose inhibitions and do things we would not otherwise do.
Friends or family of any problem drinker can see how the drinking affects that person when he or she doesn’t see it. A pamphlet published by Alcoholics Anonymous is titled, “Alcoholism is a Merry-Go-Round Named Denial.”
The bigger the problem, the greater the denial. This aspect of alcohol was noted in the Proverbs of Solomon: “Wine is a mocker; strong drink is raging; whoever is deceived is not wise.” Prov 20:1.
The deception is acute in colleges and universities where young people think to be socially accepted, they must join the party, but with disastrous results. Most parents have experienced the pain of teenagers losing virginity and making poor choices involving life and destiny. Universities have peer pressures that most young people can’t handle.
Alcohol is the oldest drug in history and it is the gateway to other drugs and bad choices. Just as smoking and drinking go together, so do other forms of a negative lifestyle, though it doesn’t seem that way when a young person starts down that road.
Drugs can take you farther than you intended to go; they can keep you longer than you intended to stay, and they will cost you more in life than you expected to pay.
Parents know this, but they often fail to see the parallel with prescription drugs that would not be necessary if they made better choices of eating.
Our bodies are built from what we put in our mouths. If we have a problem, we did it to ourselves, but the good news is, it’s reversible if we make better choices.
In Executive Health during a yearly physical, one man said sugar bothered his joints. Another said cheese made his joints ache. A third said meat gave him arthritis. These were smart men who had figured it out.
We can do so if we don’t run to the doctor asking for something we saw on TV which muddies the water so we don’t know if changing our diet is helping. Fruits, vegetables and a short period of abstaining from animal products or favorite foods might surprise us with answers. If you already take prescriptions, ask your pharmacist for a package insert so you can know what to expect sooner or later and look for alternatives.
Richard Ruhling, MD was board-certified in Internal Medicine, but now sees medicine as a leading cause of illness and death as his website above shows. He offers more information at http://RichardRuhling.com where visitors can see a short dvd featuring Dr. Esselstyn, cardiologist from the Cleveland Clinic.
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