#YouthTheSoberNotAbuser

“People of Juvenescence, Alcohol may be cool, but don’t let it take you as a whole.”

The youth are the hope of our nation. They are the future pioneers of this modern generation. They are the essential elements that will create an impact in the whole society. Nevertheless, youth are getting.

“The chains of alcohol are too light to be felt until they are too strong to be broken.” (Gluck, 2013)

Alcohol… a substance fully known in this world. There are different forms that are found in different products. Some are for cleaning purposes and medicinal treatments, and also found even on fuels. This is a material that should not be taken, yet people, especially the youth, are so addicted since this is a kind of drug that’s so popular to them, found on different beverages that they already drink. It is true since we can see it literally on every corner such as groceries and other stalls.

Under the Philippine law, it sets the minimum legal drinking age at 18 but underage drinking is widespread,” [written by Joyce P. Valbuena in a report for Health Action Information Network (HAIN)]. Most young people get alcohol from home with or without their parents' permission. They know how to obtain alcohol as they are able to get it from their peers or they can discreetly buy for themselves. Why they drink? It is because the youth had used to treat this as a routine, without knowing the possible causes and consequences that they may experience.

Alcoholism is not the answer to make you something different… something to make you pleasing to anybody’s eyes. Actually, it is the one that folly makes you different.

Well, it is true that alcohol can provide you the temporary satisfaction, but have you thought of the possible effects on your body, to yourself, to your neighborhood, and to your family and friends? Lots of negative results that can lead you to something horrible? Are you happy – that the alcohol slowly manipulates you?

Maybe you’ll say yes, and other people would support you, but let us make you know of everything about this kind of hobby. This awareness will make the youth realize something terrible, where the alcohol intake (which should be only taken in moderation), when put into abuse, also abuses you. Would you let it conquer you, and slowly dissolve everything that’s important to you?

A study conducted by Johnson (2016) showed that as adolescents get older, they tend to drink more. The prevalence of drinking by boys and girls is similar, although, among older adolescents, boys binge more than girls.

It shows that as early as the 8th Grade, the youth is already engaged to several drugs, and the thing that’s alarming is that alcohol is the one dominating the records. Both men and women, as years gone by, increases the percentage of being engaged in alcohol. More youngsters are now drinking than in the recent past.  In a survey conducted by the University of the Philippines, 60 percent of Filipino youths today are drinking alcoholic beverages. The cases of alcoholic drinking among the youngsters [between the ages of 13 to 21 years old] have reached an alarming level compared to the recent past.

Men are more likely to use alcohol than women. Alcohol has different health consequences for men and women. Long-term drinking is more likely to have negative health effects for women compared to men, even if the woman drinks less for a shorter period of time.

You may wonder why people drink. People have been drinking alcohol for thousands of years. Drinking has become part of many cultures and religious celebrations, and some people enjoy the taste or the way it makes them feel.

However, there are times when people drink alcohol for the wrong reasons. Some of these reasons include:

• It seems like “everyone else is doing it”
• Being pressured by friends, classmates, or older siblings
• Avoiding dealing with feelings of loneliness, anxiety, or depression
• Feeling more social or outgoing at parties

Seeing someone who is drinking might increase your curiosity, especially when the person has the same age as you. They say that when you drink, it makes you cool and pleasing to anybody, but that’s a false assumption that they still continue to believe.

The scientific term for the alcohol that they drink is “ethyl alcohol” or “ethanol”. Alcohol is produced by a process called fermentation. It is found in beer, liquor, and wine. There are other types of alcohol as well, many of which can lead to severe sickness or even death. They’re found in cleaning products, rubbing alcohol, some medications, antifreeze, or in fuel, and are NOT for drinking.

Alcohol is a substance that impairs judgment when consumed and can lead to drinking and driving, unintended sexual activity, violence or other dangerous behaviors. These related incidences continue to increase, meaning higher probabilities that the youth is engaged.

A standard drink can be a small glass of wine, one bottle of beer or a splash of Russian vodka.  For Filipinos then, the index would be beer bottles, taking in five or more in two hours could be binge drinking. Too much consumption of it has different effects on the body such as in the brain, heart, liver, and pancreases. Alcohol affects the brain’s communication pathways and it can affect the way the brain looks and works. Drinking a lot of alcohol can damage the heart, it might cause of cardiomyopathy, arrhythmias, stroke, and high blood pressure. Heavy drinking takes a bad effect on the liver and it can lead to liver inflammations like Steatosis, Alcoholic hepatitis, Fibrosis, and Cirrhosis. Drinking too much alcohol may affect the pancreas to produce toxic substances that might lead to pancreatitis, it is a dangerous inflammation of blood vessels that prevents proper digestion.

Alcohol is a depressant. This means that it slows down activity in the brain. Alcohol doesn’t kill brain cells but it does interrupt the connection between the neurons, such as the part of the brain that is involved in motor coordination. According to some scientists, they used to think that people’s brains were fully developed by the age of 10, but now there’s evidence that shows that the brain isn’t fully developed until people are in their 20’s, or even 30’s. What this means for you as a teen is that your brain is still developing, and alcohol could impair that development.

Alcohol can do something good for your body. However, too much can put you into risk. Symptoms of alcohol poisoning include: feeling confused, throwing up, having seizures, breathing too slowly, blue-ish or very pale skin, low body temperature, and Passing out (and not able to be awakened)

Drinking to excess has both short- and long-term effects on your body. Short term risks of drinking alcohol are mostly related to impaired judgment and include injuries, such as motor vehicle crashes and falls, violence, including sexual assault, or risky sexual behaviors.

Additionally, long term alcohol use can lead to chronic illnesses such as:

• High blood pressure
• Heart disease
• Liver disease, including cancer
• Cancer of the breast, mouth, throat, esophagus, liver, or colon
• Depression and anxiety
• Alcohol dependence or alcoholism

Alcohol abuse is a serious problem. It can lead to physical dependency. It may affect nearly every organ in the body. Alcohol intoxication causes loss of coordination can lead to car accidents, other injuries, and risky behavior. Alcohol abuse can lead to sexual problems, difficulty sleeping, anxiety, periods of depression, and high blood pressure. It may temporarily relieve any pain, but the consequence is much greater that you don’t want to happen.

Quitting is not the hardest part. The hardest part is trying to remove alcohol in your life. Yet, other people can recover from not drinking alcohol. There are a lot of reasons why they want to stop drinking alcohol. Some of the people want to stop because of their health condition, they are drinking prescriptions, religious reasons or they want to change their lifestyle.

#YouthTheSoberNotAbuser  #mnsnsmsy