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Alcohol in its pure form is a highly poisonous chemical. It is a toxin that kills living things, from human beings to single cells and microorganisms, which is why it is used to preserve food and to sterilise. It sterilises by killing the germs it comes into contact with. It doesn’t just kill germs, it kills all living cells. In fact, for humans the toxicity is increased because in order for it to be cleared from the body it has to be metabolised to acetaldehyde, an even more toxic substance. Any food or drink contaminated with the amount of acetaldehyde that a unit of alcohol produces would
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Essentially our blood contains red blood cells, and it is these cells that carry oxygen and other nutrients to our muscles and organs. People who are physically fit have a greater concentration of red blood cells in their blood, and these tend to be younger, which means they are better at carrying oxygen. This is one of the main characteristic of ‘fitness’.
If we are regularly pushing our heart rate up without any related physical activity then each pump of the heart is delivering too much oxygen, so the red blood cells will space out and their life span will increase and consequently they will carry less oxygen.
Alcohol can slow the heart rate down while we are drinking it, but it sends it through the roof when the alcohol wears off. This is yet more proof of the physiological effect of drinking; that the stimulants released by the brain to counter the depressive effects of the alcohol remain after the alcohol has been processed.
Physical well-being is very closely related to mental resilience. It is also worth bearing in mind that this is just one aspect of the health effects of drinking; it doesn’t even factor in the effects of the sleep deprivation, the constant poisoning, the increased blood pressure, and the effect of the alcohol related nutritional deficiencies, which we will come on to shortly.
The fact is that whoever you are as a drinker, it is not the real you. It is a poor quality you. It is a tired, irritable and overly emotional you. Essentially, it is not a very pleasant you.
Alcohol takes too much credit. It takes credit for situations that it has contributed nothing too, or has even actually detracted from.
