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Alcoholism is the continued drinking of alcohol despite it causing problems. Some definitions require evidence of dependence and withdrawal. Problematic use of alcohol has been mentioned in the earliest historical records. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimated there were 283 million people with alcohol use disorders worldwide as of 2016. The term alcoholism was first coined in 1852, but alcoholism and alcoholic are sometimes considered stigmatizing and to discourage seeking treatment, so diagnostic terms such as alcohol use disorder or alcohol dependence are often used instead in a clinical context.
Sleep is a state of reduced mental and physical activity in which consciousness is altered and certain sensory activity is inhibited. During sleep, there is a marked decrease in muscle activity and interactions with the surrounding environment. While sleep differs from wakefulness in terms of the ability to react to stimuli, it still involves active brain patterns, making it more reactive than a coma or disorders of consciousness.
Insomnia, also known as sleeplessness, is a sleep disorder where people have trouble sleeping. They may have difficulty falling asleep, or staying asleep for as long as desired. Insomnia is typically followed by daytime sleepiness, low energy, irritability, and a depressed mood. It may result in an increased risk of accidents of all kinds as well as problems focusing and learning. Insomnia can be short term, lasting for days or weeks, or long term, lasting more than a month. The concept of the word insomnia has two possibilities: insomnia disorder (ID) and insomnia symptoms, and many abstracts of randomized controlled trials and systematic reviews often underreport on which of these two possibilities the word insomnia refers to.
Alcoholic liver disease (ALD), also called alcohol-related liver disease (ARLD), is a term that encompasses the liver manifestations of alcohol overconsumption, including fatty liver, alcoholic hepatitis, and chronic hepatitis with liver fibrosis or cirrhosis.
The long-term effects of alcohol have been extensively researched. The health effects of long-term alcohol consumption on health vary depending on the amount consumed. Even light drinking poses health risks, but small amounts of alcohol may also have health benefits. Alcoholism causes severe health consequences which outweigh any potential benefits.
Drinking culture is the set of traditions and social behaviours that surround the consumption of alcoholic beverages as a recreational drug and social lubricant. Although alcoholic beverages and social attitudes toward drinking vary around the world, nearly every civilization has independently discovered the processes of brewing beer, fermenting wine, and distilling spirits, among other practices. Many countries have developed their own regional cultures based on unique traditions around the fermentation and consumption of alcohol, which may also be known as a beer culture, wine culture etc. after a particularly prominent type of drink.
Non-24-hour sleep–wake disorder is one of several chronic circadian rhythm sleep disorders (CRSDs). It is defined as a "chronic steady pattern comprising [...] daily delays in sleep onset and wake times in an individual living in a society". Symptoms result when the non-entrained (free-running) endogenous circadian rhythm drifts out of alignment with the light–dark cycle in nature. Although this sleep disorder is more common in blind people, affecting up to 70% of the totally blind, it can also affect sighted people. Non-24 may also be comorbid with bipolar disorder, depression, and traumatic brain injury. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) has provided CRSD guidelines since 2007 with the latest update released in 2015.
Slow-wave sleep (SWS), often referred to as deep sleep, is the third stage of non-rapid eye movement sleep (NREM), where electroencephalography activity is characterised by slow delta waves.
In a 2018 study on 599,912 drinkers, a roughly linear association was found with alcohol consumption and a higher risk of stroke, coronary artery disease excluding myocardial infarction, heart failure, fatal hypertensive disease, and fatal aortic aneurysm, even for moderate drinkers. The American Heart Association states that people who are currently non-drinkers should not start drinking alcohol.
Alcohol has a number of effects on health. Short-term effects of alcohol consumption include intoxication and dehydration. Long-term effects of alcohol include changes in the metabolism of the liver and brain, several types of cancer and alcohol use disorder. Alcohol intoxication affects the brain, causing slurred speech, clumsiness, and delayed reflexes. There is an increased risk of developing an alcohol use disorder for teenagers while their brain is still developing. Adolescents who drink have a higher probability of injury including death.
Recommendations for consumption of the drug alcohol vary from recommendations to be alcohol-free to daily or weekly drinking "safe limits" or maximum intakes. Many governmental agencies and organizations have issued guidelines. These recommendations concerning maximum intake are distinct from any legal restrictions, for example countries with drunk driving laws or countries that have prohibited alcohol. To varying degrees, these recommendations are also distinct from the scientific evidence, such as the short-term effects of alcohol consumption and long-term effects of alcohol consumption.
The modern disease theory of alcoholism states that problem drinking is sometimes caused by a disease of the brain, characterized by altered brain structure and function. Today, alcohol use disorder (AUD) is used as a more scientific and suitable approach to alcohol dependence and alcohol-related problems.
Caffeine-induced sleep disorder is a psychiatric disorder that results from overconsumption of the stimulant caffeine. Caffeine is one of the most widely consumed psychoactive drugs: almost 90% of Americans in a survey consume some type of caffeine each day. "When caffeine is consumed immediately before bedtime or .... throughout the day, sleep onset may be delayed, total sleep time reduced, normal stages of sleep altered, and the quality of sleep decreased." Caffeine reduces slow-wave sleep in the early part of the sleep cycle and can reduce rapid eye movement sleep later in the cycle. Caffeine increases episodes of wakefulness, and high doses in the late evening can increase sleep onset latency. In elderly people, there is an association between use of medication containing caffeine and difficulty in falling asleep.
Alcoholic cardiomyopathy (ACM) is a disease in which the long-term consumption of alcohol leads to heart failure. ACM is a type of dilated cardiomyopathy. The heart is unable to pump blood efficiently, leading to heart failure. It can affect other parts of the body if the heart failure is severe. It is most common in males between the ages of 35 and 50.
Moderation Management (MM) is a secular non-profit organization providing peer-run support groups for anyone who would like to reduce their alcohol consumption. MM was founded in 1994 to create an alternative to Alcoholics Anonymous and similar addiction recovery groups for non-dependent problem drinkers who do not necessarily want to stop drinking, but moderate their amount of alcohol consumed to reduce its detrimental consequences.
A nightcap is a drink taken shortly before bedtime. For example, a small alcoholic beverage or glass of warm milk can supposedly promote a good night's sleep.
The short-term effects of alcohol consumption range from a decrease in anxiety and motor skills and euphoria at lower doses to intoxication (drunkenness), to stupor, unconsciousness, anterograde amnesia, and central nervous system depression at higher doses. Cell membranes are highly permeable to alcohol, so once it is in the bloodstream, it can diffuse into nearly every cell in the body.
The relationship between alcohol and breast cancer is clear: drinking alcoholic beverages, including wine, beer, or liquor, is a risk factor for breast cancer, as well as some other forms of cancer. Drinking alcohol causes more than 100,000 cases of breast cancer worldwide every year. Globally, almost one in 10 cases of breast cancer is caused by women drinking alcoholic beverages. Drinking alcoholic beverages is among the most common modifiable risk factors.
The long-term impact of alcohol on the brain have become a growing area of research focus. While researchers have found that moderate alcohol consumption in older adults is associated with better cognition and well-being than abstinence, excessive alcohol consumption is associated with widespread and significant brain lesions. Other data – including investigated brain-scans of 36,678 UK Biobank participants – suggest that even "light" or "moderate" consumption of alcohol by itself harms the brain, such as by reducing brain grey matter volume. This may imply that alternatives and generally aiming for lowest possible consumption could usually be the advisable approach.
Sleep deprivation – the condition of not having enough sleep – is a common health issue for students in higher education. This issue has several underlying and negative consequences, but there are a few helpful improvements that students can make to reduce its frequency and severity.
References
- 1 2 Feige, B., Scaal, S., Hornyak, M., Gann, H., Riemann, D. Sleep electroencephalographic spectral power after withdrawal from alcohol in alcohol-dependent patients. ALcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research. 2007 Jan; 31 (1): 19-27.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 Roehrs, T., and Roth, T. Sleep, sleepiness, and alcohol use. Alcohol Research & Health. 2001; 25(2):101-109.
- ↑ Stone, B. Sleep and low doses of alcohol. Electroencephalography and Clinical Neurophysiology. 1980; 48: 706-709.
- ↑ Schuckit, M.A. Low level of response to alcohol as a predictor of future alcoholism. Am J Psychiatry. 1994 Feb; 151(2):184-189.
- ↑ Roehrs, T., Papineau, B.A., Rosenthal, L., Roth, T. Ethanol as a hypnotic in insomniacs: self administration and effects on sleep and mood. Neuropsychopharmacology. 1999 Mar; 20(3):279-86, PMID 10063488.
- ↑ Levine, M.E., Duffy, L.K., Bowyer, R.T. Fatigue, sleep, and seasonal hormone levels: implications for drinking behavior in Northern climates. Drugs & Society. 1994; 8(2): 61-70.
- 1 2 Kühlwein, E., Hauger, R.L., Irwin, M.R. Abnormal nocturnal melatonin secretion and disordered sleep in abstinent alcoholics. Biol Psychiatry. 2003; 54: 1437-1443.
- ↑ Danel, T., Libersa, C., Touitou, Y. The effect of alcohol consumption on the circadian control of human core body temperature is time dependent. Am J Physiol Regulatory Integrative Comp Physiol. 2001; 281: R52-R55.
