Alcoholism Affects Everyone

Alcoholism Affects Everyone

Alcoholism Affects Everyone
Reading Level

	edHelper's suggested reading level:	grades 6 to 8
	Flesch-Kincaid grade level:	8.29

Vocabulary

	challenging words:		Al-Anon, cirrhosis, impulsive, short-term, suicide, defensive, alcoholic, anxiety, withdrawal, tolerance, alcoholism, coping, dependent, unsafe, long-term, possibility
	content words:		Alcoholics Anonymous

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Alcoholism Affects Everyone
By Jennifer Kenny

¹     Do you know what the most widely abused drug in our country is? Alcohol is. What happens when a person drinks too much? Many unsafe things can occur. There are many short-term effects including nausea, memory loss, and loss of judgment. There are many long-term effects as well including damage to the heart, brain damage, and cirrhosis of the liver. Death is always a possibility if too much alcohol is consumed, whether it is at one time or over a long period of time.

²     Some people abuse alcohol by drinking too much, too often, and many times inappropriately. Others, though, may do the same thing but go beyond just craving alcohol. They suffer from alcoholism, a disease in which a person is physically and emotionally addicted to the substance.

³     How does alcoholism develop? It develops in stages. There are four steps in fact: problem drinking, tolerance, dependence, and alcoholism. The first stage, problem drinking, often begins as social drinking and then goes wrong. Instead of drinking only as a part of a social situation (like on a date), an individual starts to abuse alcohol to avoid boredom, depression, or other problems. The more the individual drinks, the more the person becomes tolerant to the alcohol. Now the person needs to drink more to feel the same effect. In order to drink even more, the person often neglects other people and activities in his life. Gradually, the person's body becomes physically dependent on the alcohol. If the individual doesn't drink, he may experience withdrawal symptoms such as shaking or sweating. At the last stage, the person is addicted. He has lost control, is frequently drunk, and must drink alcohol more than anything else in life.

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