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Although smoking is best known for causing lung cancer, this habit is also among the biggest threats to your skin. Next to sun and chemicals, tobacco is one of the major accelerators of your skin natural aging process, and it is thought to be one of the fastest acting threats. Young people start showing signs of early skin aging after as little as 10 years of smoking. If you think this is a long period of time, you should keep in mind that many young people start smoking in their teen years (16-19 year olds) and are still below 30 when the first signs appear. Smoking causes the narrowing of blood vessels throughout your body, including those that supply the outermost layers of the skin with oxygen and nutrients. Thus, your skin is slowly starved of vital oxygen and other substances, such as immunity-boosting Vitamin A. Alcohol has a similar effect by destroying the body supply of Vitamin A. This will lower the role of skin as the first line of defense against bacteria and infections. Getting help for alcohol addiction or abuse: Once the problem with alcohol addiction or abuse is acknowledged and accepted, the road to recovery may begin. There are plenty of local and national treatment centers and resources that may be tapped for help, either as a source of information or as a means for rehabilitation. There are several approaches to the treatment of alcoholism, depending on how it is viewed. However, most treatments tend to focus on encouraging people to stop alcohol intake. It is often supplemented by social networking and group supports, along with life training, to effectively help alcoholics from using alcohol again. Since alcohol, like drugs, often involves a combination of factors that lead to misuse and addiction, these factors are often considered first before a course of treatment is prescribed. It is often more effective in helping in alcohol treatment and in preventing future relapses. Tests on animals and humans have shown that small doses of alcohol can reduce the stress response. This may fit in with the idea of a glass of red wine with a meal being good for you. Tests on humans have shown that a small dose will improve the ability to solve a complex problem. However too much alcohol is shown to increase the stress response. This is especially the case with the hormone adrenaline. Too much alcohol will increase the amount of adrenaline secreted into the body. Over time this will be bad for the body and too much alcohol may diminish a persons ability to function normally and in control. It seems that, like most things, alcohol is fine in moderation but can be a source of more stress if too much is consumed than a way to reduce stress. More than 9 out of 10 people in the United Kingdom drink alcohol. It is part of our culture and we feel comfortable with it. Moderate drinking doesn't cause many problems. However, over the last 30 years, society has become wealthier and alcohol has become cheaper. We are starting to drink at a younger age and we are drinking more. More than 1 in 4 men, and about 1 in 7 women are drinking more than is medically safe for them. According to the Department of Health, around 1 in 8 men is physically addicted to alcohol. Alcohol is like many other drugs that act on the brain, such as tranquillisers. If we drink it regularly, we find that it has less effect on us. We need to drink more and more to get the effect we want. This is called 'tolerance' and is a powerful part of becoming addicted to alcohol. Drinking has become a habit when you or a loved one uses alcohol to relieve anxiety, relax or to get to sleep. The use of alcohol has become a habit if you consistently drink so that you will feel more comfortable in social situations. When drinking is used as a way to avoid thinking about unpleasant or sad situations, it may have become a habit. The same is true if you spend quite a bit of time socializing with other drinkers. There may come a time when the consumption of alcohol begins to take over your life. One sign that this is happening is if you worry about having enough alcohol for the evening or the weekend. If you hide alcohol or purchase it at various stores so that people won't know how much alcohol you are consuming you may have reached the point of having alcohol take over your life. When you are at a social gathering do you try to avoid letting others know how much alcohol you are drinking? Do you attempt to get extra drinks and hope that others will not see you doing it? Alcoholism is a chronic disease which means it lasts a lifetime. A person who is an alcoholic will keep drinking even though serious family, health and legal problems develop. Two main things put a person at risk for developing alcoholism; a person's genes and his or her lifestyle. It is true that the risk for developing alcoholism tends to run in families. It does not mean that if a person has a father or mother who is an alcoholic they themselves will become an alcoholic. The genes we inherit partly explain the pattern of alcoholism in families but lifestyle also plays a part. Other things that may increase your risk for alcoholism are the people you spend time with, the stresses in your life and the amount of alcohol that is available on a day-to-day basis. There are also people who think that alcoholism can be cured. They find it hard to understand why an alcoholic can't just go the doctor or through treatment, get better and be cured. While there are millions of recovering alcoholics who have not had a drink for weeks, months or years, there is still a chance that a relapse can occur. There are psychical and mental diseases. Alcoholism and drug addiction are mental diseases. It falls into the category of obsession - compulsion disorder. Is O.C.B. classified as a disease? There is evidence of studies that has been going on for years that show it can be hereditary. Studies in the 90's show there is a gene that predisposes one to be a alcoholic, but they have a chose. Sometimes all it takes is a few times drinking to unleash the obsession, the compulsion to have a drink comes next. Over time that O.C. becomes stronger and they give up the ability to stop on their own. Some people do stop on their own, very few, most continue on the road where their lives are centered on getting and using more. They may cover it up with denial,that "I can handle it" or " I can stop when I want to", as they pour another drink. Some people feel they control their drinking by only having a few when they come home from work, but through out the day that's all they think about (obsession) the compulsion is when they come home from work "to unwind", and they may do this for years and never miss work and their life is not unmanageable, They are called functional alcoholics. Over time they will be taking "liquid lunches", just a few to hold them over, or it may be in their desk,locker or car. It is not a personality or weak will person as to why they drink. Look how many presidents, C.E.O.'s, famous people are alcoholics.?
Article Source: http://www.myaddirectory.com
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