Adults
Overall, consumption of alcohol is less harmful to adults than it is for adolescents. However, alcoholism can still cause a great deal of harm to adults. The following factors influence the effects of adult alcoholism.
Increased Sensitivity
Many adults find they are not able to drink the same amount of alcohol as they were able to when they were younger. Due to the increase in sensitivity, some adults find that they reach a point of blacking out more often because they struggle to regulate their alcohol consumption. One or two drinks may not have affected your sobriety level in the past, but may lead you to the point of intoxication now.
This sensitivity increase can lead to many harmful effects of alcohol setting in sooner than you anticipated. It is vital to be mindful of your body and sensitivity levels changing. Ensure you are drinking plenty of water when consuming alcohol to avoid surpassing your tolerance level.
Medication Contraindications
For older adults, the likelihood of needing to take medications regularly is increased compared to when they were younger. Many medications can have severe side effects when combined with alcohol. Older adults who regularly take medications may forget about the potential risks their medications have when combined with alcohol. Drinking consistently with these medications can cause long-term physical damage to your body.
Increased Health Problems
Many long-term health problems can come into play due to alcoholism. The following health issues have a greater chance of developing with heavy alcohol consumption as an adult, including:
- High blood pressure
- Diabetes
- Heart failure
- Liver failure
- Mood disorders
- Long-term memory loss
These health risks are possible for adolescents to experience through consistent alcoholism as well. They are more likely to occur if the alcoholism continues past adolescence and into adulthood. The longer the act of heavy alcohol consumption is performed, the more likely these severe health problems are to occur.
Adolescents
Adolescents are more prone to side effects of alcoholism because their brains have not fully developed. Our frontal lobe does not fully develop until the age of 25. Consuming alcohol before this age can lead to many long-term problems with overall functioning.
Heightened Risk-Taking
The stage of adolescence is a time of self-discovery and trying new things. As children are working their way into adulthood, they have many aspects to sort out to determine who they are as a person. The challenge of self-discovery often leads adolescents to a higher level of risk-taking or engagement in risky behavior. Unfortunately, this predisposition to risk-taking heightens the chance for unwise decisions about alcohol use, and alcohol use further predisposes people to other risky behaviors.
Adolescents often have a curious state of mind, working toward a greater understanding of the world around them. While this curiosity can be a great thing in many areas of life, the likelihood that adolescents will want to try alcohol or other substances is unfortunately also increased.
Impaired Development
Adolescents have been through the majority of their growing stage in life. They have experienced puberty and may feel that they are grown to an adult level. While this is mainly true, there are aspects of an adolescent’s body that are still developing. For example, the frontal lobe of the brain is not fully developed until the age of 25. Heavy consumption of alcohol may affect the ability of the frontal lobe to develop to its full potential and cause cognitive issues down the road.
Memory Loss
Consistent levels of alcohol consumption at an adolescent age can affect the hippocampus’s ability to retain memory. While drinking alcohol, the brain has a hard time retaining information and creating memories of the situation. With long-term consumption, the hippocampus can lose its ability to restore and create memories. Even levels of spatial awareness can be affected.
Future Alcoholism
Engaging in consistent drinking behaviors and dealing with alcoholism as an adolescent increases the likelihood of continuing alcoholism in the future as an adult. It is crucial to recognize if you are reaching the point of alcoholism as an adolescent and be mindful of your current drinking habits to prevent them from becoming established habits in your adult life.
If you are already at the point of alcoholism, find a recovery program and work toward sobriety before the habits become a life-long problem for you. Waiting to work through recovery until later in your adult life will only increase the likelihood of severe health effects and will make the process of recovery much more difficult. Consistently reinforced behavior is hard to counteract. Receiving help to quit this habit as soon as possible can make the recovery process much more effective.
Alcoholism has many adverse effects on physical and mental functioning. The way that alcohol affects our body differs in some ways through the phases of our development. This article outlines the main differences between alcoholism for adolescents compared to adults, outlining increased risks for both age groups and potential effects that alcohol consumption may have. Adults often have to be more mindful of their sensitivity to the substance as well as the combination of alcohol with other medications. Adolescents need to be mindful of their increased risk potential, possible impairments in their development, and potential memory loss. These aspects are essential to consider if you are at risk for alcoholism so you can avoid the potential long-term effects. To learn more about the effects of alcoholism in adults compared to adolescents, reach out to Dream Recovery today at (949) 732-1960.
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