BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES - Universitatea de Medicină şi Farmacie

among men who stopped smoking. "On the individual level, the bad news
is that while beneficial compared to continued smoking, cessation of
smoking after midlife could not fully recover the higher risk in mortality
and poorer health-related quality of life seen in smokers," Strandberg said.
Alcohol consuming
Each time someone has a drink, whether it is beer, wine, or liquor,
he or she is consuming alcohol. Alcohol is a drug that is absorbed into the
bloodstream from the stomach and small intestine. It is broken down by
the liver and then eliminated from the body. There are limits to how fast
the liver can break down alcohol and this process cannot be sped up. Until
the liver has time to break down all of the alcohol, the alcohol continues to
circulate in the bloodstream, affecting all of the body's organs, including
the brain. In general, the liver can break down the equivalent of about one
drink per hour and nothing can speed this up--including black coffee.
As alcohol reaches the brain, the person begins to "feel" drunk. The
exact nature of this feeling can vary considerably from individual to
individual and even within the same individual from situation to situation.
What is common to all individuals and all situations is that alcohol
depresses the brain and slows down its ability to control the body and the
mind. This is one reason why alcohol is so dangerous. Alcohol acts like a
sedative and slows down muscle coordination, reflexes, movement, and
speech. If an individual drinks too much alcohol, his or her breathing or
heart rate can reach dangerously low levels or even stop.
Drugs abuse and addiction
People experiment with drugs for many different reasons. Many first
try drugs out of curiosity, to have a good time, because friends are doing it,
or in an effort to improve athletic performance or ease another problem,
such as stress, anxiety, or depression. Use doesn’t automatically lead to
abuse (addiction), and there is no specific level at which drug use moves
from casual to problematic. It varies by individual. But in many case if left
unchecked, the drug is going to win, becoming a disease. Drug abuse is a
disease of the brain, and the drugs change brain chemistry, which results in
a change in behavior. While each drug produces different physical effects,
all abused substances share one thing in common: repeated use can alter
the way the brain looks and functions.
1. Taking a recreational drug causes a surge in levels of dopamine
in brain, which trigger feelings of pleasure. Brain remembers these
feelings and wants them repeated.
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