Effects of Alcohol
Effects of alcohol research papers from Paper Masters can be custom ordered to include any aspect of the effects of alcohol you need explored. This means that a science research paper can look at the biology of the effects and explicate how alcohol effects the body.
The terms "alcohol" and "nervous system" can be defined as follows. With respect to alcohol, there are two forms of it, methyl alcohol (CH3OH), and ethyl alcohol (C2H5OH). It is the latter that human beings consume, methyl alcohol being a poisonous substance . There is a vast variety of ethyl alcohol containing products and there are very few societies in which it is not, legally or illegally, consumed. The term "nervous system" is defined by an author as, "the system of nerve fibers, nerve cells, and other nervous tissue in a person or animal by means of which impulses are received and interpreted ." Components of the central nervous system are the brain and the spinal cord.
Alcohol and the Brain
Alcohol effects the brain in several ways depending on the level of consumption. One research paper notes that alcohol is considered by many to be a stimulant, but that it is, in reality, a depressant. In low doses it depresses the regions of the brain which serve to inhibit behavior. This suppression of inhibitions is what gives the drug its reputation as a stimulant. However, in high doses the drug acts to not only depress brain areas that inhibit behavior, but the entire central nervous system as a whole. An author states, "So at low doses alcohol appears to be a stimulant, until its actual depressant effects become visible as the dose increases ."
The immediate effects of alcohol consumption vary greatly according to the drinker and the amount that he/she drinks. Research papers from Paper Masters state that people generally drink for a variety of reasons including relaxation, sleep inducement, stress relief, to feel romantic, for pain relief, or to deliberately become intoxicated. Moderate drinking is not known to cause any long term health problem in most cases and there has even been some research to suggest that light to moderate drinking has a positive effect on over all health, but such research is controversial .
Long Term Effects of Drinking Alcohol
There is, however, no controversy over the long-term effects of heavy drinking. The most severe illness likely to be encountered by a chronic heavy drinker is the often-fatal disease, cirrhosis of the liver, but there are a plethora of other health problems associated with long-term excessive drinking. Your research paper on the effects of alcohol can include a lengthy list of conditions associated with such behavior and this list includes:
- Cardiovascular problems
- Neuropsychiatric effects including:
- Problems associated with nutrition
- In women, menstrual abnormalities and infertility
Behaviors associated with alcohol consumption, once again, vary with dose. Some people become more friendly and sentimental under the influence of moderate amounts of alcohol. Large doses can produce aggressive behavior. Very large doses produce a kind of stupor. Long-term effects of excessive alcohol consumption can produce a host of behavioral problems including an inability to function well in the work place. Newhouse notes that one estimate suggests that 500 million workdays are missed in the US each year because of alcoholism.