ALCOHOL AND KORSAKOFF'S SYNDROME

Alcohol and Korsakoff's syndrome

Alcohol and Korsakoff's syndrome

Alcohol has adverse effect on human health and physical conditions. Increasing trend towards using alcohol has been showing its consequences in the form of increasing disorders and health problems. Changes have been made in recent years to regulate the acceptable consumption and purchasing age of alcoholic drinks. Excessive intake of alcohol is the main cause of Korsakoff's syndrome, directly creating biological changes in human growth by affecting nervous system.

Alcoholism and Its Effects

In US Law, regulations have been made in acceptable drinking age. National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) researches reveal that binge drinking increases the health risks. Research conducted by CDCP (Centre for Disease Control and Prevention) to examine the health risks associated with alcoholism showed that alcohol is the major cause of neurological, cardiovascular, psychiatric, and physical health related problems (NIAAA , 2005). Diseases like dementia, nervous stroke, neuropathy, myocardial infarction, cardiomyopathy, depression, anxiety, liver diseases, cirrhosis, cancer, leukemia, hypertension, and gastrointestinal problems are most common problems in US associated with the excessive use of alcohol (Moyer et al., 2002).

Numerous factors play their integrated role in driving the behavior of person for taking alcohol which includes upbringing, social gathering, peer groups, and community norms surrounding a person. Alcohol use trend is increasing in youngsters and teenagers. People between 11 to 20 years of age make 11% share of the total alcohol consumption. Statistics reveal that more than 33million US citizens binge alcohol drinks each year. Alcohol use is more common in people age between 18-34 years old with an average household income of more than $75,000. More than 79,000 deaths have occurred in US due to over dosage of alcohol and diseases caused by alcohol (NIAAA , 2005). There is a fine line of differentiation between alcohol use and alcoholism. Alcoholism refers to behavior when stimulated responses are aroused in a person to consume alcohol beyond the acceptable level. It defines the actions when a person becomes addicted to using alcohol in any circumstances. Main reasons of increasing number of highway accidents, and mortality rate is due to enriched behavior towards using alcohol. Acceptable level of alcohol set by US govt. is 0.6 ounces (Robertson, 1992).

Alcohol abuse refers to excessive use of alcohol in drinks beyond the absorbent capacity of a person (Krabbendam et al., 2000). It generally is if a person consumes more than 0.6ounces of alcohol. Statistics reveals that more than 8.5% US Citizens are alcoholics and abuse alcohol (NIAAA , 2005). Alcoholism is the major cause of latent health problems in many people. Generally, the capacity of females and teenagers is less compare to an average health man to absorb the content of alcohol in blood. Alcohol directly impact the nervous system and brain functioning is reduced due to unconditional stoppage of reflex actions. This is the main reason why many people who consume alcohol become less responsive in reflex actions over a period of ...