(Explanation for the first bullet: cancer of the mouth and throat)
Young individuals may believe that any health consequences of drinking are so far off in the future that
they are not worth worrying about. The frequency of persons in their twenties passing away from liver
disease as a result of heavy drinking in their teens has, however, increased significantly.
Alcohol is the second biggest risk for cancer after smoking. If you regularly drink above the weekly
alcohol limits, you're at greater risk of developing:
mouth cancer
throat cancer (upper throat)
oesophageal cancer (food pipe)
laryngeal cancer (voice box)
colon cancer
breast cancer
bowel cancer
liver cancer
(Explanation for the 2nd bullet: Sexual and mental….)
Drinking alcohol lowers people’s inhibitions, and makes them more likely to do things that they would
not normally do. Young people are particularly at risk because at their stage of life, they are still testing
the boundaries of what is acceptable behaviour.
One in five girls (and one in ten boys) aged 14 to 15 goes further than they wanted to in a sexual
experience after drinking alcohol. In the most serious cases, alcohol could lead to them becoming the
victim of a sexual assault.
(Explanation for the 3rd bullet: liver cirrhosis and heart disease…)
Fat deposits develop in your liver if you drink too much alcohol. This can inflame the liver and cause
alcoholic hepatitis, which can result in liver failure and death.
Drinking too much alcohol can permanently scar and damage the liver, resulting in liver cirrhosis. This
increases the risk of liver cancer.
A woman’s liver takes longer to break down alcohol and also longer to repair when damaged.
(Explanation for the 4th bullet: drinking alcohol in adolescence can harm the development of the
brain.)
Alcohol can damage your brain. Brain damage affects your:
behaviour
memory
ability to learn
Alcohol is very harmful to young people because their brains are still developing.
If you’re a regular heavy drinker, you risk:
permanent brain damage
mental health problems
alcoholism
(Explanation for Alcohol slows down…)
Research indicates some people, including young people, drink alcohol to help them cope with stress,
anxiety and depression, or situations they would otherwise find difficult to manage.
A glass of wine or a beer may help you unwind after a trying or stressful day, but over time it can lead to
more tension, anxiety, and depression as well as more alcohol usage. This is due to the fact that alcohol
alters the brain, which causes a depletion of the chemicals in our brains that naturally alleviate anxiety.
As a result, we can experience more tension, worry, or depression. We might then believe that we need
more alcohol to help us deal with these intense sensations of discomfort.
(Explanation for Alcohol slows down…)
Research indicates some people, including young people, drink alcohol to help them cope with stress,
anxiety and depression, or situations they would otherwise find difficult to manage.
While a glass of wine or a beer after a stressful or difficult day might help you relax, in the long-term it
can contribute to increased stress, anxiety and depression, and increase overall alcohol use. This is
because alcohol changes the brain and this leads to depleting the chemicals in our brains that help
reduce anxiety naturally. As a result, we can be left feeling even more stressed, anxious or depressed,
and then feel we need more alcohol to help cope with these overwhelming feelings of anxiety.
Research has found that those who reported self-medicating their mood by drinking alcohol have a
greater likelihood of developing alcohol dependence.
ARGUMENT 2:
(Explanation for Alcohol also impacts our ability…)
Alcohol use can play a role in the development and progression of mental health conditions. People
with, or who are at-risk of, a mental health condition, are more likely to use alcohol, and may have
worse symptoms after drinking.
(Explanation for The National Health and Medical Research…)
Because the relationship between alcohol use and mental health conditions goes both ways, a person
who is dependent on alcohol is more likely to develop a mental health condition, and having a mental
health condition can also increase the likelihood of developing alcohol dependence. For example, for
those who experience alcohol dependence, the risk of depression doubles. Similarly, people with anxiety
and depressive disorders are more than four times more likely to experience alcohol dependence,
compared to people who do not experience those disorders.
(Explanation for Alcohol is not just a depressant then…)
Of course, the more you drink, the more impact alcohol will have. With a few drinks, you are probably
more social and outgoing, happy, full of energy, talkative, and fun to be around. A few more and you
may start slurring your speech, falling down, and becoming more aggressive. Even more drinks and you
may blackout and not remember what you did or said the next day.
Drinking alcohol can make it hard for you to think clearly and make good decisions. It can make it more
likely that you will get into potentially harmful or dangerous situations that you will regret the next day.
Alcohol changes brain chemistry, which in turn impacts moods, behaviors, thinking, memory, and
physical movement and bodily functions, which may have costly side effects.
(Explanation for Alcohol also decreases some of the activity…)
When you drink, alcohol makes it harder for the prefrontal cortex to work as it should, disrupting
decision-making and rational thought. In this way, alcohol prompts you to act without thinking about
your actions
ARGUMENT #3
(Explanation for Using alcohol can make it hard for young...)
Not only may alcohol consumption promote aggressiveness, but victimization may lead to excessive
alcohol consumption. Violence may be defined as behavior that intentionally inflicts, or attempts to
inflict, physical harm. Violence falls within the broader category of aggression, which also includes
behaviors that are threatening, hostile, or damaging in a nonphysical way. This Alcohol Alert explores
the association between alcohol consumption, violence, and aggression and the role of the brain in
regulating these behaviors. Understanding the nature of these associations is essential to breaking the
cycle of alcohol misuse and violence.
(Explanation for Alcohol may encourage aggression..)
According to the disinhibition hypothesis, for example, alcohol weakens brain mechanisms that normally
restrain impulsive behaviors, including inappropriate aggression (5). By impairing information
processing, alcohol can also lead a person to misjudge social cues, thereby overreacting to a perceived
threat (6). Simultaneously, a narrowing of attention may lead to an inaccurate assessment of the future
risks of acting on an immediate violent impulse (7).
