How Alcohol Effects Metabolism

All the physical and psychological effects of the body caused by alcohol can be seen or felt by the alcoholic abusers at any point of time. But there is some thing which happens internally to the body which the abusers may not feel or see. The metabolism of the body is greatly effected by alcohol, which leads to further complications in later life. There are many things which constitute the body's metabolic activities. The metabolism of carbohydrates, lipids, or fats, proteins are some of them.

• When the intake of alcohol increases, it mainly affects the fat in the body. It converts the fat metabolism in such a way that, the fat burning capacity of the body decreases which results in the accumulation of fat in different places of the body. A study by American journal of clinical research found that consumption of alcohol as low as 24 grams a day reduces the ability of the body to burn fat by 73%.
• Alcohol also interrupts the vitamin and mineral absorption of the body. The food we take contains many nutrients essential by the body. They will be useful only when they are absorbed in to the blood. But alcohol intake reduces the absorption, which results in vitamin deficiency.
• Another disadvantage of having alcohol is, it excretes the excess calcium and magnesium present in the body, which are essential for the body through urine.
• Muscle strength will be lost due to excess alcohol intake and due to reduced fat oxidation you start earning excess fat and body weight.

If the absorption of all the essential elements is becoming less, your immune system gets weakened which makes you a victim of different diseases and the aging process becomes faster.

Importance of Conducting Drug Addiction Tests At Schools

Number of young people who are abusing drugs are growing and this is a major concern for the the society. Students are abusing drugs because of the stress they experience at the school or at the home. This stress is caused because of many reasons like the pressures of performing well in school and getting into a good college, lack of sleep due to school, family life, social life and work. These youngsters are more vulnerable to the drugs and they are easily attracted to drugs as they do not know the adverse consequences of using drugs.

There are many types of drugs which can be abused by the youngsters, among them the most commonly used drugs are Cigarettes, Alcohol and Marijuana. MTF reveals that, by the end of their high school nearly 45 percent of the young Americans have tried cigarettes and one out of five 12th graders were current smokers in 2008. According to MTF, nearly three quarters i.e. 72 percent of the students consumed alcohol by the end of 12th grade in 2008. According to MTF 2008, by the end of their high schooling 42.6 percent of American youth tried Marijuana.

So it is necessary to conduct the drug test in schools in order find out the student drug abusers. There are many types of drug tests and to detect a particular drug, particular drug test can be conducted. For instance, cigarette abuse can be detected in urine for 2 to 4 days using cotinine test, alcohol abusers can be detected using a breath sample and with the help of alcohol breathalyzers. Marijuana can be detected in urine within 3 to 5 days and sometimes up to 30 days depending upon the amount of the drug abused.

If there are any students abusers they are sent for the treatment and this treatment depends on the type of drug and level of the addiction. Parents should also observe their children and if they find any changes in the behavior of the children they can do the test at the home by using simple test kits. Early detection of drug abuse in teens by school authorities and parents helps in preventing the spread of drug abuse among teens.

Know About Marijuana Withdrawal

The group of symptoms which result due to sudden withdrawal of drugs are termed as the withdrawal symptoms. Most of the people think that they can withdraw themselves from using the drugs whenever needed. But they are not aware of the facts that the addiction may lead to many serious situations. If the person suddenly withdraws the usage of the drugs then he/she has to face the adverse situations.

Almost all the drugs will have the same type of withdrawal symptoms. As all the drugs show their reaction on brain. So, many people think that as a benign drug, but they are not aware of the fact that it will lead to the harmful situations if the drug is consumed in higher quantities. The time period for the marijuana treatment will vary depending the factors that how much quantity has been used and time period of the drug usage. During the starting stages of withdrawal one has might relapse because of the uneasiness.

One might start the withdrawal because of feeling isolated a want to make behavioral changes to lead a good life.

The many symptoms which will result as a part of withdrawal are irritability, increase in anger, anxiety, physical tension, decrease in appetite, insomnia, stomach pain, anorexia, restlessness, decrease in the appetite, strange dreams, etc.

Not all the users of the marijuana will suffer withdrawal symptoms. The users who had used marijuana for a long time will suffer with the adverse conditions of marijuana. So, it is suggested by the doctors not to use continuously.

In order to get treated for the withdrawal symptoms one should consult a physician for the treatment. To decrease the withdrawal symptoms, one might even change their mind by doing the activities like setting a goal to reach, talking to the friends who will give a suggestion regarding craving etc.,

Binge Drinking Causes Permanent Brain Damage

Scientists have found that permanent brain damage can be caused by binge drinking in teenagers. As per researchers, reports express that irreversible damage can be caused by taking high amount of alcohol in a short time and youngsters can become absent-minded and forgetful in long run. High levels of alcohol act as a poison and brain is prevented from proper working and it has been found by previous studies.

Consuming high alcohol destroys grey matter which is called as hippocampus, events are stored and recalled by this and also images are formed in hippocampus, it involves reasoning.

Neuroscientist of University of California reportedly compared teens brain scans who drink heavily with other teens' who do not drink. Damaged nerve tissue was found in brains of the teens who drank alcohol. The researchers believe that attention span is affected negatively by damage in boys and girls' ability to comprehend and interpret visual information.

He said that during the adolescent years, key areas of the brain are still under construction, and they are more sensitive to the toxic effect of alcohol and drug.

Statistics Of Teen Abusers Of Marijuana

Nearly 40% of the U.S population had used marijuana for at least one time which would be around 97 million people. And the use of marijuana has been increasing year by year leading to the misconception that it is not addictive. But like the other drugs this is also an addictive one. Like any other illicit drug it has a reputation of being harmful.

For detecting the person who is using marijuana, we should look at the blood shot eyes, lack of interest in outdoor activities, loosing or gaining weight.

According to National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) 2008, 25.8 million Americans aged 12 years and above abused marijuana at least once till the previous year of the survey. Even the Monitoring Future study which was funded by NIDA shows that 10.9% of 8th graders, 23.9% of the 10th graders and 32.4% of the 12th graders who are the teens had abused marijuana at least one year prior to the survey.

Pros And Cons Of Saliva Drug Testing

Saliva drug tests are very much suitable for employee drug testing and to identify current use or impairment, as they are very easy to conduct and donor friendly.

Pros: Saliva or oral drug test kits are donor friendly, and the specimen can be collected very easily and practically in any environment. These tests are very useful in detecting the very recent drug use. These drug tests are difficult to adulterate or contaminate unlike urine drug tests, because the sample is collected under direct supervision. Results are also obtained in minutes and it do not require lab. Based on the test used, nearly 8 (5 or 6 at a time) different drugs can be detected. This test is very much suitable for identifying current use and offense.

Cons: The main drawback of saliva or oral drug test kits is their detection period. The range of detection period is from few hours to nearly 2-3 days and it is dependent on the amount of production of saliva of the person or the type or amount of the drug used. Sometimes, smoked drugs can cause contamination of saliva and lead to incomplete results.

In order to know teenager's drug use, these tests can be conducted after they return home on a weekend night or in the next morning.

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Increase in Drug Abuse

According to the British Crime Survey Report for 2008-09, almost one million people use cocaine in the UK. This is the largest number of usage in the past 12 years and seems to be influenced by reduced price of the narcotic and an ease of supply.

The review focuses that half of the users of cocaine are aged between 16 and 24 and also the increase in the use of the drug ketamine in the same age group. Approximately 125,000 young people used the horse tranquillizer last year.

According to the survey conducted by the NHS Information Center for 2008 revealed that one in five children aged 11 to 15 agreed that they drank alcohol in the week before the survey was conducted and the average consumption was estimated at 12.7 units a week, equivalent to six pints of beer, or 13 glasses of wine.

There is a reduction in the number of children who drink but those who drink are drinking much more. The young people who are now drinking at or above safe adult levels, yet their bodies are less able to cope with the harm alcohol can cause.

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