Alcohol, a Class 1 carcinogen designated by the World Health Organization (WHO), causes various cancers, damages the brain and causes addiction. Furthermore, alcohol accelerates aging, changes appearance and further accelerates the onset of geriatric diseases. How does alcohol affect aging?
Alcohol is a factor that accelerates aging | Source: Getty Image Bank
Alcohol accelerates skin aging and causes presbyopia
Alcohol deprives the body of moisture, dries out the skin and weakens the skin’s immunity. When you drink alcohol, alcohol dehydrogenase (acetal dehyde dehydrogenase, ADLH) is secreted, which causes the body to expel a large amount of water from the body to detoxify alcohol. This is why you feel thirsty while drinking alcohol or when you have a hangover. At this time, skin moisture is lost and it may feel drier and tighter than usual. Dry skin has reduced regenerative capacity and elasticity, causing wrinkles to easily form.
Excessive drinking also causes changes in skin color. Acetaldehyde, a toxic substance produced by the breakdown of alcohol, promotes the secretion of histamine, an inflammatory substance. Because histamine works by dilating blood vessels, the skin generally becomes red, which can worsen symptoms such as facial flushing and can cause inflammatory reactions such as itching or acne on the skin. Additionally, as blood vessels expand, dark vascular circles may appear under the eyes, giving a tired, dark appearance. Additionally, if you drink excessively over a long period of time and develop diseases such as alcoholic liver cirrhosis, you may develop jaundice, a condition in which the skin and whites of the eyes turn yellow. Because it is difficult to distinguish from jaundice caused by aging, if you drink a lot and your skin color changes noticeably, it is a good idea to visit a hospital to check whether you have alcoholic liver disease.
Additionally, drinking alcohol can cause fatigue because you can’t sleep well, and the increase in free radicals in the body can accelerate aging. Due to the diuretic effect of alcohol, there are many cases in which you wake up to go to the bathroom even during sleep, and this can reduce the function of the respiratory center, causing sleep apnea and snoring. At this time, as fatigue accumulates, the accumulated free radicals oxidize and damage cells, proteins, DNA, etc., causing the skin to age.
Accelerates long-term aging and causes various diseases
Alcohol affects not only the liver but also various organs in our body. In particular, brain cells are a representative example, and it has been confirmed that they can not only cause the commonly known alcoholic dementia, but can actually change the age of the brain. A research team from the University of Pennsylvania analyzed MRI images of the brains of 36,000 British adults and found that the brain ages depending on alcohol consumption. The brains of the group that consumed 1 unit of alcohol (10 g of pure alcohol included in alcohol) every day at the age of approximately 6 months compared to those who abstained, while those who consumed 2 units and 4 units at the age 2 years and 6 months and 10 years older, respectively, he seems to be getting older.
Additionally, alcohol can accelerate the onset of various diseases that commonly occur after middle age and old age. First, alcohol inhibits the function of osteoblasts that build bones and interferes with the metabolism of vitamin D, which is involved in calcium absorption. This can cause a decrease in bone density, making you more susceptible to diseases such as osteoporosis, which is common after middle age, so be careful. Additionally, excessive drinking makes the heart beat faster, which puts strain on the heart and accelerates the aging of blood vessels, increasing the risk of arrhythmia. If you suffer from arrhythmia, there is a high risk of sudden death leading to brain infarction or heart attack, so caution is needed.
How to slow down aging when drinking is inevitable?
The best way to prevent aging is not to drink alcohol. However, if you must drink alcohol, it is helpful to improve your drinking habits. First of all, when drinking alcohol, it is useful to drink as little as possible and drink plenty of water in between. As alcohol entering the body is diluted with water, the concentration is lowered and is also effective in reducing dry skin by preventing dehydration caused by alcohol metabolism. It’s also helpful to talk a lot with the people next to you while you drink. This is because the rate at which you drink alcohol during a conversation slows down, reducing the amount consumed and causing some of the ingested alcohol to be expelled through breathing.
On the other hand, even if you only have one drink, there are drinking habits that need to be abandoned. When drinking alcohol, if you drink “bomtanju” prepared by mixing various types of alcohol, the absorption rate of alcohol increases and you can get drunk faster. If you smoke while drinking alcohol, your liver will not be able to properly break down the alcohol due to lack of oxygen.
It’s also a good idea to eat foods like fruits and vegetables that are effective at breaking down alcohol before and after drinking. At this time, it is best to choose one that has a lot of moisture and less acidity. Highly acidic fruits, such as oranges, mandarins and lemons, should be avoided because they can stimulate gastric acid secretion and interfere with digestion. Instead, choose cucumbers rich in “ascorobinase”, which helps in the breakdown of alcohol, pears which contain “aspartic acid”, useful for relieving hangovers, bananas, which help integrate potassium, and tomatoes, which they are rich in lycopene and vitamin C., which have antioxidant effects. It’s good to do it.
<저작권©언론사 하이닥, 무단 전재 및 재배포 금지>
#Drinking #alcohol #work #accelerates #aging.. #effect #alcohol #aging
.jpg?fit=300%2C300&ssl=1)
