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In times of quarantine, emotional instability can lead to problems with alcohol, which is a nervous depressant, and its intensive use is understood in these circumstances as a dissociating factor from reality.
Alcohol is parallel to the history of humanity; There are even scientists who assure that it served in the evolutionary process of the human being, but beyond that, without a doubt, its consumption has always been supported by cultural, social and even religious factors. The premise is: alcohol is neither good nor bad, it is a substance about which you must be aware of what it is taken for, at what times and if it will do well at the time it is taken, or at least This is explained by Dr. Diana Peña, scientific director of the Fundación Libérate.
It’s in that dangerous mix
of emotional instability and alcohol where it occurs
the greatest risk.
The doctor gives as an example that if you are in a family video call and you drink a glass of wine (13.5 degrees of alcohol) or a distillate (between 35 and 40 degrees of alcohol) just to spend a pleasant moment, that glass surely it will not be “bad”, but if on the contrary it is taken by pressure from other people, or by not feeling discomfort, sadness, or any other emotion, or to alleviate not being able to sleep, or because you do not want to be in reality That glass will no longer be so good, because one will surely not be enough, and there the limits begin to blur.
It is precisely in that dangerous mixture of emotional instability and alcohol that the greatest risk is presented. And in these quarantine times when uncertainty is the only certainty, emotional fragility is a bomb for addictions to skyrocket.
According to a survey by Échele Cabeza and other projects of the Corporación Acción Técnica Social (ATS) carried out through social networks and virtual platforms on 120,000 followers, the most consumed substances in the quarantine are, in their order, marijuana (25% ), alcohol (19%), coffee (14%), cigarette (11%) and tea (8%).
Although restrictions on the consumption of alcohol from a single bottle per purchase began to apply from the beginning of the quarantine, consumers have found strategies to obtain liquor and there are several cases of people who started having one or two drinks every day. days when before they did not do it even once a month. Or those cases in which the usual dose of intoxicating drinks was increased.
Dr. Diana assures that confinement causes many emotions to be experienced in the population; “Uncertainty generates a lot of anxiety and unfortunately most do not know or have not learned to have mental health and develop skills that allow them to face reality without any external substance or stimulus that allows them to feel good about themselves and with others.”
It is a depressant substance of the nervous system
Carolina Pinzón, psychologist and director of the Deliberar Foundation, explains that alcohol is a depressant substance of the central nervous system, which means that it reduces brain activity, that’s why with a small dose people can feel relaxed; however, a higher dose decreases the activity of the frontal lobe, which is in charge of the voluntary control of behavior and inhibition. Without alcohol the person voluntarily tries to control anxiety, under a significant amount of alcohol the person becomes disinhibited and what emerges are negative emotions, in this case anxiety.
So: “drinking is not bad, but it can be a bad idea if what you want is to manage anxiety or negative emotions, because what it is going to do is exacerbate them; this without taking into account the negative emotions that appear the next day with a hangover or with the impact of not having slept well, “concludes the psychologist.
Hence, it is important that people evaluate the type of alcohol consumption they have. “Consumption is fine when it is sporadic and recreational, when the person sets a consumption limit and can meet it and when they consume to have a good time.”
What is the right measure
“Drinking too much” depends on many factors such as the weight of the person, whether it is a man or a woman, the nutritional conditions of the person, the age and the type of drink. There is no standard, “what can be a lot for me, can be very little for you; then what is recommended is to check on the labels the percentage of alcohol of the drink that is ingested, but above all it is to be able to know my body and know to what extent I tolerate alcohol without being in a state of drunkenness or intoxication ”, he points Dr. Diana.
According to the WHO, a woman can consume up to two units of alcoholic drink a day (two beers, two glasses of wine or two shots of liquor) without suffering negative consequences on her health. One man, three. But the ideal is not to go over two units a day.
Consumption is fine when it is sporadic and recreational, when the person sets a consumption limit and can meet it.
“It is not right when it is consumed abusively several days of the week and in amounts that exceed the recommended limits,” Carolina warns. And he adds: “to manage emotions people can look for other healthy leisure activities such as exercising, seeing friends with a video call, watching a movie, reading a book or playing something. If consumption is habitual and abusive, they should seek professional help ”.
Dr. Diana explains that among the biological consequences of excessive alcohol consumption is that we can have changes in the gastric mucosa causing diseases such as esophagitis, gastritis, hepatitis, pancreatitis, cirrhosis, among others; likewise, we can find altered the central nervous system with the appearance of tremors or memory alterations (dementias), malnutrition problems. Related diseases may also appear since alcohol consumption constitutes a risk for cardiovascular and kidney health.
In addition to this, the risks are also on an emotional level, since the consequences can be anxiety, depression, sleep disorder, irritability, suicidal ideation, feelings of hopelessness, guilt, shame, among others.
In addition to this, Martha C. Suescún, general director of the Fundación Libérate, points out that alcoholism has risks for the family that is seriously affected, generating enormous difficulties for all members, disrupting the family environment, causing more family conflicts, family violence, insults to the partner, aggression against the children and less supervision with respect to them and a more distant relationship between parents and children.
And not to mention social problems, such as problems of social coexistence, increased accidents, disturbance to neighbors, non-compliance with work activities, and / or academic; appearance of episodes of violence and physical and mental aggression.
So, a drink yes, but not many.
10 key questions to know if you are exceeding
An affirmative answer to more than 5 of the following questions should be assumed as a clear warning that you have a problematic consumption:
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Has increased the dose you were initially consuming?
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¿Consume large amounts of alcohol?
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¿Invest an important part of your timeor in consuming alcohol or recovering from consumption?
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Do you do it for a longer time than planned?
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Do you have insistent wishes to stop or regulate their consumption?
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.Did you try to quit, stop consuming but can’t?
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Have you breached duties academic, work or domestic consumption?
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Have you reduced or abandoned social or family activities due to alcohol consumption?
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Have you ever consumed alcohol in situations where doing so poses a physical risk?
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Do you experience discomfort when you stop consuming alcohol?
Simon Farm
DRAFTING SUNDAY
