Alcoholic Behavior Journal Analysis

For this journal entry I will be examining my alcohol pattern. I am not much of a drinker, however, I am a social drinker. My friends and I gather together once or twice each month and every time when a couple of my friends gather for a mini party, we would have a bottle of beer or two. I am not an alcoholic nor do I do alcohol abuse. Only social motives would motivate me to drink, for example, when my friends and I celebrate a holiday together or someone 's birthday. Also, drinking sometimes can makes a social gathering more enjoyable and fun. I think biological factors and genetic factors also play a role to my behavior toward alcohol. Neither of my parents are alcoholics and only my mom is a social drinker. My dad refuses to consume alcohol

I would not want to become an alcoholic because I know there are many physiological and psychological diseases and illnesses that follows for becoming an alcoholic. For example, drinking too much alcohol can cause irreversible damage to the liver and possible cancer. Also, it can lead to "negative effects on the brain and on neuropsychological functioning" (Sanderson 237). Alcohol has been related to many motor vehicle accidents and unprotected sex. I would not want to be a victim of neither of those cases. Psychological diseases include potential memory loss, and occupational loss.

The article “The Simultaneous Presence of Health Risk Behaviors in Freshman College Students in Brazil.” by Diego1 Silva and Edio Petroski is a study conducted that showed the health risk behaviors of freshmen students in a college in Brazil. The four factors focused in this study were smoking, alcohol abuse, unhealthy dieting, and physical inactivity (my journal entry will primarily focus on the alcohol portion). 738 students were interviewed and 45.9% resulted in alcohol abuse. Out of the 45.9%, females are more likely to expose to alcohol abuse than males. The authors conclude their study warning the public that the potential hazard of excessive drinking contributes to “the development of uncommunicable chronic diseases such as diabetes and hypertension, various types of cancers and heart diseases” (Silva & Petroski, p. 551, 2012). Excessive drinking is considered a risky behavior among

“Alcohol Abuse Linked to Higher Heart Risks, Study Says” by Susan Scutti is another article that support the relation between alcohol abuse and negative health consequences. In accordance with the research above, alcohol abuse has been correlated with heart diseases. According to the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, “abusing alcohol increases the likelihood of suffering atrial fibrillation, heart attack, or congestive heart failure” (Scutti, 2017). She included findings from the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project’s California State Ambulatory Surgey Databases, Emergency Department Databases, and State Inpatient Databases. The findings resulted after surveying millions of alcohol abused patients, is that for some of them, alcohol abuse is associated with a doubled risk of atrial fibrillation, a 1.4 higher risk of heart attack, and 2.3 higher risk of congestive heart failure. However, the article also discusses drinking in moderate amount has been linked to positive health benefits, which includes a lower risk of heart