Vern was a hard-working plumbing contractor who recently began to feel the adverse effects of alcohol abuse each day when he got up for work.  Sure, he almost always had a lot of fun while drinking with his friends, but lately he had begun to feel very lethargic and tired every morning when he awakened.

Like a lot of men, Vern didn’t do much about his problem drinking until something made him address his drinking behavior.  In Vern’s case, this “change agent” was a much younger woman that he began dating.

Realizing that his partying was draining his energy, had helped him gain about ten unwanted pounds, and lowered his self concept in the process, he quit drinking and started exercising every morning before going to work.  Within three or four weeks, he noticed that his energy level had returned, he lost a few pounds, and felt more self esteem when he went out with his new girlfriend.

Fortunately, some people “get it” and do something positive about their adverse alcohol abuse effects.  In Vern’s situation, his new girlfriend was the trigger for him to stop drinking, to get into a physical fitness routine, and to begin living in a healthier manner.

Michael was a personal trainer who tried to walk the talk.  That is, he not only knew how to get others to look physically fit, but he himself looked like he had exercised and worked out for years.

Due to the fact that he was into health and physical fitness, it did not take long at all for Michael to realize that his fairly regular happy hour visits to the local bar and involving himself in abusive drinking were affecting him in an adverse manner.

In a word, Michael noticed some unhealthy effects of alcohol in his life in spite of the fact that he only went to happy hour two or three times each week.

In his line of work, losing one’s energy and feeling sluggish are critical.  So it didn’t take Michael very long before he totally quit drinking and began to feel his old energy return.  Michael is one of the fortunate persons who does something positive when problems arise and who is in tune with his body.

When does a person start to notice the negative effects of alcohol abuse?  There are so many variables involved in the act of abusive and excessive drinking that it is essentially impossible to answer this question with any degree of certainty.

For example, how often does the person consume alcohol?  Does the person usually drink on an empty stomach?  How much does the person drink?  When the person drinks, does he or she get intoxicated or does he or she get a slight “buzz.”  How much does the drinker weigh?

Does the person drink every day or a few times per week?  Is the drinker relatively healthy or sickly?  How quickly does the person’s liver metabolize alcohol?   Does the person consume drinks with extremely high alcohol content (such as Everclear)?

It is apparent from these questions, in sum, that numerous variables influence when the adverse effects of alcohol abuse will affect an individual.

Sam was a sensible thirty-five-year-old married man with three children.  He recently lost his job of 10 years when the manufacturing company he worked for moved their entire operation to another state.  He was offered a position if he relocated, but he didn’t want to leave his parents and his friends.  As a result, he stayed at his current residence.

Sam knew that he was facing financial difficulties when he couldn’t find employment.  Sure, he worked as much as he could doing odd jobs whenever he could but he realized that he needed full-time employment to pay his bills.

As a result of not being able to find full-time work, Sam started to get depressed and similar to many individuals who face serious issues, he tried to find some relief by drinking.

It didn’t take long, however, for Sam to experience one of the negative effects of alcohol, namely that drinking was fairly expensive and was causing him to spend money on booze instead of necessities for his family.  To his credit, however, Sam rather quickly got a handle on his problem drinking by substantially cutting back on his alcohol intake.  Once he addressed his drinking problem, moreover, he found that he could put forth a more honest effort to find full-time work.

After attending a resume writing, interviewing skills, and an employment workshop at the local library, Sam applied for and was hired for a position in his area of expertise that actually paid more per hour than what he had been making in his previous job.  When Sam got his job, he and his wife went out to celebrate.  Life was good once again!

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Jack and Michelle have been married for thirty-eight years.  Now that both of them are retired, they have several friends over for parties and for special events such as the Super Bowl, the Olympics, American Idol, the World Series, and the Masters Golf Tournament.

Michelle and Jack have been social drinkers most of their adult lives.  When they have their special parties and get-togethers, then again, hardly anyone drinks in moderation.  In other words, their special parties are basically invitations for abusive and excessive drinking.

Now that they are in their late sixties, they are beginning to see some of the adverse effects of alcohol in their lives.  For example, they are certain that their irresponsible and abusive drinking has negatively affected their finances as well as their health.

Due to the fact that they have become more health-conscious in the past five or ten years, they agreed with one another that they would quit drinking abusively and excessively and would instead drink in moderation at all times, particularly during their parties and their special events.

Both Michelle and Jack were pleased with this decision because they addressed their drinking problem and came up with a doable and logical solution.

Angela had a “party mentality” ever since she graduated from college ten years ago.  Since she had involved herself in hazardous and irresponsible drinking on a fairly regular basis over the past ten years, moreover, drinking was almost as natural to Angela as waking up every morning.

In fact, Angela’s family and friends simply assumed that she would be drinking at just about every event she attended or during every activity in which she involved herself.  In truth, Angela had been living the “drinker’s lifestyle” for many years and due to the fact that she hadn’t experienced any significant adverse effects of alcohol, she continued drinking as she had been doing for the past ten years.

Unexpectedly, in a fraction of a second, her life was changed forever.  At approximately 2:00 AM one morning, after drinking the previous evening and night, she got into a motor vehicle accident.  Apparently, she had fallen asleep at the wheel, crossed the double yellow line, and drove into an oncoming automobile.  The two college students in the other vehicle were killed instantly due to the high rate of speed at which both vehicles were traveling.

Now facing a DUI, vehicular homicide, and jail time, Angela’s drinking days were now a thing of the past.  For the rest of her life, however, she would have to deal with the fact that due to her irresponsible and hazardous drinking, two young people lost their lives.

In addition to the lost of two lives, the truly sad part about this story is that alcohol related traffic fatalities happen many hundreds of times on our highways every year.

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“Mom, are the effects of alcohol on the body always bad” asked Susan. Susan was a seventh-grade student who was just starting to learn about the drinking problems that are exhibited by adults, other teenagers, and by her fellow classmates.

Susan’s mother answered her daughter this way, “Susan, there are good reasons why drinking alcohol is unlawful until an individual is twenty-one years old.  Because of the pleasant feelings they get when they drink, many people, particularly teenagers and young adults, go too far and drink in an excessive and abusive manner.

For the vast majority of adults, having one or two drinks once or twice per week is not harmful or hurtful to their health.  This is called drinking in moderation.  Be aware, however, that some individuals cannot drink in moderation because they cannot stop drinking once they start.  These are the individuals who need to totally refrain from drinking because of their out-of-control drinking behavior.  And these are the people who run the risk of becoming addicted to or dependent on alcohol.

Your father and I understand the temptations and problems that are associated with drinking and so we choose not to drink for health reasons and because we want to be positive role models for you and your brother.”

Tina was the office manager for a small paint manufacturing company.  When it came to partying, Tina was a staunch conservative.  For instance, no one at the office ever saw her attend the office parties during the holidays or ever go to happy hour after work.  Indeed, no one ever suspected that Tina did much of anything but work and go home to her three cats.

It must have come as a great surprise to everyone at the office when they came to work one Friday morning to find out that Tina was not at her desk.  To make matters worse, news quickly spread around the office that Tina was arrested for driving “under the influence” the previous evening and spent the night in the local jail.

After all, wasn’t a DUI arrest one of the negative effects of alcohol that happened to alcoholics and alcohol abusers and not to people like Tina?  It looks like Tina fooled everyone at work about her drinking problem but herself.

Let us admit the truth:  most people drink because alcohol makes them feel good.  The difficulty with this, however, is that the law of diminishing returns eventually rears its ugly head and takes over.  What this means is that up to a certain point, the more alcohol a person drinks the better he or she feels.  Once a certain point is reached, however, increased drinking begins to lead to ill health, sickness, negative feelings, and drinking problems.

When this point is reached, unfortunately, the person is engaging in abusive drinking.  To avoid this state of affairs, we have to learn how to get the positive effects from alcohol without drinking to an excess.  Due to the fact that this is not easy to do, maybe the best way to accomplish this is to limit one’s drinking to one or two drinks once or twice per week.  Even though everyone is different, this drinking in moderation “plan” is probably doable for most individuals.