Alcoholism and Sexual Problems

 Almost all had sexual problems. Whatever the causative factors of alcoholism may turn out to be, one thing is clear from a practical preventive standpoint: without excessive consumption of alcohol there cannot be alcoholism. Perseverance at drinking heavy drinking is required to establish the addiction. 

Alcoholism is no sudden visitation. The person who becomes alcoholic builds up to it, and often does so quite gradually, unaware that he really is beginning to drink to excess and then that he is drinking more and more to excess. Significantly, there have been surveys of highly intelligent, heavy- drinking business executives to determine what they consider excessive drinking-and always, it appears, the definition of excessive drinking turns out to be several drinks more than the heavy drinker personally consumes.

Some of these men have indicated that they see nothing excessive in drinking as much as a fifth of whiskey a day. Unless they have specific guidelines to follow, it would appear that even intelligent people who have moved far along the road to alcoholism may not recognize the fact. In an effort to provide such guidelines, the Life Extension Foundation in New York, a nonprofit organization de- voted to improving the health of business executives through preventive measures, has produced the following for its executive clients which deserve repeating here.

 Any drinker, the Foundation suggests, can con-sider that alcoholism is approaching:

1.        If two or three years ago a half hour before dinner was set aside for a drink and now this has stretched to two hours and four drinks.

2.        If two or three years ago dinner was anticipated with pleasure and now there is little interest in food and sometimes dinner is completely omitted.

 3.       If two or three years ago cocktails at lunch were for business entertaining only and now one or two are routine.

4.        If two or three years ago weekend consumption was little more than that of weekdays but now drinking is started in the morning and continues more or less all day. 

WHY SOME PEOPLE DRINK EXCESSIVELY? effects on blood and psycological problems

WHY SOME PEOPLE DRINK EXCESSIVELY

A drink or two can help to create an aura of relaxation and contentment, allowing cares and responsibilities to be forgotten temporarily, and encouraging sociability. Most people find this desirable--and recognize that it is desirable only as a temporary state. Some people, however, want to extend the state, cling to it, and accentuate it. When they yield to the desire, drinking more and more and even almost continuously, they become alcoholics, addicted to drink. 

Addiction involves an accommodation by the body to the presence of a drug. With the accommodation comes dependence. Details of the mechanism are not entirely clear, but it appears that the cells of the body may shift their metabolism.

They depend, of course, upon circulating blood for their nourishment. As they are exposed to alcohol in the blood, they accommodate to the presence of the alcohol. Once they have made the accommodation, they have, in effect, become as dependent upon alcohol being there as they once were upon it not being there. At this point, it is difficult to stop drinking. If an addict's alcohol supply now is taken away suddenly, he reacts with distressing symptoms which may include violent tremors, nausea, and headaches.

There is still no definitive answer to the question of what causes alcoholism. Both physical and psychological factors have been cited. Studies have failed to establish anyone specific type of pre-alcoholic personality. People who become excessive drinkers’ may or may not be immature or neurotic. Some, in early life, may have been well-adjusted only to regress, as the addictive process takes over, to immature behavior. As their addiction takes hold, all alcoholics, whatever their back- grounds, tend to become much alike in behavior.

It is as though the disease of alcoholism remolds them into a stereotype. The procurement of alcohol becomes their chief concern, superseding other interests, producing deterioration in their work, social life, and relationships with their families. One physician specializing in the treatment of alcoholics has reported that a battery of psychological tests given to 300 consecutive patients showed gross disturbance in every case. 

The patients did not conform to any single personality type and yet showed markedly similar character traits. All had low frustration tolerance and inability to tolerate tension or anxiety. All gave evidence of mental depression, withdrawal, low self-esteem, and a sense of isolation. In all cases, there was marked hostility.

Alcohol -What is INTELLIGENT DRINKING and UNINTELLIGENT DRINKING?

 INTELLIGENT DRINKING

There are some people who believe that to touch alcohol at all, to take even the first drink, are to invite possible disaster. But there are many, including knowledgeable physicians, who believe that intelligent drinking has much to recommend it. Intelligent drinking is a matter of timing as well as moderation. The time to drink is at the end of the work day, not at lunch and not after dinner. Cocktail time, provided it involves an unhurried drink or two, can be a pleasant time. It can foster relaxation, especially if the atmosphere is quiet, peaceful. It can ameliorate some of the tensions of the day -in effect, ringing down the curtain on the work day, opening the way for a relaxed dinner and relaxed evening. Intelligent drinking of this sort, if your regular preventive medical checkups indicate that you have no health problem, is not likely to be a health hazard.

 UNINTELLIGENT DRINKING

It has been said that the road to alcoholism is an easy one to travel. And, indeed, some rules, seemingly facetious but not really so, have been suggested.

1.        Start each day right-by taking a drink as soon as possible after you get up.

 2.       Whenever you feel depressed or have a problem, take a drink or two. If you are alone, take more; who will know?

3.        If you take one drink and then feel like having another, and then another, you are on the right track. Keep it up.

 4.       When you serve drinks to guests, be sure to sneak a few snorts for yourself between regular servings.

5.        If you want to get up nerve or bolster your self-confidence, take a drink to get rid of your inferiority complex.

6.        Don't just take a cocktail or two before dinner; keep it up after dinner.

7.        No matter how many drinks you have had, if you can lie flat on the floor without holding on, you can regard yourself as OK. 

Despite their seeming facetiousness, these rules make an important point: It is easy for some people to slip into uncontrolled drinking and to delude themselves that it is still intelligent drinking or harmless drinking. 

How to make vacations painfree and stress free?

An ointment for itching bites and sunburn Rules for Vacationists Remember that your vacation is not for the purpose of overexertion, for Relaxation filling lip for year-round sedentary living, for acquiring a copper skin. Recreation for change of scene and change of pace that can trip wiping away ennui and mental fatigue. It is to restore your zest.

 And one should return from it with zest restored instead of with vacation I V, illness and even vacation illness. Don’t plunge immediately into a heavy program of physical activity. You can virtually count on immediate collapse, if you go from a sea-level or high altitude; promptly indulge in a few highballs and a set of tennis. You are likely to have trouble, in fact, at any altitude if you overdo.

Take it easy for the first day or two. Play ball or swim for daily 10 hour or so; work up to increased activity gradually. In this way, you can avoid exhaustion and muscular cramps. Don't overeat. Chances are you will be tempted to do so when you II down to a hotel or restaurant dining table lavishly laden with food. 

Certainly you are paying for it and you may be even more hungry than usual because of all the activity. But you are likely to pay in other ways or overeating. The extra food may put more strain on your heart, which will be pumping fairly hard as you dash around the tennis court later. Never stuff yourself to the point where your stomach feels distended.

Avoid, during vacations, those rich foods that give you indigestion at home. If you are plagued by the unpleasant problem of diarrhea-which may develop because of an overly rich diet, eating strange foods, or drinking contaminated water-change to the softest, blandest foods possible: boiled or poached eggs, custard, rice with milk and sugar. After each movement, drink something hot-soup, tea or milk-to compensate for fluid loss. Sunburn An attractive skin tan is not anything that can be acquired in a day or two.

If you try to tan quickly, you are likely to get a burn that reddens and blisters your skin and may even put you in a hospital. You can prevent painful and ugly sunburn if you are careful about just a few things: Watch out for the noonday sun. When the sun is high overhead, its rays are short, direct, more burning. 

Late afternoon is the safer time to start your sunbathing. Remember that when the sky is overcast, the sun can still burn cruelly, so be careful on hazy as well as bright days. Know your own type of skin and how it burns. Skins differ. A child's burns more quickly than an adult's. Among adults, people with fair skins are quicker to burn than brunettes.