Alcohol - a very important part of the adult world, even if these adults and not alcoholics at all, but "culturally consuming." Most of us do not mind a glass of wine in a good company, do not shy away from celebratory feasts, we meet friends with joy and offer them "a little drink". And it would be nice, but the children are watching us, they grow up and inevitably enter that crucial age when they themselves recognize the taste of alcohol. So, the consequences of alcohol use in adolescents are the topic of discussion for today.
Even before their first glass, children make their own opinion about alcohol as a bright attribute of adulthood, associate alcohol with fun, a holiday in the house, free time. And whether we like it or not, one day the son and daughter will be in a situation where they will be given a glass and we will not be around. How will the child behave in a company where teenagers are united by a strong herd instinct? Conversations about the dangers of smoking and alcohol with children are spent in school, we tell them about the same house. But the atmosphere of double morality, reigning in society in relation to alcohol, is fertile ground for young experimenters. With beer, however regrettable it is to admit, adolescents have long been "you", birthdays, too, without alcohol are not dispensed - parents are trying. Doctors also state that they had to take the children from the lessons with acute alcohol poisoning to the intensive care unit and literally save them from death ...
It is clear that our educational efforts are not enough. Perhaps, measures of "shock therapy" are also needed? Perhaps, among other things, parents should teach a teenager a culture of drinking at home, as they taught him to wash his hands, brush his teeth and read by syllables? What do specialists think about this? Systematic abuse of alcohol causes a decrease in phagocytosis - the most important protective mechanism of the body. But it is the phagocytes that destroy microbes and cells that are changed and dangerous. There is an oppression of the protective function of blood proteins, a decrease in the number of lymphocytes - immune cells. Because of the decrease in immunity, there is the formation of persistent foci of chronic infections. However, the main danger for the body is the development of antibodies to its own normal cells (autoantibodies). They are synthesized only under the influence of alcohol. So, every second patient suffers from the presence of autoantibodies to the liver, one in four - to the spleen. There are a number of autoantibodies to the brain tissues. As a result, some cells in the body begin to destroy others.
The defeat of the nervous system. Alcoholism manifests itself in the form of a variety of neurological symptoms, which are based on metabolic disorders in the nervous tissue, death of nerve cells, increased intracranial pressure, degradation of the nerve sheaths. The constant use of alcohol entails premature old age and disability.
The life expectancy of those who are prone to drinking is 15-20 years shorter than the average. The main causes of death of alcohol abusers are the consequences of accidents and injuries. People with alcoholism die, as a rule, not from alcoholic illness, but from diseases that accompany them. They develop in connection with a decrease in immunity, damage to the liver, heart, vessels.
"Homework"
Smart parents sometimes allow a child to get burned to be afraid of fire, the proverb says ... Narcologists allow the same preventive tactics of dating a young man with alcohol. As a rule, the first reaction to alcohol in a child is 12-13 years old and slightly older than negative. The wine seems to him bitter, disgusting; you can get a headache, vomit ... Do you think it's cruel to experiment with your own blood? Often a doctor does us pain to stop the development of a serious illness. In this situation, the parent acts as a doctor, and then, together with the child, experiences his reaction, gently offers options for correct behavior, trying to adjust the child negatively to alcohol in general.
There is just the opposite opinion - the later a person tries alcohol, the better for him. For example, by the age of 20, when the formation of the body as a whole is completed, the liver has reached normal size and functions well, in the gastrointestinal tract there are enough alcohol-splitting enzymes, the impact of alcohol is less sensitive. And while growing - no-no!
"Vaccination" from addiction
So what should parents do, how to get through to the mind and feelings of an adult child, what to oppose to the hidden advertising moves of winemakers and brewers, characteristic in the youth's desire to try on everything new, to experience unfamiliar sensations? The council of specialists is simple and traditional - educate him with his example! In a family where parents (or father) drink, educational conversations almost do not help, there is little chance of an enlightenment of the child, most likely, he will repeat their fate. Where there is no bottle, where alcohol is not part of the everyday life of the family, children may need to give some knowledge about the effects of alcohol, the state of intoxication, specific everyday advice before going on a birthday party to a classmate, where, most likely , there will be wine.
But the main task of parents is different. It is necessary to form a young man, first, the notion of the highest value of health, and secondly, a normal self-esteem. And, of course, give reliable information about the consequences of alcohol use in adolescents. Together, this will help him to behave properly in the company of peers. Yes, the interest, the desire to experience the new are typical for the teenager. But, after trying the same alcohol, he should stop, and he will stop if he grew up in a healthy family, if there is an internal attitude, if he is not dependent on the opinions of others, he is not afraid to become a "black sheep" in the class. "Let them think about me what they want, let me have two friends less," such a teenager will judge, "but this way of life is not for me!"
A good alternative to alcohol in adolescence, a real powerful antidote - an interesting, meaningful hobby, it would be nice family. For example, joint weekend trips, fishing, classes in the theater studio, in sports sections. And, of course, the conviction of the young man that has developed during the years of life in the family is that life without a bottle is interesting and filled with wonderful events.
Features of teenage alcoholism
Specialists talk about a special style of drinking in adolescents. As a rule, they are famously drunk in large doses, drink everything that they could get, without leaving for later. For them, the environment does not matter, they will open the bottle anywhere, at the entrance, on the bench. Alcohol can interfere with a variety of things, and this with a minimum of snacks - two sweets for the company.
If we talk about the consumption of beer, then the guys themselves tell us that their usual dose is one and a half to two liters. As a snack for beer, often take salted fish, and this "cocktail" gives a particularly strong burden on the kidneys. An obligatory part of the feast for teenagers is talk about who can drink how much; they brave each other, consider themselves heroes and heroes. Their behavior is romanticized - they remember with pleasure how they hid from the militia and from the tenants of the entrance, how they opened the lock, climbing into the basement. On the remarks of adults who have been around, they react defiantly or completely ignore them.
Statistics of alcohol use among adolescents are different, but it is known that by 17 years up to 86% of our children have tried alcohol. In the field of view of the police and doctors, they fall into a state of acute alcohol intoxication. As narcologists say, the dependence is formed on average in a half to two or three years. First of all, dependent people run the risk of becoming unstable, without an internal core, easily falling under the influence of others - "everyone went, and I went."
If, after disturbing the family, the son came home in clear drink, try to hold his anger and do not grab the strap. Postpone for tomorrow "debriefing", let him sleep off and recover. And prepare for a serious conversation, put forward the basic requirement - the son should go to a conversation with a teenage narcologist! But to frighten him with punitive measures, a statement on drug treatment is not worth it, because the doctor does not judge anyone, but is always ready to help.
Harmless drinking for a teenager does not happen, in these years any dose can become dangerous. A practically healthy young person can have metabolic features that he does not know about: some secretory dysfunction that does not manifest itself in vegetative-vascular dystonia. Each of these conditions can be the cause of a particular reaction to alcohol. This explains why everyone at the birthday party drank, but it was bad for one ... Or the fact that, after drinking a jin-tonic bottle, the teenager lost consciousness right on the tramway, where he was at that time.