Be the Best You Can Be

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There are so many people out in the world who are addicted to alcohol, and don’t know that there is a way of stopping, and that it will surely be in your best interest to do so. How many people drink after work, until they go to bed, wake up with hangovers, go to work, and do the same thing all over again? Or, we have the weekend drinkers who refrain during the week, and get smashed on the weekends. Usually these weekenders proceed to make fools of themselves in front of family, friends, and neighbors. They think they’re the life of the party, but it’s more like the clown of the party. How many purses have been lost or stolen when one doesn’t remember what they did with it? How many cars have been lost in parking lots? How many drunk driving accidents have killed, hurt, and maimed? How many people lose their family because of alcohol? They get a drunk driving ticket, lose their job, lose their house, and their family moves on without them?

It may be difficult for this patient to initiate a phone call to such a group at this stage. If the physician knows of a sympathetic, recovering (preferably female) alcoholic who would be willing to meet with the patient and offer her support, he or she might offer a suggestion such as, “I know someone with a similar situation and background as yours. Would you mind if I asked her to call you?” Although it is tempting to enlist others to encourage this patient to stop drinking, great care has to be taken not to disclose her medical problems without her consent, not only for medicolegal reasons, but also to retain her trust. Leaving a voice-mail message for her son at home, where she would be likely to hear it, could undermine these goals.

Will these problems go away? No. These problems will last for a child’s whole life. People with severe problems may not be able to take care of themselves as adults. They may never be able to work. What if I am pregnant and have been drinking? If you drank alcohol before you knew you were pregnant, stop drinking now. You will feel better and your baby will have a good chance to be born healthy. If you want to get pregnant, do not drink alcohol. You may not know you are pregnant right away. Alcohol can hurt a baby even when you are only 1 or 2 months pregnant.

Most parents of teenagers who are old enough to get their driver’s licenses don’t have a professional race car driver who can make an impression on their kids. But the good news is that as parents there are many things you can teach your child that will have the same effect. Don’t push kids who are not ready. Most teenagers can’t wait to get behind the wheel for the first time because they know that driving will give them new freedoms. But if your child resists getting a license at 16, let him know that he can wait until he feels he is ready. And if you feel your child should wait until 17 to drive, when he will be more responsible, don’t let your child pressure you into letting him drive just because other kids drive at 16.

Alcoholism is a devastating disease that effects millions of people every year. Recognizing alcoholism in yourself or someone else can be difficult. Alcoholism is defined as a disease that allows a persons use of alcohol to interfere with their life and the basic functioning of their daily tasks, needs and responsibilities. The clinical way of looking at alcohol is by examining the amount of alcohol a person consumes. A women who drinks more than seven drink per week or more than three drinks a day and a man who drinks more than 14 drinks per week or four drinks in a day would be considered an alcoholic. A drink is defined as 12 ounces of beer, 5 ounces of wine or 1.5 ounces of 80 proof liquor.

If possible, STOP DRINKING. Not only will it help with your snoring, but it is also thought that drink anything more than, in “moderation”, is detrimental to your health. At the very least stop drinking 4 - 6 hours before going to bed. This grace period will allow your body a chance to for the effects of the alcohol to wear off and reduce theeffects that it may have on your sleeping, helping you to sleep without snoring. Sedatives such as sleeping pills behave much in the same way as alcohol, and amplify the affect if you take them while drinking, causing your body to relax its muscles and inducing many of the same symptoms as alcohol.

And no, drinking beer is not the same as drinking water unfortunately. Beer has a lot of calories, and the first place it goes is around your mid-section. By the way, this doesn’t mean that you have to stop drinking alcohol all together. Just control your intake as you would your diet. Exercise will not only help you lose your love handles but also help your posture as it will strengthen and stabilize your core (including your abs). So, if you have been suffering from some minor back aches or even chronic back pain, you may find that by engaging in exercise it may dissipate or disappear forever. By the way, if you only engage in ab exercises without any aerobic or resistance (weight) training, you may find your love handles growing larger! Yikes! This is because your muscles are growing yet your body fat percentage is staying the same. By the way, you don’t have to train like a marathon runner or a bodybuilder to lose those love handles. Start out by doing small things, like walking to the local store instead of driving; or taking the stairs instead of the elevator or the escalator. But, if you want to seriously transform your body (not only losing your love handles but shedding a ton of body fat) then you will need to get serious and do some intense workouts.