Hangovers vs. Health | National Geographic

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parties are a part of life in our 20s
we all know smoke can damage the lungs
but smoke isn’t the only hazard here our
hearing is under threat – from loud
noise
the problem is deep inside the ear the
fragile sensory hairs in the cochlea or
stereocilia turn sound into nerve
impulses loud noise destroys these
irreplaceable cells
the hairs that respond to high
frequencies are most affected
maybe because high-pitched sounds shake
their foundations more violently the
effect is too small to notice
but the frequency range of our hearing
is already shrinking
another source of damage is alcohol
as we absorb alcohol into our
bloodstream it affects both our organs
and our state of mind it raises our
blood pressure and makes our heartbeat
irregular we relax lose our inhibitions
and our coordination
these symptoms are a consequence of
chemical reactions in the brain
especially in this region the cerebellum
it controls coordination and balance
when we drink alcohol affects the
cerebellums brain cells
some synapses accept the signal more
frequently
others become totally blocked the more
we drink the more extremely effect
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it may feel good now but there will be a
price to pay later
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after a party
it’s our livers that clean up the mess
the liver is the body’s biochemical
control center it performs more than 500
functions one of them is to convert
poisons like alcohol into harmless
chemicals the process requires water and
the liver doesn’t care where it takes it
from usually it’s the brain that suffers
most since it is 70% water water and
essential salts are sucked from the
brain and it shrinks away from the skull
we experience a very particular kind
pathetic a hangover
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you
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