Self-isolation to relax and improve your mood can lead to alcohol addiction and the risk of drinking. In addition, drinking alcohol during treatment for coronavirus infection can lead to complications of the disease.
People with alcohol use disorder are at greater risk of contracting COVID-19 because of the effects of alcohol on their health. Therefore, in the current environment, people who need help with alcohol use must receive all the support they need. If you or your loved ones have alcohol problems, there are a lot of helpful online AA meetings that will provide support and information you may need. They are mostly free and confidential.
The Danger of Drinking Alcohol During Coronavirus
Staying for a long time in the apartment, it may seem that alcohol will help you relax and cheer up, but this is a dangerous illusion.
The subjectively pleasant reactions caused by alcohol intoxication are unnatural and short-lived. A person quickly gets used to the tranquilizing effects of ethyl alcohol, and to achieve the desired effect day by day, they need to increase the dose of alcohol, soberness becomes uncomfortable.
As a result, regularly drinking people lose the ability to enjoy life without alcohol, irritation increases, anxiety grows, and sleep is disturbed. Attempts to relieve these symptoms again with new portions of alcohol are unsuccessful.
When treating a coronavirus infection at home, as a rule, a doctor prescribes medications that you need to take on your own. Alcohol changes the effect of any medications. If there are ethyl alcohol and its decay products in the body, medications do not work the way they should. According to the doctors, if the amount of alcohol consumed per day is significant, the drugs will be completely blocked by alcohol and its decay products. In addition, some of the alcohol is excreted through the lungs, which additionally makes them vulnerable, especially when combined with smoking.
Thus, drinking alcohol clearly worsens the course of an infectious disease.
How to Prevent Alcoholism on Lockdown
During the period of self-isolation, online support is available from specialists and self-help online aa meetings for people with alcohol use disorders. Such groups and interventions can be anonymous and confidential.
Find out which kind of help you can get online. You can join self-organize 24 hour aa chat rooms online with someone you trust and seek additional help if needed, such as online counseling, interventions, and aa support groups online.
During the lockdown, do not create social isolation around yourself: keep in touch with loved ones, friends, colleagues, neighbors, and relatives through phone calls, messages, or video calls. Take advantage of new and innovative communication options so you can continue to communicate remotely at a distance.
Avoid watching persistent alcohol advertisements on television and in other media where alcohol marketing and promotion are widespread. Be careful and avoid links to social media sponsored by the alcohol industry.
If you become infected, talk to health care providers about your alcohol use so they can make the most appropriate decisions about your overall health.
Do not trust the online sources, which say that drinking alcohol provides significant benefits that are urgently needed during self-isolation at home or while in quarantine. Alcohol is not, under any circumstances, a necessary component of your diet or lifestyle. Please be aware that advertising on websites or social media for the sale or home delivery of alcoholic beverages may increase alcohol consumption and may target children.
And the last thing you should remember: Under no circumstances, any alcoholic beverages or alcohol-containing products should be consumed to prevent or treat COVID-19.
Always double-check any information you receive from the internet. Do not trust sites that consist of the same messages and differ in the same style of presentation, since there is a high probability that they are viral and designed for mass distribution to misinform the population.
Beware of knowingly false and unclear claims, especially regarding the effects of alcohol on your health and the immune system. Such statements categorically cannot be accepted as a source of health information, since there is no reliable evidence to prove that alcohol consumption contributes to protection against COVID-19 infection or has a positive effect on the course and outcome of any infectious disease.
Try to get information from trusted sources with a proven track record, such as the WHO, national health authorities, and familiar health care professionals. The WHO website is always available for up-to-date and updated information on COVID-19.
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