Contrary to most popular paradigms, alcohol is fundamentally poisonous to the body. This may not result in the direct death of a person in the first drink but the problem fundamentally lies in the fact that a person has to progressively drink more to feel the effects of alcohol over the years. As this happens, the levels of alcohol in the blood create a myriad amount of problems that will anyway culminate in a weakened or ruined liver. Considering how differently people react to alcohol, it is important that some kind of metric is used to understand what amount of alcohol is intoxicating and what is not.
Biologically, it is estimated that someone who has never had a drink before and is of average BMI would start to feel the effects of alcohol in a little as 0.02% to 0.05% concentrations. The world record for blood alcohol levels so far is set at 0.9%, a level that should have technically killed the person who had this level. The effects of alcohol concentrations in the blood can be charted out as stages of intoxication. The level starts at 0.03% to 0.06%, which will cause impairment in concentration and coordination; however, the behavioral effects will only be restricted to a happy, less inhibited state if being. At 0.06 to 0.10% reflexes, vision, and depth perception are lost; behaviorally, a person would be completely uninhibited and slightly boisterous. At 0.11 to 0.20%, speech, reaction time, and gait are quite badly affected; behaviorally, emotional mood swings, and complete boisterousness result in this stage. At 0.21 to 0.29% one would face a near anesthetic state as far as pain perception goes, and the cognitive functions of the brain are impaired; behaviorally, this is the stage when memory fails one and there is no motor coordination in the person. At 0.30 to 0.39% unconsciousness and resulting death could occur, including severe depression; physically, this stage affects heart function and respiration severely. At a level greater than 0.40% one could certainly face death as the brain is now severely poisoned.
There is another side to these tests; they sometimes don't reflect a real picture of drunkenness. People with adequate amounts of fat in their body can actually sustain levels of 0.40 quite comfortably; however, legally, it has to be assumed that people are probably not drinking stalwarts and therefore, have to be stopped from drinking well before this stage.
Author Resource:-
Kevin Pederson is the chief contributor of content for Medical Health Tests, an authoritative source for information on medical tests. The articles are not only informative and insightful, but they are also simple and intelligible. This makes them a reliable resource for anyone seeking information on medical tests.
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