EFFECTS OF SUBSTANCE ABUSE

Substance abuse is primarily the stage that individuals go through before they become fully addicted. This means that anyone who is addicted previously undergone the state of abuse.

Substances refer to either drugs or alcohol, excluding behaviors. In some cases, people are addicted to both alcohol and drugs.

It would interest you to know that substance abuse has great adverse effect on people, wreaking havoc on both their physical and mental health.

Below are some of the effects of substance abuse:

  1. Damage to the physical health: People who abuse substances are likely to suffer from damage to their physical organs, like the kidney, liver, heart amongst others. These organs are very delicate and they become dysfunctional when toxic substances are introduced to the body.

Usually, the effect is in the long term, but for some people, it could be sooner than expected.

  • Damage to the mental health: In addition to the destruction of the physical health, the mental health also suffers. People who abuse substances experience depression, anxiety amongst others. The fact is, mental health is highly associated with physical health so what affects one also affects the other.

When this happens, it becomes complicated to handle.

  • Reduction in productivity: People who abuse substances tend to have a decline in productivity. They do not focus on other productive tasks because of their abuse, and this affects them. For students, it becomes difficult for them to be academically serious. And for those who are at the workplace, their performance reduces.
  • No focus in life: As expected, it becomes difficult to focus in life when substance abuse is in motion. Only a minute number of them become successful in life, with their health still great because of the health measures they put in place.

To wrap it up, it is important for people to avoid substance abuse. At first, it looks like a harmless act. Eventually, they become hooked to it, and there is no way of escape.

EDUCATING YOUR CHILDREN ABOUT ADDICTION

Children are easily taken in by what they see and hear. This is why we need to be careful of what we do around them, so that they would not be led astray.

One of the reasons why children become addicted is because of what they get exposed to. And most times, it is because their parents are not around to supervise them.

People who are addicted today started the abusive acts when they were children and teenagers, and their case got worse because there was no one to stop them.

Now, it should be known that it is not the sole responsibility of parents to prevent their children from getting addicted, teachers also need to contribute their quota.

Parents and guardians can start by using graphic images to teach children about addiction. There are some images and pictures that show the effect of addiction on the internal organs.

Children are moved by what they see, and once they see those pictures, they would be discouraged from trying addictive acts.

In addition, parents need to be careful of what their children feed their eyes on, on the media. These days, the media has the capacity to corrupt anyone, and if care if not taken.

This is why parents need to be more observant than ever. Starting from cartoons, TV shows and the likes, they need to be vetted before children can see them.

Also, parents need to know the kind of gatherings their children attend. At some of these events, some of those children get exposed to what makes them abuse substances or behaviors, and from there, it becomes a full blown addiction.

Children who are properly educated about addiction, would most likely not grow up addicted. And owing to the effects that comes with addiction, it is better to prevent them from getting addicted, than to allow them grow up as addicted individuals.

Addiction is a compulsive brain disease which has the capacity to affect the health and wellbeing of an individual.