Consuming alcohol is one of America’s favorite leisure time activities. Having a drink or two with friends to spice up the day or evening out is common place in most of our lives. But, having a drink or two usually does not stop there for most. It is more like three, four or five.

This over-consumption of alcohol with friends is all well and fine—occasionally–but repeated days and nights in a row of excess drinking can really wreck havoc on your health. Yet, despite the known risks, weekend after weekend we see the same faces out at the bars or local clubs getting sloshed time and again. Every drinker has his or her limit, and the warning “Drink in Moderation” isn’t just some puritan ethic. It’s essential a life or death matter.

If you drink alcohol on a daily basis, health care professionals recommend no more than one alcoholic beverage a day for woman, and two alcoholic beverages a day for a man. Keeping your alcoholic consumption within these boundaries will enable you to stay within guidelines for optimal health. Taking control over your alcohol consumption not only shows others how strong you are, but how smart and healthy you as well.

Beer and alcohol have been around since about 4000 B.C., and its effects and health benefits have been around since that time as well. These two beverages have some great health benefits, such as lowering the risk of heart disease by thinning out the blood and keeping plaque from forming on the arteries. Other health benefits have included enhanced brain function. That’s right, alcohol can help make you smarter, but only if drank in moderation.

Alcohol is great for relieving anxiety, especially since it lowers inhibitions. Lowering inhibitions is where alcohol got its nickname, “liquid courage”. But no matter what you may call your drink, cheers to drinking to your good health.

On the other hand, over-consumption is a slow march to certain death. The first organ to feel the wrath of the alcohol overload is the all-important liver. The liver breaks down foods and beverages and turns them into useable forms of energy. When that useable form of energy is only coming from alcohol, many unhealthy by-products are produced and circulated throughout the body, only to then be refiltered and damage the liver a second time. Cirrhosis of the liver is the end result.

Having far too many drinks on a constant basis can produce cancers of the mouth, throat and larynx. Additionally, alcohol abuse has also been linked as the primary cause of cancer in every living organ in the human body.

Obesity is another dangerous side effect of over-consuming alcohol. Obesity can affect all aspects of your health and combining it with the deleterious effects of over-consumption makes you are a heart attack waiting to happen.

Malnutrition is another common side effect of drinking alcohol too often. A suppressed appetite from heavy drinking translates into either a very poor diet, or consuming no food at all. Diminishing the body of vital nutrients inhibits its ability to eliminate alcohol’s toxic by-products, thus weakening the body as a whole and leaving increased chance for disease to set in.

All of these conditions are brought on by your need to over-consume. You are the one who makes the decision to drink too much, or to drink in moderation. You! Take responsibility now and start consuming foods and drinks in moderation. It will support your all-over wellness, and make you the very best you can be at any age. To your health.