[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Every time you pop a pill, drink beer, or hit a joint, you make a choice. You make an active choice to add harmful substances into your body. It might seem right in the heat of the moment, but you are intentionally hurting your body. Whether you are taking drugs at a party, at your friend’s place, you are throwing yourself in a pit. 

Drugs have a series of adverse effects on your mind and body. They can cause long-term illness and affect your family. Drugs might seem like a quick exit from anxiety and depression, but you compensate your anxiety with bodily harm. Severe drug addiction requires the patient to be admitted to a drug rehabilitation center. Here are all the harmful effects of drugs on your body. 

How Drugs Affect My Body?

Drugs alter the way your body works. Seemingly “quiet” drugs like marijuana and prescription Adderall can have detrimental effects on your health. The reality about drugs is that any addictive substance consumed for a prolonged period can deteriorate your physical health. Drugs increase your substance dependency. Seemingly harmless drugs like tobacco can lead to lung cancer and other problems. 

Consuming drugs is like taking slow poison. When you abuse drugs, you run the risk of hypertension, anxiety, depression, panic attacks, strokes, etc. Drugs can make you look older than you are. They directly impact your immune system leading to malnutrition and weakness. 

Some studies show that people who consume drugs without rehabilitation help shorten their life expectancy by 18 to 20 years. So if you started taking drugs at the age of 18, your life expectancy drops to 40 years. Even if you managed to live past your expectancy, you’d be weaker and less active than a person your age because drug addiction can affect your physical and cognitive abilities. 

What Happens to Your Body After Taking Drugs 

Drugs enter your bloodstream and directly impact your nervous system. You get hallucinations and feel calm. Drug abuse causes excess secretion of hormones such as dopamine. You might feel content for a while, but a forced secretion of hormones can lead to several cognitive problems. Here is a breakdown of how drugs affect different parts of your body. 

• Brain 

Our brain is wired to promote activities that make us “feel good,” and this applies to activities such as going to the gym, eating, or consuming drugs. Addictive substances activate our brain’s “happy circuits.” Regular consumption of drugs can lead to dependency. After a while, your brain will rewire the chemicals in your body and develop immunity. 

This natural defense mechanism tells you to stop and get help from a drug rehabilitation center. You no longer feel the euphoria you once did. So, now you consume more drugs to get that “hit” you had before. 

Soon, your body becomes completely immune to drugs, and no amount can trigger the same pleasure as before, which can lead to drug overdose and, in rare cases, cognitive failure. 

• Lungs 

When you hear lung damage, you immediately think about smoking. But did you know medicinal marijuana is also a leading cause of respiratory depression? Drugs like Heroin and OxyContin are also responsible for causing breathing problems. Heroin is a standalone drug that can cause a lack of oxygen supply in the brain leading to a coma or permanent brain damage. 

The adverse effects of heroin kick in by slowing your mental activity. Soon, you start forgetting things. Later, you become completely dependent on heroin to help you power through the day. 

• Kidneys 

Some drugs directly impact the water levels in your body. For example, MDMA causes hypothermia which rapidly exhausts the water levels in your body to get you into a state of euphoria, and this can cause muscle breakdown, dehydration, and long-term kidney damage. 

• Heart

Most drugs increase your heart rate to boost energy. Drugs like cocaine are responsible for causing sudden heart attacks, stroke, and heart failure. Injecting drugs can lead to collapsed veins and bacterial infection in the heart valves. 

Don’t Throw Away Your Life! 

Substance abuse is the leading cause of death in most countries. Drugs like Heroin, Cocaine, and Opioids can cause brain, kidney, lungs, and heart damage. Apart from destroying your body from the inside, drugs also affect your external appearance. You look pale, malnourished, and tired. Your skin develops acne, and your hair starts falling.

If you are seeking refuge from drug addiction, you can contact More Life Recovery. They are committed to helping you achieve long-term recovery. More Life Recovery has outpatient treatment and an individualized setting where you feel just like home. You can contact them by dialing  1 (888) 825-8689 for 24/7 customer support or visit their website for more information. [/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]