Inter-relationships - Unit 3 Flashcards
How do drugs affect the body?
They can cause changes in physical behaviour and can be addictive.
What are drugs?
Most drugs are chemical substances that effect the central nervous system.
Which drugs are medically useful?
Antibiotics e.g penicillin
Why can’t you buy all medicinal drugs over the counter?
Because if they are misused they could be dangerous.
What happens if you don’t get the drug you’re addicted to?
You get withdrawal symptoms.
Give an example of a legal addictive drug.
Caffeine
Give an example of an illegal addictive drug.
Cocaine
What happens if your body becomes tolerant to a drug?
Your body gets used to having it so you need a higher dose to give the same effect.
What are depressants?
These decrease the activity of the brain. This slows down the responses of the nervous system, causing slow reactions and poor judgment of speed and distances.
Give an example of a depressant
Alcohol
What are stimulants?
These do the opposite of depressants - they increase the activity of the brain, by increasing the amount of neurotransmitter at some neurone synapses. This increases the speed of reactions, and makes you feel more alert and awake. Stimulant drugs are often used to treat depression.
Give an example of a stimulant.
Nicotine
Caffeine
What are painkillers?
These decrease the feeling of pain. Different painkillers work in different ways e.g morphine is a string painkiller that works by blocking the nerve impulses in the brain.
Give an example of a painkiller
Narcotics like morphine.
What are hallucinogens?
They distort what’s seen and heard by altering the pathways nerve impulses normally travel along.
Give an example of a hallucinogen
LSD
What is reaction time?
The time it takes to respond to a stimulus. It can be affected by drugs.
How do you measure reaction time?
Drop ruler test.
One person holds a ruler vertically between the thumb and forefinger of a second person.
The second person tries to catch the ruler as quickly as they can - as soon as they see it fall.
Reaction time is measured by how far down the ruler is caught - the further down, the slower their reactions.
what does the carbon monoxide in tobacco smoke do to your body?
It combines with the haemoglobin in red blood cells, so blood can’t carry as much oxygen meaning the brain becomes oxygen deprived.
what are carcinogens?
chemicals that lead to cancer.
give an example of a carcinogen in tobacco smoke.
tar.
how is tar harmful to your body?
it causes lung cancer.
which drug in tobacco causes it to be addictive?
nicotine.
what are the short term effects of drinking alcohol?
slowed reaction times
being drunk which leads to blurred vision and can lower inhibitions causing people to do things they wouldn’t normally do.
what are the long term effects of drinking alcohol?
it is poisenous so if you drink to much your liver won’t be able to break down the toxins. this causes death of liver cells, forming scar tissue that starts to block blood flow through the liver - this is called cirrhosis.
it can also lead to brain damage.
kidney damage.
give two examples of organs you can donate whilst you’re alive
a kidney
part of your liver
are there enough organ donors to supply everyone who needs an organ donor?
no
why might an alcoholic be refused a transplant at one hospital but not at another?
different hospitals have different ethnic beliefs.
might waste the organ.
could go to someone better.
would be asked to stop drinking first.
what are the reasons for people being refused transplants?
not likely to survive operation (obese)
alcoholic
harmed own organs.