Things like trouble concentration, slow reflexes effects of alcohol on the body and sensitivity to bright lights and loud sounds are standard signs of a hangover, and evidence of alcohol’s effects on your brain. Cirrhosis, on the other hand, is irreversible and can lead to liver failure and liver cancer, even if you abstain from alcohol. If alcohol continues to accumulate in your system, it can destroy cells and, eventually, damage your organs.
What Happens to Your Body When You Drink?
Additionally, articles published within Cureus should not be deemed a suitable substitute for the advice of a qualified health care professional. Do not disregard or avoid professional medical advice due to content published within Cureus. Alcohol use suppresses the central nervous system and destroys neurons. This can lead to conditions like stroke, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), Alzheimer’s disease, and multiple sclerosis (MS).
Increased Risk of Blood or Brain Disease
People under the influence of alcohol often experience a decrease in coordination, perception, and peripheral vision, which can make it difficult to walk in a straight line or drive a car, boat, or other vehicle. Impaired judgment is also a short-term effect of drinking that diminishes one’s ability to operate a vehicle or certain types of machinery. Impaired judgment may also cause people to make decisions that could prove dangerous to themselves or others. For example, a person with impaired judgment may engage in unprotected sexual intercourse, use drugs, commit a crime, or otherwise do reckless things that they wouldn’t normally attempt. Regardless to if you have one single drink or have been heavily drinking for years, alcohol can take a serious toll on your health.
Brain/Neurological System
- Acute pancreatitis can turn into chronic pancreatitis, which is a condition of constant inflammation of the pancreas.
- A young person who drinks alcohol is also more likely to experiment with other drugs, and to run the risk of becoming addicted to them.
- These long-term side effects of alcoholism can impact other areas of your life such as relationship problems with family or friends, legal trouble, financial issues and poor performance at work or in school.
It also increases the production of stomach acid, which causes uncomfortable heartburn and acid reflux. Heavy drinking disrupts the balance of bacteria in your stomach, causing gut irritation and chronic inflammation. Long term, this inflammation can lead to ulcers, or open sores, on the inside and outside of your stomach, major digestive issues or stomach cancer. From anxiety to stress, alcohol can have negative effects on your mental health.
Health Risks and Benefits of Alcohol Consumption
- Alcohol appears to interact with personality characteristics, such as impulsiveness and other factors related to a personal propensity for violence (Lang 1993; Zhang et al. 1997).
- Seizures, hallucinations, and delirium may occur in severe cases of withdrawal.
- Of the four stages of alcohol-related liver disease, the first three can be reversed simply by not drinking.
- By Lindsay CurtisCurtis is a writer with over 20 years of experience focused on mental health, sexual health, cancer care, and spinal health.
These studies are coming closer to providing a clear picture of the relationship between alcohol and risk of stroke. Prolonged alcohol intake for many years has been known to cause serious ailments in human beings since time memorial. Even after knowing that this dangerous addiction paves the way to one’s own grave, there isn’t much difference in the way the community sees this deadly habit. Time and again history has proven that this fatal addiction could make the life of those who consume it terrible. Also, the lives of the dear ones of alcoholic people are affected as alcohol not only affects those who consume them but also kin and friends. Various research studies conducted over many years clearly show the association of prolonged alcohol intake in the causation, aggravation, worsening, and deterioration of the health of its consumers.
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The short-term effects of alcohol use appear after just a few drinks. However, people who have low tolerance levels—first-time drinkers or those with a specific genetic makeup—may be affected after having only one drink. Some of these effects might seem harmless, but they are signals that drinking is taking effect in the body. The physical effects of alcohol can lead to severe health problems or even death. However, in people who receive treatment and establish abstinence, some of the problems triggered by chronic heavy drinking may ease what is alcoholism in severity over time.
Research indicates that heavy alcohol use can also increase the risk of suicide. Over time, heavy drinking makes the organ fatty and lets thicker, fibrous tissue build up. That limits blood flow, so liver cells don’t get what they need to survive. As they die off, the liver gets scars and stops working as well, a disease called cirrhosis. Tolerance and dependence can both happen as symptoms of alcohol use disorder, a mental health condition previously referred to as alcoholism, that happens when your body becomes dependent on alcohol.
Predictably, the alcoholic beverage industry opposes more restrictive guidelines. To determine the likely net outcome of alcohol consumption, the probable risks and benefits for each drinker must be carefully weighed. Incidence also was reduced among women, but only in those consuming low to moderate levels of alcohol. In fact, an increased risk was observed in women consuming more than 28 drinks https://ecosoberhouse.com/article/how-does-alcohol-affect-your-blood-pressure/ per week.