People who choose not to drink make that choice for the same reasons. Knowing your personal risk based on your habits can help you make the best decision for you. The pancreas helps regulate how your body uses insulin and responds to glucose.
Your heart can’t pump blood as well, and that impacts every part of your body. 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. Will Health Insurance Pay for Drug Detox & Rehab Services This condition can be mild, moderate, or severe, depending on the number of symptoms you have. In a clinical case study reviewed in this issue, Trevejo-Nunez and colleagues report on systemic and organ-specific immune pathologies often seen in chronic drinkers.
A comprehensive 2015 review found that alcohol use is one of the leading contributors to pancreatitis because it causes the pancreas to produce toxic substances. Below we explore the specific parts of the body alcohol affects. Drinking too much can cause a range of consequences, and increase your risk for a variety of problems.
Chronic drinking can affect your heart and lungs, raising your risk of developing heart-related health issues. Over time, drinking can also damage your frontal lobe, the part of the brain responsible for executive functions, like abstract reasoning, decision making, social behavior, and performance. Slurred speech, a key sign of intoxication, happens because alcohol reduces communication between your brain and body. This makes speech and coordination — think reaction time and balance — more difficult. That’s one major reason why you should never drive after drinking.
Other ways to get help include talking with a mental health professional or seeking help from a support group such as Alcoholics Anonymous or a similar type of self-help group. If your pattern of drinking results in repeated significant distress and problems functioning in your daily life, you likely have alcohol use disorder. However, even a mild disorder can escalate and lead to serious problems, so early treatment is important. Binge drinking is drinking enough alcohol to raise one’s BAC to 0.08% or above. Women typically reach this level after about four drinks and men after about five drinks in two hours.
- While you may experience euphoria or relaxation at first, in the long run, alcohol affects neurotransmitters, which can lead to changes in your thoughts, moods, and behavior.
- Here’s a breakdown of alcohol’s effects on your internal organs and body processes.
- Unhealthy alcohol use includes any alcohol use that puts your health or safety at risk or causes other alcohol-related problems.
- Heavy drinking can also lead to a host of health concerns, like brain damage, heart disease, cirrhosis of the liver and even certain kinds of cancer.
How we reviewed this article:
People consume alcohol to socialize, to relax, and to celebrate. It can also be difficult for the body to process, putting extra pressure on the liver, the digestive system, the cardiovascular system, and other functions. By Lindsay CurtisCurtis is a writer with over 20 years of experience focused on mental health, sexual health, cancer care, and spinal health.
Alcohol and the Immune System
Some people will feel unwell immediately after drinking alcohol. They may have an intolerance, insensitivity, or allergy to alcohol or another ingredient in a drink. It could be that it messes with the part of your brain that processes sound. Or it might damage the nerves and tiny hairs in your inner ear that help you hear.
Short-term effects of alcohol
At this point, you may have alcohol cravings or drink to avoid the low feelings withdrawal causes rather than for the pleasurable feelings alcohol consumption may offer. The effects of alcohol can range from mild, such as skin flushing, to more severe symptoms such as passing out or vomiting. Wine—specifically red wine—contains high levels of antioxidants. In low to moderate alcohol consumption, antioxidants may provide some cardiovascular benefits. Whether you’re a light, moderate, or heavy drinker, alcohol can reduce bone mass. Because denial is common, you may feel like you don’t have a problem with drinking.
Long-term alcohol use can affect bone density, leading to thinner bones and increasing your risk of fractures if you fall. If your body can’t manage and balance your blood sugar levels, you may experience greater complications and side effects related to diabetes. Your gut microbiome is a hotbed of bacteria that help keep your digestive system happy and healthy. The trillions of microbes in your colon and large and small intestines are critical to proper digestion.
On the other hand, long-term heavy drinking boosts your blood pressure. It makes your body release stress hormones that narrow blood vessels, so your heart has to pump harder to push blood through. One night of binge drinking can jumble the electrical signals that keep your heart’s rhythm steady. If you do it for years, you can make those heart rhythm changes permanent and cause what’s called arrhythmia. Over time, it causes heart muscles to droop and stretch, like an old rubber band.
Treatment for alcohol use disorder
Since those effects don’t last long, you might not worry much about them, especially if you don’t drink often. And prolonged alcohol use can lead to mental health conditions like anxiety and depression. The morning after a night of over-imbibing can cause some temporary effects on your brain. Things like trouble concentration, slow reflexes and sensitivity to bright lights and loud sounds are standard signs of a hangover, and evidence of alcohol’s effects on your brain. Pancreatitis can be a short-term (acute) condition that clears up in a few days.