In fact, alcohol is Australia’s most widely used social drug. Like all drugs, alcohol can damage your body, especially if you drink heavily every day or in binges. Even small amounts of alcohol are still linked to the development of certain diseases, including numerous cancers.
Alcohol affects your body in many ways. Some effects are immediate and last only a while; others accumulate over time and may significantly affect your physical and mental health and quality of life.
How much harm alcohol causes your body depends on how much you drink, your pattern of drinking, and even the quality of the alcohol you drink. Your body size and composition, age, drinking experience, genetics, nutritional status, metabolism, and social factors all play a part as well.
Long-Term Effects of Alcohol
Alcohol use can also lead to more lasting concerns that extend beyond your own mood and health.
Some long-term effects of frequently drinking alcohol can include:
♦ Persistent changes in mood, including anxiety and irritability
♦ Insomnia and other sleep concerns
♦ A weakened immune system, meaning you might get sick more often
♦ Changes in libido and sexual function
♦ Changes in appetite and weight
♦ Problems with memory and concentration
♦ Difficulty focusing on tasks
♦ Increased tension and conflict in romantic and family relationships
Short-Term Effects of Alcohol
Temporary effects you might notice while drinking alcohol (or shortly after) can include:
♦ feelings of relaxation or drowsiness
♦ a sense of euphoria or giddiness
♦ changes in mood
♦ lowered inhibitions
♦ impulsive behavior
♦ slowed or slurred speech
♦ nausea and vomiting
♦ diarrhea
♦ head pain
♦ changes in hearing, vision, and perception
♦ loss of coordination
♦ trouble focusing or making decisions
♦ Loss of consciousness or gaps in memory (often called a blackout)
Some of these effects, like a relaxed mood or lowered inhibitions, might show up quickly after just one drink. Others, like loss of consciousness or slurred speech, may develop after a few drinks.
Dehydration-related effects, like nausea, headache, and dizziness, might not appear for a few hours, and they can also depend on what you drink, how much you drink, and if you also drink water.
These effects might not last very long, but that doesn’t make them insignificant. Impulsiveness, loss of coordination, and changes in mood can affect your judgment and behavior and contribute to more far-reaching effects, including accidents, injuries, and decisions you later regret.
Physical Impact
Central Nervous System
One major way to recognize alcohol’s impact on your body? Understanding how it affects your central nervous system.
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.
Over time, alcohol can cause damage to your central nervous system. You might notice numbness and tingling in your feet and hands.
Drinking can also affect your ability to:
♦ create long-term memories
♦ think clearly
♦ make rational choices
♦ regulate your emotions
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.
Chronic heavy drinking can also cause permanent brain damage, including Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome, a brain disorder that affects memory.
Inflammatory Damage
Your liver helps break down and remove toxins and harmful substances (including alcohol) from your body.
Long-term alcohol use interferes with this process. It also increases your risk for alcohol-related liver disease and chronic liver inflammation:
♦ Alcohol-related liver disease is a potentially life threatening condition that leads to toxins and waste buildup in your body.
♦ Chronic liver inflammation can cause scarring, or cirrhosis. When scar tissue forms, it may permanently damage your liver.
Digestive System
The connection between alcohol consumption and your digestive system might not seem immediately clear. The side effects often only appear after the damage has happened. Continuing to drink can worsen these symptoms.
Drinking can damage the tissues in your digestive tract, preventing your intestines from digesting food and absorbing nutrients and vitamins properly. In time, this damage can cause malnutrition.
Heavy drinking can also lead to:
♦ Gas
♦ Bloating
♦ Feeling of fullness in your abdomen
♦ Diarrhea or painful stools
♦ Ulcers or hemorrhoids (due to dehydration and constipation)
Ulcers can cause dangerous internal bleeding, which can sometimes be fatal without prompt diagnosis and treatment.
Circulatory System
Chronic drinking can affect your heart and lungs, raising your risk of developing heart-related health issues.
Circulatory system complications include:
♦ High blood pressure
♦ Irregular heartbeat
♦ Difficulty pumping blood through the body
♦ Stroke
♦ Heart attack
♦ Heart disease
♦ Heart failure
Difficulty absorbing vitamins and minerals from food can cause fatigue and anemia, a condition where you have a low red blood cell count.
Sexual and Reproductive Health
Drinking alcohol can lower your inhibitions, so you might assume alcohol can ramp up your fun in the bedroom.
In reality, though, heavy drinking can:
♦ Prevent sex hormone production
♦ Lower your libido
♦ Keep you from getting or maintaining an erection
♦ Make it difficult to achieve orgasm
Excessive drinking may affect your menstrual cycle and potentially increase your risk for infertility.
Immune System
Drinking heavily reduces your body’s natural immune system. A weakened immune system has a harder time protecting you from germs and viruses.
People who drink heavily over a long period of time are also more likely to develop pneumonia or tuberculosis than the general population. The World Health Organization (WHO) links about 8.1 percentTrusted Source of all tuberculosis cases worldwide to alcohol consumption.
Drinking alcohol can also factor intoTrusted Source your cancer risk:
♦ Frequent drinking can increase your risk of developing mouth, throat, breast, esophagus, colon, or liver cancer.
♦ Drinking and using tobacco together can further increase your riskTrusted Source of developing mouth or throat cancer.
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