Alcohol Use and Your Health Alcohol Use

by wadminw on June 22, 2022

Any amount of alcohol can diminish your judgment and functioning, and even low or moderate alcohol use can have harmful effects on different organs. For many of us, alcohol is embedded in our social and cultural activities. We go to happy hour after work, we give toasts at weddings, and we drink to celebrate and mark occasions. Oftentimes, we aren’t thinking about how much or how often we consume alcohol or its effects on the body. It doesn’t matter how much you drink – the risk to the drinker’s health starts from the first drop of any alcoholic beverage.

How Alcohol Use Disorder Is Treated

Alcohol also irritates the stomach lining, leading to inflammation (gastritis), which can make you feel nauseated and throw up. As the body adapts to the presence of the drug, dependency and addiction can result. If consumption stops suddenly, the person may experience withdrawal symptoms.

Digestive system

If you’re concerned with your alcohol consumption and attitude toward drinking, talk to a healthcare provider as a first step. If you are drinking heavily or are worried you may be dependent on alcohol, reach out to a healthcare provider before you start reducing your alcohol consumption to determine the safest way to make changes. Wine—specifically red wine—contains high levels of antioxidants. In low to moderate alcohol consumption, antioxidants may provide some cardiovascular benefits. According to the 2019 National Survey on Drug Use and Health from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 69.5% of people in the United States reported drinking within the last year. 25.8% of people classified their recent consumption habits as binge drinking (excessive drinking in a defined amount of time).

Increased Impairment Symptoms

In reality, there’s no evidence that drinking beer (or your alcoholic beverages of choice) actually contributes to belly fat. Cirrhosis, on the other hand, is irreversible and can lead to liver failure and liver cancer, even if you abstain from alcohol. Dr. Sengupta shares some of the not-so-obvious effects that alcohol has on your body. For more information about alcohol’s effects on the body, please visit the Interactive Body feature on NIAAA’s College Drinking Prevention website. For more information about alcohol and cancer, please visit the National Cancer Institute’s webpage “Alcohol and Cancer Risk” (last accessed June 6, 2024). Experts recommend avoiding excessive amounts of alcohol if you have diabetes or hypoglycemia.

Long-term alcohol use can affect bone density, leading to thinner bones and increasing your risk of fractures if you fall. Over time, alcohol can cause damage to your central nervous system. A damaged pancreas can also prevent your body from producing enough insulin to use sugar. At this stage, brain activity can slow down so much that your memory and ability to stay awake are severely impaired. You may experience a complete loss of memory, confusion, difficulty staying awake, or the inability to wake up. By promoting the release of these feel-good neurotransmitters, alcohol temporarily amplifies feelings of joy and lightheartedness.

Alcohol’s impact on memory and consciousness is based on its effect on the hippocampus, the part of the brain that controls memory and learning. The frontal cortex is the brain’s center for higher-order functions like planning, decision-making, and impulse control. Alcohol disrupts frontal cortex functioning, leading to poor judgment, difficulty weighing options logically, and increased impulsivity. Alcohol increases the production of stomach acids and can lead to reflux (stomach acids backing up into the esophagus and the throat).

Drinking on an empty stomach and taking sleeping pills, antidepressants, or pain relievers can make it easier for alcohol to enter your bloodstream and strengthen its effects. The amount of alcohol that can cause alcohol poisoning isn’t the same for everyone. Other factors include your medications and how much food you eat before drinking.

1. This can lead to conditions like stroke, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), Alzheimer’s disease, and multiple sclerosis (MS).
2. From damaging vital organs to impairing brain function and jeopardizing relationships, the negative consequences of excessive alcohol use are far-reaching.
3. Evidence suggests that certain alcoholic beverages, such as wine and beer, appear to accelerate the movement of food and waste through the digestive system, which can lead to diarrhea.
4. Research shows that women who drink more alcohol than is recommended on a regular basis tend to develop liver disease, cardiomyopathy and nerve damage after fewer years than men who do the same.
5. This drinking pattern is responsible for the majority of alcohol-attributable breast cancers in women, with the highest burden observed in countries of the European Union (EU).

Call 911 for help if you suspect someone is experiencing alcohol poisoning. Symptoms can vary from person to person, so it’s best to exercise caution and seek medical help if someone you are with shows signs fetal alcohol syndrome face celebrities of extreme alcohol intoxication. Loss of coordination (ataxia) is a common short-term effect of alcohol and is linked to how alcohol affects the brain’s cerebellum.

Alcohol left in their stomach and intestines can continue to enter the bloodstream, potentially worsening symptoms. If you see signs of alcohol poisoning in yourself or someone else, call 911 right away. Only professional medical help can prevent lasting brain damage or death.

Damaged DNA can cause a cell to grow out of control, which results in cancerous tumors. Pancreatitis can be a short-term (acute) condition that clears up in a few days. But prolonged alcohol abuse can lead to chronic (long-term) pancreatitis, which can be severe.