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Alcohol's Effects on the Body. Drinking too much – on a single occasion or over time – can take a serious toll on your health. Here’s how alcohol can affect your body: Alcohol interferes with the brain’s communication pathways, and can affect the way the brain looks and works.
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- Liver. Your liver detoxifies and removes alcohol from your blood through a process known as oxidation. When your liver finishes that process, alcohol gets turned into water and carbon dioxide.
- Metabolism. You probably are keenly aware of the so-called “beer belly.” That’s shorthand for a round midsection that some people associate with drinking too much beer.
- Gut health. 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.
- Heart health. Too much alcohol is bad for your heart. Alcohol can cause: Increased heart rate. Spikes in blood pressure. Irregular heartbeats (arrhythmia).
- Digestive and Endocrine Glands
- Inflammatory Damage
- Sugar Levels
- Central Nervous System
- Digestive System
- Circulatory System
- Sexual and Reproductive Health
- Skeletal and Muscle Systems
- Immune System
Drinking too much alcohol over time may cause inflammation of the pancreas, resulting in pancreatitis. Pancreatitis can activate the release of pancreatic digestive enzymes and cause abdominal pain. Pancreatitis can become a long-term condition and cause serious complications.
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: 1. Alcohol-related liver diseaseis a potentially life threatening condition that leads to toxins an...
The pancreas helps regulate how your body uses insulin and responds to glucose. If your pancreas and liver don’t function properly due to pancreatitis or liver disease, you could experience low blood sugar, or hypoglycemia. A damaged pancreas can also prevent your body from producing enough insulin to use sugar. This can lead to hyperglycemia, or t...
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 ...
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 vi...
Chronic drinking can affect your heart and lungs, raising your risk of developing heart-related health issues. Circulatory system complications include: 1. high blood pressure 2. irregular heartbeat 3. difficulty pumping blood through the body 4. stroke 5. heart attack 6. heart disease 7. heart failure Difficulty absorbing vitamins and minerals fro...
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: 1. prevent sex hormone production 2. lower your libido 3. keep you from getting or maintaining an erection 4. make it difficult to achieve orgasm Excessive drinking may affect your menstrual cycle and...
Long-term alcohol use can affect bone density, leading to thinner bones and increasing your risk of fractures if you fall. Weakened bones may also heal slower. Drinking alcohol can also lead to muscle weakness, cramping, and eventually atrophy.
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 So...
Sep 10, 2023 · Alcohol can impact various parts of the body, including the brain, heart, liver, and pancreas, as well as essential body systems like the immune and digestive systems. Alcohol use can increase the risk of cardiovascular problems, cognitive decline, liver disease, mental health conditions, and more.
- Everything in Moderation. Alcohol can affect your body in different ways, depending on how much you drink. In general, experts say it’s OK to have up to one drink a day if you’re a woman or two if you’re a man.
- Your Brain Shrinks. If you drink heavily for a long time, alcohol can affect how your brain looks and works. Its cells start to change and even get smaller.
- Does It Help You Sleep? Alcohol’s slow-down effect on your brain can make you drowsy, so you may doze off more easily. But you won’t sleep well. Your body processes alcohol throughout the night.
- More Stomach Acid. Alcohol irritates the lining of your stomach and makes your digestive juices flow. If enough acid and alcohol build up, you get nauseated and you may throw up.
Dec 5, 2014 · Alcohol's effects on the body. December 5, 2014. Alcohol depresses the central nervous system. It acts like a sedative or tranquilizer, slowing your motor coordination and reaction time. It also harms judgment, memory, reasoning, and self control.
