How Alcohol Affects Your Body

In this blog we’re going to find out how alcohol affects your body. Lets dive right in!

About 2 billion people worldwide consume alcoholic drinks, which can have immediate and long term consequences on health and social life.

Over 76 million people are currently affected by alcohol use disorders, such as alcohol dependence and abuse.

A sip to your head

Thirty seconds after your first sip, alcohol races into your brain.

It slows down the chemicals and pathways that your brain cells use to send messages.

That alters your mood, slows your reflexes, and throws off your balance. You also can’t think straight, which you may not recall later, because you’ll struggle to store things in long-term memory.

A weaker immune system

Alcohol puts the brakes on your immune system. Your body can’t make the numbers of white blood cells it needs to fight germs.

So for 24 hours after drinking, you’re more likely to get sick.

Long-term, heavy drinkers are much more likely to get illnesses like pneumonia and tuberculosis.

Alcohol causes your brain to shrink

If you drink heavily for a long time, booze can affect how your brain looks and works. Its cells start to change and even get smaller.

Too much alcohol can actually shrink your brain. And that’ll have big effects on your ability to think, learn, and remember things.

It can also make it harder to keep a steady body temperature and control your movements.

Diarrhea and Heartburn

Your small intestine and colon get irritated, too.

Alcohol throws off the normal speed that food moves through them. That’s why hard drinking can lead to diarrhea, which can turn into a long-term problem.

It also makes heartburn more likely – it relaxes the muscle that keeps acid out of your esophagus, the tube that connects your mouth and stomach.

A way to liver disease

Your liver breaks down almost all the alcohol you drink. In the process, it handles a lot of toxins.

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.

You are wearing off your own heart

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 changes permanent.

And, alcohol can literally wear your heart out. Over time, it causes heart muscles to droop and stretch, like an old rubber band.
It can’t pump blood as well, and that impacts every part of your body.

These are only a few effects mentioned on how alcohol affects your body.

Here is some more detailed article about many effects that alcohol has on your body, you can read it here.

Find out how dangerous it is to drive under the influence of alcohol on our blog.

Find out more about car accidents in our knowledge base

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