Alcohol's Effects on the Body

Drinking too much on a single occasion or over time can take a serious toll on your
health. Heres how alcohol can affect your body:
Brain:
Alcohol interferes with the brains communication pathways, and can affect the way the
brain looks and works. These disruptions can change mood and behavior, and make it harder
to think clearly and move with coordination.
Heart:
Drinking a lot over a long time or too much on a single occasion can damage the heart,
causing problems including:

Cardiomyopathy Stretching and drooping of heart muscle

Arrhythmias Irregular heart beat

Stroke

High blood pressure

Research also shows that drinking moderate amounts of alcohol may protect healthy adults
from developing coronary heart disease.
Liver:
Heavy drinking takes a toll on the liver, and can lead to a variety of problems and liver
inflammations including:

Steatosis, or fatty liver

Alcoholic hepatitis

Fibrosis

Cirrhosis
Pancreas:
Alcohol causes the pancreas to produce toxic substances that can eventually lead to
pancreatitis, a dangerous inflammation and swelling of the blood vessels in the pancreas
that prevents proper digestion.
Cancer:
Drinking too much alcohol can increase your risk of developing certain cancers, including
cancers of the:

Mouth

Esophagus

Throat

Liver

Breast
Immune System:
Drinking too much can weaken your immune system, making your body a much easier
target for disease. Chronic drinkers are more liable to contract diseases like pneumonia and
tuberculosis than people who do not drink too much. Drinking a lot on a single occasion
slows your bodys ability to ward off infections even up to 24 hours after getting drunk.

Short-term effects of alcohol

The short-term effects of alcohol (ethanol) consumption range from a decrease in anxiety and
motor skills at lower doses to unconsciousness, anterograde amnesia, and central nervous system
depression at higher doses. Cell membranesare highly permeable to alcohol, so once alcohol is in
the bloodstream it can diffuse into nearly every cell in the body. The concentration of alcohol
in blood is measured via blood alcohol content (BAC). The amount and circumstances of
consumption play a large part in determining the extent of intoxication; for example, eating a heavy
meal before alcohol consumption causes alcohol to absorb more slowly.[1] Hydration also plays a

role, especially in determining the extent of hangovers. After excessive

drinking, unconsciousness can occur and extreme levels of consumption can lead to alcohol
poisoning and death (a concentration in the blood stream of 0.40% will kill half of those affected[2][3]).
Alcohol may also cause death indirectly, by asphyxiation from vomit.
Alcohol can greatly exacerbate sleep problems. During abstinence, residual disruptions in sleep
regularity and sleep patterns[clarification needed] are the greatest predictors of relapse.[4]

Sleep
Moderate alcohol consumption and sleep disruptions[edit]
Moderate alcohol consumption 3060 minutes before sleep, although decreasing, disrupts sleep
architecture. Rebound effects occur once the alcohol has been largely metabolized, causing late
night disruptions in sleep maintenance. Under conditions of moderate alcohol consumption where
blood alcohol levels average 0.060.08 percent and decrease 0.010.02 percent per hour, an
alcohol clearance rate of 45 hours would coincide with disruptions in sleep maintenance in the
second half of an 8-hour sleep episode. In terms of sleep architecture, moderate doses of alcohol
facilitate "rebounds" in rapid eye movement (REM) following suppression in REM and stage 1 sleep
in the first half of an 8-hour sleep episode, REM and stage 1 sleep increase well beyond baseline in
the second half. Moderate doses of alcohol also very quickly increase (SWS) in the first half of an 8hour sleep episode. Enhancements in REM sleep and SWS following moderate alcohol consumption
are mediated by reductions in glutamatergic activity by adenosine in the central nervous system. In
addition, tolerance to changes in sleep maintenance and sleep architecture develops within 3 days
of alcohol consumption before bedtime.

Alcohol consumption and sleep improvements

Low doses of alcohol (one 360 ml (13 imp fl oz; 12 US fl oz) beer) appear to increase total sleep
time and reduce awakening during the night. The sleep-promoting benefits of alcohol dissipate at
moderate and higher doses of alcohol.[5]Previous experience with alcohol also influences the extent
to which alcohol positively or negatively affects sleep. Under free-choice conditions, in which
subjects chose between drinking alcohol or water, inexperienced drinkers were sedated while
experienced drinkers were stimulated following alcohol consumption. [6] In insomniacs, moderate
doses of alcohol improve sleep maintenance.[7]

Alcohol consumption and fatigue

Conditions of fatigue correlate positively with increased alcohol consumption. In Northern climates,
increased alcohol consumption during the winter is attributed to escalations in fatigue.

Alcohol abstinence and sleep disruptions

Hormonal imbalance and sleep disruption following withdrawal from chronic alcohol consumption are
strong predictors of relapse. During abstinence, recovering alcoholics have attenuated melatonin
secretion at onset of a sleep episode, resulting in prolonged sleep onset latencies. Psychiatry and
core body temperatures during the sleep period contribute to poor sleep maintenance. The effect of
alcohol consumption on the circadian control of human core body temperature is time dependent.

Alcohol consumption and balance

Alcohol can affect balance, by changing the viscosity of the endolymph within the otolithic
membrane, the fluid inside the semicircular canals inside the ear. The endolymph surrounds the
cupula which contains hair cells within the semicircular canals. When the head is tilted, the
endolymph flows and moves the cupula. The hair cells then bend and send signals to the brain
indicating the direction in which the head is tilted. By changing the viscosity of the endolymph to
become less dense when alcohol enters the system, the hair cells can move more easily within the
ear, which sends the signal to the brain and results in exaggerated and overcompensated
movements of body. This can also result in vertigo, or "the spins." [8][9]

Effects by dosage
Different concentrations of alcohol in the human body have different effects on the subject.
The following lists the common effects of alcohol on the body, depending on the blood alcohol
concentration (BAC). However, tolerance varies considerably between individuals, as does individual
response to a given dosage; the effects of alcohol differ widely between people.
Hence, BAC percentages are just estimates used for illustrative purposes.