If left untreated, alcohol poisoning can lead to brain damage or death, so it’s important to receive medical care immediately if you or someone you know is experiencing symptoms of alcohol poisoning after drinking. Alcohol poisoning is a life-threatening condition that happens when toxic levels of alcohol cause areas of the brain that control essential functions to shut down. This condition occurs when you drink large amounts of alcohol in a short period. This slows the communication between brain cells and has a calming effect on the mind and body.
Changes in Mood
In 2017, around half of all Americans aged over 18 years had consumed alcohol in the last month. It is commonly misused among individuals of all ages, resulting in significant health, legal, and socio-economic damage. However, when researchers evaluate these potential factors, the risks outweigh any benefits. Alcohol influences neurotransmitters like dopamine and serotonin. These brain chemicals are responsible for regulating your mood, concentration, motivation, and reward-seeking behavior. Alcohol also causes damage to nerves and pathways, which disrupts communication between essential organs and bodily functions.
Some examples include behavioral treatments, support groups, and FDA-approved medications. NIAAA can help people find information and resources about AUD and treatments that might work best for them. NIAAA Director George F. Koob, Ph.D., said that as of May 2023, the institute is not aware of specific health guidelines on alcohol consumption for transgender or gender-nonconforming individuals. “Excessive alcohol consumption can cause nerve damage and irreversible forms of dementia,” Dr. Sengupta warns. The morning after a night of over-imbibing can cause some temporary effects on your brain. Things like trouble concentration, slow reflexes and sensitivity to bright lights and loud sounds are standard signs of a hangover, and evidence of alcohol’s effects on your brain.
What effects does alcohol have on health?
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 12 ounces of beer, 5 ounces of wine, and 1.5 ounces of 80-proof alcohol constitute one drink. In people assigned female at birth, consuming more than four drinks in one sitting is considered binge drinking. However, there may be legal, financial, or relational consequences for drinking heavily. Alcohol is a central nervous system depressant that has immediate effects on the body, like intoxication (feeling drunk) and hangovers (unpleasant aftereffects from drinking).
If enough acid and alcohol build up, you get nauseated and you may throw up. It can also lead to irritation of the lining of the stomach, called gastritis. Slurred speech, a key sign of intoxication, happens because alcohol reduces communication between your brain and body.
It is important to always consume in moderation and to seek care if you exceed your limits. Excessive drinking also commonly causes vision changes, such as blurred vision, double vision, or difficulty focusing. Alcohol impairs the signals from the eyes to the brain and affects the muscles that control eye movement, leading to weakened eye-muscle control and decreased peripheral vision (seeing to your left and right sides). Impulsive behaviors can include making poor financial decisions (e.g., spending rent money on a round of drinks for your friends) or liquid marijuana alcohol drink engaging in risky sexual behaviors (e.g., condomless sex).
Risks of moderate alcohol use
When you drink too much alcohol, it can throw off the balance of good and bad bacteria in your gut. Steatotic liver disease used to go by the name fatty liver disease. But when you ingest too much alcohol for your liver to process in a timely manner, a buildup of toxic substances begins to take a toll on your liver.
Once the effects of alcohol wear off, glutamate (a neurotransmitter) levels increase, which can lead to feelings of depression and anxiety, or “hangxiety” (hangover and anxiety), the day after drinking. The risk of developing cancer increases substantially the more alcohol is consumed. 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). In the EU, cancer is the leading cause of death – with a steadily increasing incidence rate – and the majority of all alcohol-attributable deaths are due to different types of cancers. “So, when we talk about possible so-called safer levels of alcohol consumption or about its protective effects, we are ignoring the bigger picture of alcohol harm in our Region and the world.
We can all experience temporary and long-term effects of alcohol, depending on our consumption. The brain is highly vulnerable to the damaging effects of alcohol, which disrupts communication between brain cells. Excessive or chronic alcohol use can lead to a steady decline in cognitive function, causing memory problems, difficulty learning new information, mood changes, and behavior changes. Drinking moderately if you’re otherwise healthy may be a risk you’re willing to take. But heavy drinking carries a much higher risk even for those without other health concerns. Be sure to ask your healthcare professional about what’s right for your health and safety.
- Since those effects don’t last long, you might not worry much about them, especially if you don’t drink often.
- Moderate drinking is having one drink or less in a day for women, or two drinks or less in a day for men.
- Your immune system works to keep you as healthy as possible by fighting off foreign invaders, such as viruses, bacteria, and toxins.
- Alcohol causes irritation and inflammation along your gastrointestinal (GI) tract, disrupting normal digestive function.
- Alcohol disrupts normal brain function, leading to lowered inhibitions, impulsive behavior, and difficulty focusing or making decisions.
Regular drinking can also affect overall mental health and well-being, in part because alcohol may worsen symptoms of certain mental health conditions, including anxiety, depression, and bipolar disorder. This is in agreement with our findings that, among men, drinking decreased overall sleep duration and increased sleep disturbances. The short-term effects of alcohol develop quickly—within minutes after your first drink—impacting mood, coordination, speech, memory, and behavior. Though alcohol seems woven into the fabric of our social lives, drinking can have harmful health effects, even in small doses.
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 heart rhythm changes permanent and cause what’s called arrhythmia. Over time, it causes heart muscles to droop and stretch, like an old rubber band. Your heart can’t pump blood as well, and that impacts every part of your body.