Everything that happens to your body when you drink alcohol that shows ‘how bad’ it really is
We all know too much booze is bad for is, but we might not be aware just how bad - with too many drinks too often having a damaging effect on a whole array of our organs and bodily functions.
While you can feel what alcohol is doing to your mind and body as you drink, you might have wondered about the intricacies of the process and what sort of internal functions are impacted.
Depending on how much you drink, alcohol can have some really pronounced effects, none of which are any good for you.
It really is that bad for you, and as Dr Catherine Carney, of Delamere rehab clinic in Cheshire told the Telegraph taking a month off and going sober can bring some major benefits.
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The impact on your brain
Alcohol is a depressant, though paradoxically people drink it to have a good time as it does change the way your mind works.
You'll likely be familiar with the negative impact it has on your mental capacities as alcohol impairs your decision making and motor skills, putting you at risk of doing something very dangerous and being less able to stay safe while doing it.
Your brain has things called neurotransmitters, which carry chemical signals and come in three flavours, 'excitatory', 'inhibitory' and 'modulatory'.
Drinking alcohol hampers your excitatory neurotransmitters and boosts your inhibitory ones, which slows down the messages going round your body.
However, in the short term drinking alcohol can increase the body's production of dopamine and serotonin, the hormones which make us feel happy.
Basically, in the short term it'll make your brain feel good for a little bit and then give your noodle a right kicking later on and in the long run.
Giving your liver a kicking
Speaking of organs getting a kicking, alcohol is really bad for your liver and can lead to health issues such as cirrhosis, fibrosis, alcohol-associated hepatitis and steatosis.
Those are all bad and you really don't want them, as the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism warned.
Your liver is a very resilient organ but each time you drink alcohol some of the cells inside it die and need to be replaced with newly regenerated ones.
According to the NHS, your liver can process about one unit of alcohol per hour, or about 10ml of the stuff, but drinking too much will cause serious long term damage to your liver while in the short term if you're quaffing more than the vital organ can handle, that booze is going to take a toll on the rest of your body.
It's in your blood
While your liver is working to filter out the alcohol from your bloodstream your circulatory system is pumping that poison all around your body.
The more alcohol in your blood, the more damage there is to be done to you, with the impact going from temporary brain impairment through to more physical symptoms such as nausea and loss of physical control.
When your blood alcohol content is between 0.3 and 0.4 percent you'll begin to suffer from alcohol poisoning which can kill you, while if it goes above 0.4 percent you're at risk of slipping into a coma and dying, according to Cleveland Clinic.
You know it in your heart
Too much alcohol in your blood is a problem, and drinking too much can take a serious toll on the organ that pumps the blood for you.
Drinking can lead to higher blood pressure, which as we all know is bad, while it can also contribute to an irregular heartbeat and even something called cardiomyopathy, which is the name for a group of diseases which affect the heart muscle and saps your ticker of the ability to pump blood capably, according to the British Heart Foundation.
Alcohol can also cause you to put on weight, which puts more pressure on your heart, which puts you at greater risk of things like a stroke.
Pancreas and kidney problems
When you drink it leads your pancreas to create a series of toxic substances that can eventually result in something called pancreatitis, according to Drink Aware, which over time can cause lasting damage to your pancreas.
The damage alcohol does also impairs your kidneys, impacting their ability to filter the blood and keep the right amount of water in your body, according to the National Kidney Foundation.
Cancer risks
Cancer Research UK says that drinking alcohol causes seven kinds of cancer, as it damages our cells, affects signals going through the body and makes our mouth more vulnerable to harmful chemicals.
Drinking alcohol puts a person at greater risk of breast and bowel cancer, as well as developing it in the mouth, upper throat, larynx, oesophagus and liver.
Breast cancer is the most common kind of cancer in the UK and alcohol is one of the biggest risk factors involved with it.
Bones and muscles
Heavy drinkers can expect the strength of their bones to weaken over time, with studies indicating that long term drinking can interfere with bone growth and tissue replacement.
Experts also found that drinking a lot while still in adolescence could reduce bone mass and result in weaker bones as an adult, making you more likely to break something.
As for your muscles, alcohol can also impair your bodily ability to build and repair muscle tissue, which makes you weaker and could even lead to your muscles wasting away with time.
Intoxicated immune system
As if all the above weren't bad enough, having too much to drink can also weaken your immune system and put you at risk of catching all sorts of diseases.
Those who drink a lot are more likely to get sick, while someone going on a binge can end up seriously hampering their immune system for up to 24 hours, according to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.
Topics: Health, Alcohol, Mental Health
Joe Harker