Alcohol?s Effects on the Body

Alcohol?s Effects on the Body

As a person starts drinking, they will experience feelings of sociability and euphoria. Some people usually feel an increase in self-confidence and some report that alcohol removes feelings of tension or stress. However, since alcohol is actually a depressant, if a person is feeling lonely or depressed when they start to drink, it can cause even greater feelings of depression. After a few more drinks, the ability to make decisions slows down. If too much alcohol is taken in and the body cannot efficiently metabolize the content, the amount of alcohol in the blood stream (BAC) becomes elevated. Usually this happens with only one drink per hour. The Blood Alcohol Count (BAC) is used to determine the effects of alcohol on the body. Naturally, the higher the BAC, the more pronounced the effects. Anyone with a BAC of 0.10 is considered intoxicated, but even low amounts of alcohol can affect your body.

Drinking regularly can develop a tolerance to alcohol, which means more alcohol can be consumed without the person seeming to suffer the same results as someone who doesn’t drink very often. Having a tolerance to alcohol does not protect a person from harm to the body. Having a high tolerance to alcohol indicates that a person is drinking far too much, which translates to the potential for more damage to the health. It is also possible to drink so much alcohol that a person can fall into a coma and stop breathing. In fact, using alcohol is highly correlated with injury. It has been reported that many drowning, fire injuries and choking are connected to those who are drinking. Those who operate motorcycles, boats, cars and other types of equipment incur a much larger number of fatalities.

Overall, alcohol use impairs the functioning of the immune system as it weakens the body’s ability to fight off disease. One of the short-term effects of a weakened immune system is an increase in the number of colds a person experiences. It blocks the absorption of essential nutrients, alcohol consumption contributes to malnutrition. In addition, heavy drinking can affect a person’s physical appearance. For example, because alcohol is high in calories, a person can gain excess weight. In addition, because alcohol dehydrates the body, a person who drinks will have dry skin and broken veins.  So, while the result of a few drinks once in a while, won’t impact heavily on a person’s health, if they continue drinking heavily, the results to the body and health can be irreversible.