harmful effects of drinking alcohol essay

Alcohol: Balancing Risks and Benefits

Moderate drinking can be healthy—but not for everyone. You must weigh the risks and benefits.

– Introduction – What’s Moderate Alcohol Intake? What’s a Drink? – The Downside of Alcohol – Possible Health Benefits of Alcohol – Genes Play a Role – Shifting Benefits and Risks – The Bottom Line: Balancing Risks and Benefits

Introduction

Throughout the 10,000 or so years that humans have been drinking fermented beverages, they’ve also been arguing about their merits and demerits. The debate still simmers today, with a lively back-and-forth over whether alcohol is good for you or bad for you.

It’s safe to say that alcohol is both a tonic and a poison. The difference lies mostly in the dose. Moderate drinking seems to be good for the heart and circulatory system, and probably protects against type 2 diabetes and gallstones. Heavy drinking is a major cause of preventable death in most countries. In the U.S., alcohol is implicated in about half of fatal traffic accidents. [1] Heavy drinking can damage the liver and heart, harm an unborn child, increase the chances of developing breast and some other cancers, contribute to depression and violence, and interfere with relationships.

Alcohol’s two-faced nature shouldn’t come as a surprise. The active ingredient in alcoholic beverages, a simple molecule called ethanol, affects the body in many different ways. It directly influences the stomach, brain, heart, gallbladder, and liver. It affects levels of lipids (cholesterol and triglycerides) and insulin in the blood, as well as inflammation and coagulation. It also alters mood, concentration, and coordination.

What’s Moderate Alcohol Intake? What’s a Drink?

Loose use of the terms “moderate” and “a drink” has fueled some of the ongoing debate about alcohol’s impact on health.

In some studies, the term “moderate drinking” refers to less than 1 drink per day, while in others it means 3-4 drinks per day. Exactly what constitutes “a drink” is also fairly fluid. In fact, even among alcohol researchers, there’s no universally accepted standard drink definition. [2]

In the U.S., 1 drink is usually considered to be 12 ounces of beer, 5 ounces of wine, or 1½ ounces of spirits (hard liquor such as gin or whiskey). [3] Each delivers about 12 to 14 grams of alcohol on average, but there is a wider range now that microbrews and wine are being produced with higher alcohol content.

Is Red Wine Better?

The definition of moderate drinking is something of a balancing act. Moderate drinking sits at the point at which the health benefits of alcohol clearly outweigh the risks.

The latest consensus places this point at no more than 1-2 drinks a day for men, and no more than 1 drink a day for women. This is the definition used by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2020-2025, [3] and is widely used in the United States.

The Dark Side of Alcohol

Not everyone who likes to drink alcohol stops at just one. While many people drink in moderation, some don’t.

Problem drinking also touches drinkers’ families, friends, and communities. According to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism and others:

• In 2014, about 61 million Americans were classified as binge alcohol users (5 or more drinks on the same occasion at least once a month) and 16 million as heavy alcohol users (5 or more drinks on the same occasion on 5 or more days in one month). [6]
• Alcohol plays a role in one in three cases of violent crime. [7]
• In 2015, more than 10,000 people died in automobile accidents in which alcohol was involved. [8]
• Alcohol abuse costs about $249 billion a year. [9]

Even moderate drinking carries some risks. Alcohol can disrupt sleep and one’s better judgment. Alcohol interacts in potentially dangerous ways with a variety of medications, including acetaminophen, antidepressants, anticonvulsants, painkillers, and sedatives. It is also addictive, especially for people with a family history of alcoholism.

Alcohol Increases Risk of Developing Breast Cancer

There is convincing evidence that alcohol consumption increases the risk of breast cancer, and the more alcohol consumed, the greater the risk. [10-14]

• A large prospective study following 88,084 women and 47,881 men for 30 years found that even 1 drink a day increased the risk of alcohol-related cancers (colorectum, female breast, oral cavity, pharynx, larynx, liver, esophagus) in women, but mainly breast cancer, among both smokers and nonsmokers. 1 to 2 drinks a day in men who did not smoke was not associated with an increased risk of alcohol-related cancers. [15]  
• In a combined analysis of six large prospective studies involving more than 320,000 women, researchers found that having 2-5 drinks a day compared with no drinks increased the chances of developing breast cancer as high as 41%. It did not matter whether the form of alcohol was wine, beer, or hard liquor. [10] This doesn’t mean that 40% or so of women who have 2-5 drinks a day will get breast cancer. Instead, it is the difference between about 13 of every 100 women developing breast cancer during their lifetime—the current average risk in the U.S.—and 17 to 18 of every 100 women developing the disease. This modest increase would translate to significantly more women with breast cancer each year.

A lack of folate in the diet or folic acid, its supplement form, further increases the risk of breast cancer in women. [14] Folate is needed to produce new cells and to prevent changes in DNA. Folate deficiency, as can occur with heavy alcohol use, can cause changes in genes that may lead to cancer. Alcohol also increases estrogen levels, which fuel the growth of certain breast cancer cells. An adequate intake of folate, at least 400 micrograms a day, when taking at least 1 drink of alcohol daily appears to lessen this increased risk. [16, 17]

• Researchers found a strong association among three factors—genetics, folate intake, and alcohol—in a cohort from the Nurses’ Health Study II of 2866 young women with an average age of 36 who were diagnosed with invasive breast cancer. Those with a family history of breast cancer who drank 10 grams or more of alcoholic beverages daily (equivalent to 1 or more drinks) and ate less than 400 micrograms of folate daily almost doubled their risk (1.8 times) of developing the cancer. Women who drank this amount of alcohol but did not have a family history of breast cancer and ate at least 400 micrograms of folate daily did not have an increased breast cancer risk. [14]

Folate , the B vitamin that helps guide the development of an embryo’s spinal cord, has equally important jobs later in life. One of the biggest is helping to build DNA, the molecule that carries the code of life. In this way, folate is essential for accurate cell division.

Alcohol blocks the absorption of folate and inactivates folate in the blood and tissues. It’s possible that this interaction may be how alcohol consumption increases the risk of breast, colon, and other cancers.

Getting extra folate may cancel out this alcohol-related increase. In the Nurses’ Health Study, for example, among women who consumed 1 or more alcoholic drinks a day, those who had the highest levels of this B vitamin in their blood were 90% less likely to develop breast cancer than those who had the lowest levels of the B vitamin. [18] An earlier study suggested that getting 600 micrograms a day of folate could counteract the effect of moderate alcohol consumption on breast cancer risk. [17] There was no association with folate and increased breast cancer risk among women who drank low or no alcohol daily.

Alcohol and Weight Gain

However, a prospective study following almost 15,000 men at four-year periods found only an increased risk of minor weight gain with higher intakes of alcohol. [19] Compared to those who did not change their alcohol intake, those who increased their intake by 2 or more drinks a day gained a little more than a half-pound. It was noted that calorie intake (not from alcohol) tended to increase along with alcohol intake.

Possible Health Benefits of Alcohol

What are some of the possible health benefits associated with moderate alcohol consumption?

Cardiovascular Disease

More than 100 prospective studies show an inverse association between light to moderate drinking and risk of heart attack, ischemic (clot-caused) stroke, peripheral vascular disease, sudden cardiac death, and death from all cardiovascular causes. [20] The effect is fairly consistent, corresponding to a 25-40% reduction in risk. However, increasing alcohol intake to more than 4 drinks a day can increase the risk of hypertension, abnormal heart rhythms, stroke, heart attack, and death. [5, 21-23]

Learn more about the results of some large prospective cohort studies of alcohol consumption and cardiovascular disease.

* compared with non-drinkers

The connection between moderate drinking and lower risk of cardiovascular disease has been observed in men and women. It applies to people who do not have heart disease, and also to those at high risk for having a heart attack or stroke or dying of cardiovascular disease, including those with type 2 diabetes, [32, 33] high blood pressure, [34, 35] and existing cardiovascular disease. [34, 35] The benefits also extend to older individuals. [36]

The idea that moderate drinking protects against cardiovascular disease makes sense biologically and scientifically. Moderate amounts of alcohol raise levels of high-density lipoprotein (HDL, or “good” cholesterol), [37] and higher HDL levels are associated with greater protection against heart disease. Moderate alcohol consumption has also been linked with beneficial changes ranging from better sensitivity to insulin to improvements in factors that influence blood clotting, such as tissue type plasminogen activator, fibrinogen, clotting factor VII, and von Willebrand factor. [37] Such changes would tend to prevent the formation of small blood clots that can block arteries in the heart, neck, and brain, the ultimate cause of many heart attacks and the most common kind of stroke.

Drinking Patterns Matter

A review of alcohol consumption in women from the Nurses’ Health Study I and II found that smaller amounts of alcohol (about 1 drink per day) spread out over four or more days per week had the lowest death rates from any cause, compared with women who drank the same amount of alcohol but in one or two days. [39]

The most definitive way to investigate the effect of alcohol on cardiovascular disease would be with a large trial in which some volunteers were randomly assigned to have 1 or more alcoholic drinks a day and others had drinks that looked, tasted, and smelled like alcohol but were actually alcohol free. Many of these trials have been conducted for weeks, and in a few cases months and even up to 2 years, to look at changes in the blood, but a long-term trial to test experimentally the effects of alcohol on cardiovascular disease has not been done.  A recent successful effort in the U.S. to launch an international study was funded by the National Institutes of Health.  Although the proposal was peer-reviewed and initial participants had been randomized to drink in moderation or to abstain, post hoc the NIH decided to stop the trial due to internal policy concerns .  Unfortunately, a future long trial of alcohol and clinical outcomes may never be attempted again, but nevertheless, the connection between moderate drinking and cardiovascular disease almost certainly represents a cause-and-effect relationship based on all of the available evidence to date.

Beyond the Heart

The benefits of moderate drinking aren’t limited to the heart. In the Nurses’ Health Study, the Health Professionals Follow-up Study, and other studies, gallstones [40, 41] and type 2 diabetes [32, 42, 43] were less likely to occur in moderate drinkers than in non-drinkers. The emphasis here, as elsewhere, is on moderate drinking.

In a meta-analysis of 15 original prospective cohort studies that followed 369,862 participants for an average of 12 years, a 30% reduced risk of type 2 diabetes was found with moderate drinking (0.5-4 drinks a day), but no protective effect was found in those drinking either less or more than that amount. [32]

The social and psychological benefits of alcohol can’t be ignored. A drink before a meal can improve digestion or offer a soothing respite at the end of a stressful day; the occasional drink with friends can be a social tonic. These physical and social effects may also contribute to health and well-being.

Genes Play a Role

Twin, family, and adoption studies have firmly established that genetics plays an important role in determining an individual’s preferences for alcohol and his or her likelihood for developing alcoholism. Alcoholism doesn’t follow the simple rules of inheritance set out by Gregor Mendel. Instead, it is influenced by several genes that interact with each other and with environmental factors. [1]

There is also some evidence that genes influence how alcohol affects the cardiovascular system. An enzyme called alcohol dehydrogenase helps metabolize alcohol. One variant of this enzyme, called alcohol dehydrogenase type 1C (ADH1C), comes in two “flavors.” One quickly breaks down alcohol, the other does it more slowly. Moderate drinkers who have two copies of the gene for the slow-acting enzyme are at much lower risk for cardiovascular disease than moderate drinkers who have two genes for the fast-acting enzyme. [44] Those with one gene for the slow-acting enzyme and one for the faster enzyme fall in between.

It’s possible that the fast-acting enzyme breaks down alcohol before it can have a beneficial effect on HDL and clotting factors. Interestingly, these differences in the ADH1C gene do not influence the risk of heart disease among people who don’t drink alcohol. This adds strong indirect evidence that alcohol itself reduces heart disease risk.

Shifting Benefits and Risks

• For a pregnant woman and her unborn child, a recovering alcoholic, a person with liver disease, and people taking one or more medications that interact with alcohol, moderate drinking offers little benefit and substantial risks.
• For a 30-year-old man, the increased risk of alcohol-related accidents outweighs the possible heart-related benefits of moderate alcohol consumption.
• For a 60-year-old man, a drink a day may offer protection against heart disease that is likely to outweigh potential harm (assuming he isn’t prone to alcoholism).
• For a 60-year-old woman, the benefit/risk calculations are trickier. Ten times more women die each year from heart disease (460,000) than from breast cancer (41,000). However, studies show that women are far more afraid of developing breast cancer than heart disease, something that must be factored into the equation.

The Bottom Line: Balancing Risks and Benefits

Given the complexity of alcohol’s effects on the body and the complexity of the people who drink it, blanket recommendations about alcohol are out of the question. Because each of us has unique personal and family histories, alcohol offers each person a different spectrum of benefits and risks. Whether or not to drink alcohol, especially for “medicinal purposes,” requires careful balancing of these benefits and risks.

• Your healthcare provider should be able to help you do this. Your overall health and risks for alcohol-associated conditions should factor into the equation.
• If you are thin, physically active, don’t smoke, eat a healthy diet, and have no family history of heart disease, drinking alcohol won’t add much to decreasing your risk of cardiovascular disease.
• If you don’t drink, there’s no need to start. You can get similar benefits with exercise (beginning to exercise if you don’t already or boosting the intensity and duration of your activity) or healthier eating.
• If you are a man with no history of alcoholism who is at moderate to high risk for heart disease, a daily alcoholic drink could reduce that risk. Moderate drinking might be especially beneficial if you have low HDL that just won’t budge upward with diet and exercise.
• If you are a woman with no history of alcoholism who is at moderate to high risk for heart disease, the possible benefits of a daily drink must be balanced against the small increase in risk of breast cancer.
• If you already drink alcohol or plan to begin, keep it moderate—no more than 2 drinks a day for men or 1 drink a day for women. And make sure you get adequate amounts of folate, at least 400 micrograms a day.
• However, the study’s results contradict these headlines, as its findings mirrored those from previous cohort studies showing the lowest CVD risk among light/moderate drinkers (1-15 drinks a week), and risk sharply increasing in heavy/abusive drinkers (averaging >20 drinks a week). Yet the authors concluded that it wasn’t light/moderate drinking that protected the heart; rather, it was lifestyle factors associated with light/moderate drinking like exercising more and not smoking (as predicted by people possessing certain gene variants). Interestingly the study found that light/moderate drinkers had healthier habits than even the abstainers. When adjusting for these healthy habits, the protective effect from alcohol lessened slightly. Regardless, their overall conclusion still showed that light/moderate drinkers had the lowest risk of CVD and supported the additional benefit of healthy lifestyle behaviors. It may also be worth noting that the genetic variants studied were associated with alcohol use disorder (AUD) and not specific to general alcohol intake.
• A 2018 analysis in The Lancet of the global impact of alcohol on injury and disease made headlines when it concluded that even moderate drinking is unsafe for health—and the risks outweigh any potential benefits. However, according to Dr. Walter Willett, professor of epidemiology and nutrition at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, it can be “misleading” to lump the entire world together when assessing alcohol’s risk. (For example, while tuberculosis is very rare in the U.S., it was the leading alcohol-related disease identified in the study.) In an interview with TIME , Willett said that while there is “no question” that heavy drinking is harmful, there are plenty of data supporting the benefits of moderate drinking, and it remains a decision that should be determined at the individual level: “There are risks and benefits, and I think it’s important to have the best information about all of those and come to some personal decisions, and engage one’s health care provider in that process as well.
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• Biddinger KJ, Emdin CA, Haas ME, Wang M, Hindy G, Ellinor PT, Kathiresan S, Khera AV, Aragam KG. Association of Habitual Alcohol Intake With Risk of Cardiovascular Disease. JAMA Network Open . 2022 Mar 1;5(3):e223849-.  Author disclosures: Dr. Haas reported receiving personal fees and stock and stock options from Regeneron Pharmaceuticals outside the submitted work. Dr. Ellinor reported receiving grants from Bayer AG and IBM Health and personal fees from Bayer AG, MyoKardia, Quest Diagnostics, and Novartis during the conduct of the study. Dr. Kathiresan reported being an employee of Verve Therapeutics; owning equity in Verve Therapeutics, Maze Therapeutics, Color Health, and Medgenome; receiving personal fees from Medgenome and Color Health; serving on the advisory boards for Regeneron Genetics Center and Corvidia Therapeutics; and consulting for Acceleron, Eli Lilly and Co, Novartis, Merck, Novo Nordisk, Novo Ventures, Ionis, Alnylam, Aegerion, Haug Partners, Noble Insights, Leerink Partners, Bayer Healthcare, Illumina, Color Genomics, MedGenome, Quest Diagnostics, and Medscape outside the submitted work. Dr. Khera reported receiving personal fees from Merck, Amarin Pharmaceuticals, Amgen, Maze Therapeutics, Navitor Pharmaceuticals, Sarepta Therapeutics, Verve Therapeutics, Silence Therapeutics, Veritas International, Color Health, and Third Rock Ventures and receiving grants from IBM Research outside the submitted work. Dr. Aragam reported receiving speaking fees from the Novartis Institute for Biomedical Research.

Last reviewed April 2022

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Alcohol's Effects on Health

Research-based information on drinking and its impact.

National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA)

Alcohol and the brain: an overview.

Alcohol interferes with the brain’s communication pathways and can affect the way the brain looks and works. Alcohol makes it harder for the brain areas controlling balance, memory, speech, and judgment to do their jobs, resulting in a higher likelihood of injuries and other negative outcomes. Long-term heavy drinking causes alterations in the neurons, such as reductions in their size. Below are a few key topics related to alcohol and the brain.

The Adolescent Brain

Adolescent brains are more vulnerable to the negative effects of alcohol than adult brains. Misuse of alcohol during adolescence can alter brain development, potentially resulting in long-lasting changes in brain structure and function.

Alcohol-Induced Blackouts

Alcohol misuse can cause  alcohol-induced blackouts . Blackouts are gaps in a person’s memory of events that occurred while they were intoxicated. These gaps happen when a person drinks enough alcohol that it temporarily blocks the transfer of memories from short-term to long-term storage—known as memory consolidation—in a brain area called the hippocampus.

Alcohol Overdose

Continuing to drink despite clear signs of significant impairments can result in an  alcohol overdose . An alcohol overdose occurs when there is so much alcohol in the bloodstream that areas of the brain controlling basic life-support functions—such as breathing, heart rate, and temperature control—begin to shut down. Symptoms of alcohol overdose include mental confusion, difficulty remaining conscious, vomiting, seizure, trouble breathing, slow heart rate, clammy skin, dulled responses (such as no gag reflex, which prevents choking), and extremely low body temperature. Alcohol overdose can lead to permanent brain damage or death.

Alcohol Use Disorder

As individuals continue to drink alcohol over time, progressive changes can occur in the structure and function of their brains. These changes can compromise brain function and drive the transition from controlled, occasional use to chronic misuse, which can be difficult to control and lead to  alcohol use disorder  (AUD). Individuals with moderate to severe AUD may enter a cycle of alcohol addiction . The extent of the brain’s ability to return to normal following long-term sobriety is not fully understood, but a growing number of studies indicate that at least some AUD-induced brain changes—and the changes in thinking, feeling, and behaving that accompany them—can improve and possibly reverse with months of abstinence from drinking. (More detail about the neuroscience of AUD is provided in the Neuroscience: The Brain in Addiction and Recovery section of The Healthcare Professional’s Core Resource on Alcohol .)

Prenatal Alcohol Exposure

Prenatal alcohol exposure can cause brain damage, leading to a range of developmental, cognitive, and behavioral problems, which can appear at any time during childhood. Alcohol can disrupt fetal development at any stage during a pregnancy—including at the earliest stages and before a woman knows she is pregnant.

For more information about alcohol and brain health , please visit the Alcohol and the Brain topic page.

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An official website of the National Institutes of Health and the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism

Negative Effects of Alcohol Essay, with Outline

Published by gudwriter on January 4, 2021 January 4, 2021

Effects of Alcoholism Essay Outline

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Thesis: Although praised by many as a way to pass time and relax, alcohol can affect an individually financially, socially, and psychologically.

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Financial Impact

• Alcohol drinkers may suffer other economic consequences such as low wages, loss of employment, increased medical expenses, and legal expenses.
• In some countries, alcoholics lose their eligibility for loans.
• In Cameroon, the cost of a single beer is more than the minimum daily wage of most individuals.
• In India and Malaysia, alcoholics are faced with challenges such as debt, illnesses, and injuries.
• Alcohol is closely related to poverty.

Social Impact

• The people that are most affected by alcoholism are the immediate family members.
• Impairment of an individual’s performance as a parent, partner and how he or she contributes to the normal functioning of a household.
• Heavy drinkers are known to have impaired judgement that can lead to one becoming violent.
• The social impact of alcoholism can be related to its physical effects.
• For example, for a heavily drinking mother, an unborn child may suffer from Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder. Read on essays examples on topics such as abortion .
• Parental drinking may lead to child abuse among other negative consequences on a child .

Psychological Impact

• One of the most significant psychological impact is an increase in suicidal tendencies.
• Alcohol has a negative impact on the brain explained through a form of liver damage referred to as hepatic encephalopathy.
• The effects of hepatic encephalopathy includes; altered sleep pattern, changes in mood and personality, depression, anxiety and other psychiatric conditions.
• There are also cognitive effects such as a reduction in attention and issues with coordination.

Effects of Drinking Alcohol

Alcoholism is a common problem in many communities. It is persistent in many societies since alcohol consumption is considered as an attractive leisure activity by many. While this may be and actually is the case, alcohol has a negative impact on health. Its effects also often spill over to people who do not consume it when it gets to a level of addiction whereby many have to turn to relatives and loved ones to source for money with which to sustain their wasteful spending on alcoholism. Although praised by many as a way to pass time and relax, alcohol can affect an individual financially, socially, and psychologically.

The financial impact of alcohol is significant especially to the poor. In any session of alcohol consumption, heavy drinkers tend to spend a lot. Sometimes, alcohol drinkers may suffer other economic consequences such as low wages, loss of employment, increased medical expenses, and legal expenses. In some countries, alcoholics lose their eligibility for loans. In Sri Lanka for instance, a report revealed that at least 7% of men spent much on alcohol than they actually earned. In Cameroon, the cost of a single beer is more than the minimum daily wage of most individuals (Tamfuh, 2016). In India and Malaysia, alcoholics are faced with such serious challenges as debt, illnesses, and injuries (Armitage et al., 2015). Exacerbation of poverty and burden on women is another common occurrence facing most alcoholics. A majority of alcoholic men are faced with the constant need to source for extra income through such activities as stealing to sustain their behavior of alcoholism. In the long-run, their families end up in unimaginable debts and suffering.

Here, the people that are most affected by alcoholism are the immediate family members. It is proven that drinking too much alcohol impairs an individual’s performance as a parent and partner, and how he or she contributes to the normal functioning of a household. The situation can have a long lasting impact on children and partners, and is therefore a very serious one. For instance, heavy drinkers are known to have impaired judgment that can lead to them becoming violent (Kaufmann et al., 2014). Such an individual might turn against their partner or children and when this happens, it could have far-reaching effects on the lives of spouses and children.

The social impact of alcoholism can also be related to its physical effects. For example, for a heavily drinking mother, an unborn child may suffer from Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder . After birth, parental drinking may lead to child abuse among other negative consequences on a child. The child may end up suffering socially, psychologically, and economically.

There are numerous psychological effects of alcoholism . One of the most significant effect in this respect is an increase in suicidal tendencies whereby studies have shown that at least 15% of alcoholics end up committing suicide. In the same breadth, alcohol has a negative impact on the brain, explained through a form of liver damage referred to as hepatic encephalopathy. It is a disease that affects the normal functioning of the brain when the liver cannot perform its functions well. There are several psychological effects associated with this disease. Some of these effects include altered sleep patterns, changes in mood and personality, depression, anxiety, and other psychiatric conditions (Vilstrup et al., 2014). There are also cognitive effects such as a reduction in attention and issues with coordination.

Undoubtedly, alcoholism has an adverse impact on the financial, social, and psychological environment of the victim. The worst scenario is that alcoholism tends to affect others such as the immediate family members. It is a problem that has the potential to destroy families if not well checked. It can destroy the lives of children and as well interfere with the wellbeing of spouses of alcoholics. It is especially concerning that it is a problem that affects both men and women. In this respect, there is need to find ways through which the problem of alcoholism may be comprehensively addressed.

Armitage, C. J., Panagioti, M., Rahim, W. A., Rowe, R., & O’Connor, R. C. (2015). Completed suicides and self-harm in Malaysia: a systematic review.  General hospital psychiatry ,  37 (2), 153-165.

Kaufmann, V. G., O’farrell, T. J., Murphy, C. M., Murphy, M. M., & Muchowski, P. (2014). Alcohol consumption and partner violence among women entering substance use disorder treatment.  Psychology of Addictive Behaviors ,  28 (2), 313.

Tamfuh, W. Y. (2016). Drugs and drug control in Cameroon.  Pan-African Issues in Drugs and Drug Control: An International Perspective , 17.

Vilstrup, H., Amodio, P., Bajaj, J., Cordoba, J., Ferenci, P., Mullen, K. D., … & Wong, P. (2014). Hepatic encephalopathy in chronic liver disease: 2014 practice guideline by the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases and the European Association for the Study of the Liver.  Hepatology ,  60 (2), 715-735.

Undoubtedly, alcoholism has an adverse impact on the financial, social and psychological environment of the victim. The worst scenario is that alcoholism tends to affect others such as the immediate family members.

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The Cause and Effects of Drinking Alcohol, Essay Example

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Alcohol is widely abused across the world and the effects of excessive alcohol intake can be devastating. When not taken in moderation, alcohol can be harmful to the health and social life of the individual, as well as harmful to the individual’s family. These devastating effects can result in alcohol related disease, outcast from social circles and loss of friends and a breakdown in the family.

Excessive alcohol consumption is extremely harmful to the health of a person. Alcohol abuse can lead to heart disease, liver failure and rapid aging. Many deaths are caused by alcoholism. Excessive drinking also increases the decision to take risky actions, including drinking and driving. Drinking and driving causes many deaths every year and is a major problem among those of all ages. Excessive alcohol consumption can also cause memory loss and other psychological issues.

Consuming alcohol at a high rate can also cause social problems. This can include loss of friends and being outcast from your community. This happens because of the bad choices that come with alcoholism and most people do not want to associate with those who drink excessively. It is not just harmful to the drinker, but harmful to their friends and family.

In relation to loss of friends, it is likely that excessive drinking can cause a breakdown in family. Alcoholism is devastating for families. Many times an excessive drinker will not keep up with their responsibilities within the family. This means that they are likely to not finish school or college, lose their jobs and not participate in taking care of their children. This can lead to financial problems and the inability to take care of the themselves of the family.

There are many reasons why excessively consuming alcohol is dangerous and harmful. Drinking in moderation or abstaining from alcohol altogether is important to live a happy and healthy life. Among the effects of drinking alcohol, the most obvious are major health problems, loss of friends and social status and a breakdown in the family unit.

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Problem of Excess Alcohol Drinking in Society Essay

Introduction, causes of alcohol consumption, consequences, works cited.

For generations, alcohol has held an important place in the spiritual, emotional and social experience of people. For this reason, people drink as a form of relaxation, to mark important cultural events, and as a way of celebrating with friends (Heron 7). Taken in moderation, alcohol does not have any drastic effects on the drinker.

Problems only arise when alcohol is consumed in excess. Each year, nearly 80,000 lives are lost in the United States due to excessive use of alcohol (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention n.p.). It is estimated that in 2006, some $ 223.5 billion was lost due to excessive consumption of alcohol.

There are a number of reasons why people consume alcohol. People drink alcohol as a way of reducing associations in their minds. Alcohol weakens molecules separating neurons in the brains, thereby impairing communication. Consequently, an individual finds it hard to associate ideas. Psychologists also say that we drink as a way of escaping the self. Most people say that they drink alcohol in order to drown their sorrows. Since alcohol impairs communication, people momentarily forget their troubles.

Like other things in life, there are other underlying reasons that shape our drinking habits. For example, some people drink because they feel sad, angry, or lonely.

Others drink as a way of bonding with their friends and loved ones (Heron 8). Therefore, our drinking habits, whether in excess or in moderation, are shaped by hidden motivations. In the case of heavy drinkers, this behavior could be due to the need to address underlying problems, such as difficulty in dealing with low self-esteem, inability to handle strong emotions, and problems with relationships.

Peer pressure is yet another reason why people may start drinking alcohol (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention n.p.). For example, a teenager may start experimenting with alcohol while in college because his friends are also doing it. In this case, he feels compelled to experiment with alcohol so that he can belong with his peers. We also drink since alcohol has become culturally normalized.

The media aggressively promote alcohol consumption to an extent that it has now become culturally normalized. Alcohol is also readily available in supermarkets, bars, and discount stores. In fact, children under the age of 18 years can buy alcohol without some seller requesting to see their IDs first. For these reasons, consumption of alcohol has become normal and socially acceptable.

Effects of alcohol use

The effects of alcohol on the drinker are dependent on a number of factors. First, it depends on the body chemistry. This means that some people can get tipsy quite easily while others need larger quantities of alcohol to get drunk.

The effects of alcohol are also dependent on one’s weight, gender, and age (Masters 21). For example, women tend to get drunk by smaller quantities of alcohol compared with men. Effects of alcohol also depend on one’s weight. Blood alcohol concentration (BAC) is the level of alcohol in the blood that causes one to get intoxicated, and is weight-dependent.

Thus, a man who weighs say, 200 pounds, may be less intoxicated than one who weighs 150 pounds even after both men have consumed the same quantity of alcohol. Among the elderly, the rate at which the liver metabolizes alcohol is slower in comparison with younger people. Other important factors to consider include quantity and type of alcohol consumed, drinking experience, and whether one had eaten or not, before taking alcohol.

The effects of alcohol use on one’s behavior also vary, depending on the amount of alcohol consumed. As one gets drunk, they are talkative, and more confident. As they become more intoxicated with alcohol, their speech is slurred, while their balance and coordination gets impaired. Their reflexes also slows down, and their exhibit unstable emotions.

Excessive consumption of alcohol is associated with immediate health risk that if not addressed, can lead to long-term health risks.

Immediate health risks

Excessive consumption of alcohol is linked violent behavior. Masters (23) reports that nearly 35% of the violent crimes are caused by individuals under the influence of alcohol. Moreover, excessive alcohol use also leads to cases of child neglect and maltreatment (The National Center on Addition and Substance Abuse 4).

Excessive use of alcohol also causes unintentional injuries such as falls, burns, traffic injuries, and drawings (Rehm et al. 41). Risky sexual behaviors such as sexual assault and engaging in unprotected sex are also some of the other immediate health risks of excessive alcohol use (Naimi et al. 1139).

Long-term health risks

If the immediate health risks of excessive alcohol use are not addressed, the victim could suffer neurological impairments, in addition to suffering from various social problems. They are also likely to develop chronic illnesses. Some of the neurological problems attributed to long-term excessive alcohol use include stroke, dementia, and neuropathy (Corrao et al. 615).

Over time, too much of alcohol can also cause psychiatric problems like anxiety, depression, and suicidal thoughts (Booth and Feng 162). Excessive alcohol use is also linked to liver diseases such as cirrhosis, which is today one of the leading causes of lifestyle-related deaths in the United States (Heron (8).

There are various reasons why people consume alcohol, including peer pressure, to drown sorrows, and to bond with families and friends, among others. Excessive consumption of alcohol causes both immediate and long-term health effects, including violence, involvement in risky sexual behaviors, and neurological and psychiatric problems.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Alcohol-Related Disease Impact (ARDI) , Atlanta, GA: CDC, 2012. Print.

Corrao, Giovanni, Vincenzo, Bagnardi and Antonella, Zambon. “A meta-analysis of alcohol consumption and the risk of 15 diseases.” Prev Med , 38(2004):613-619.

Heron, Melonie. “Deaths: Leading causes for 2004.” National vital statistics reports , 56.5(2007):1-96.

Masters, Ruth. Counseling Criminal Justice Offenders, London: Sage, 2003. Print.

Naimi, Timothy, Leslie Lipscomb, Robert Brewer and Brenda Gilbert. “Binge drinking in

the preconception period and the risk of unintended pregnancy: Implications for women and their children.” Pediatrics , 11.5(2003):1136-1141.

Rehm, Jurgen, Gerhard Gmel, Christopher Sempos and Maurizio Trevisan. Alcohol related morbidity and mortality. Alcohol Research and Health , 27.1(2003):39-51.

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Is Any Amount of Alcohol Okay for Your Health?

April 23, 2024

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Research is growing every day about the health risks of drinking. From heart health to cancer to damaging the immune system and sleep quality, even small amounts of drinking may be harmful. Medical toxicologist, Ryan Marino, MD , explains alcohol’s impact and whether any level of consumption is a healthy choice.

Macie Jepson Abstaining from alcohol has a moment when dry January rolls around every year, and now we’re hearing a lot about Sober October as well. The topic comes up among my friends, probably yours too. It comes up at work. It’s all over social media. In fact, I’m pretty sure the whole idea was born from social media. And we get expert advice about giving our bodies a break from alcohol from just about anybody.

Pete Kenworthy Yeah. A lot of that advice focuses on giving our liver a break. And that makes sense. I’ve actually had a couple of friends die from what I believe was drinking too much. Maybe organ failure. I don’t know the medical part behind it, but it got us to thinking, can we do long-term damage to other parts of our body? Now, common sense tells us the answer is yes, but how so? And what does that mean for our long-term health? Hi, I’m Pete Kenworthy.

Macie Jepson And I’m Macie Jepson, and this is The Science of Health . So many questions here and today we are leaning on Dr. Ryan Marino for the answers. He’s a medical toxicologist at University Hospitals in Cleveland. He specializes in addiction, also emergency medicine. Thank you for joining us today.

Ryan Marino, MD Yeah. I’m glad to be here.

Macie Jepson Now, your title tells us that you’ve seen a lot on the job, likely at the acute end of our actions, the consequences for our actions. So for this conversation, we’re going to focus on the long-term medical effects of alcohol consumption, but I feel like we really have to start from the beginning. So what physiologically happens when alcohol is metabolized, when it goes through our bodies?

Ryan Marino, MD So alcohol has pretty wide ranging effects on almost every organ system in the body. And something that has been coming out more and more in recent years is kind of that it has toxic effects on almost every tissue and cell line in your body. So the main things, I mean, I think in terms of consuming some alcohol, having one drink, one glass of wine, that kind of thing, it first gets absorbed and alcohol is absorbed very quickly where it then gets into your bloodstream and goes to your brain primarily where you get kind of the effects ranging from maybe feeling a little relaxed to all the way to intoxicated, but it is metabolized in the liver. It gets broken down and then cleared from the body, but it kind of touches everything else along the way just because it is going through your entire bloodstream.

Pete Kenworthy My guess is there are variables that matter. Alcohol doesn’t impact everyone the same way. So what are those variables? Like do things like your weight, your gender, your age, do all those things come into play when in terms of the impact that alcohol has?

Ryan Marino, MD Yeah. I mean all the things that you just brought up from weight to gender to even your body composition, age, how hydrated you are, your nutritional status, all of those things can play a role.

Pete Kenworthy So let’s go through them kind of one at a time. If your weight is lower, you feel the effects of alcohol more quickly. This is common knowledge, right? Because you have less tissue to absorb alcohol. Is that it?

Ryan Marino, MD Yeah. If you think of alcohol, I mean, as a weight-based drug basically, one glass of wine is going to affect a smaller person more than a bigger person.

Pete Kenworthy And so that’s why it affects women more quickly than men because averages are, women are generally smaller than men?

Ryan Marino, MD That’s actually one of the reasons. There’s also differences in kind of the water content throughout the body in women and men as well.

Pete Kenworthy And how about age? Because as you get older, are you at a higher risk of more detrimental impacts from alcohol?

Ryan Marino, MD Yes. More likely to have kind of adverse effects from alcohol, probably the more we age.

Pete Kenworthy So you talked about alcohol going to our brains. It changes our mood. It changes our behavior, but what is it doing specifically to our brain and what is the harmful side of that?

Ryan Marino, MD Yeah. So alcohol has a number of effects and the main reason that people feel kind of relaxed and disinhibited and can even end up intoxicated is because it acts on your GABA receptors. And so if you think of GABA as being kind of the primary neurotransmitter that causes like relaxation, like benzodiazepines are a medication that would do the same kind of thing. Alcohol also acts on glutamate, which is the body’s main excitatory neurotransmitter. And so it blocks that and so kind of doubles up the effect. And so over time, I mean, your body, if you are drinking frequently every day, your body gets used to this and will kind of change the amount of these receptors and neurotransmitters that it’s making. And so if you take the alcohol away, you may be kind of functioning at a more excited neurologic state. And the pathologic or disease form of this would be alcohol withdrawal. But that also is the reason why people who drink regularly can get things like high blood pressure and can get mood changes and other psychiatric and psychologic features from this as well.

Pete Kenworthy Are there physical damages that occur in the brain though?

Ryan Marino, MD Yes. Alcohol itself, I mean, can cause damage to every cell and tissue. The effects that you feel in the short term and the kind of long-term changes aside, your brain can actually shrink over time from a lot of alcohol consumption. And the alcohol itself can cause brain damage, especially in like large overdoses, I guess I would say, consuming, binge drinking, that kind of thing.

Macie Jepson You mentioned changes your cells and your tissues. Is that why we hear and read in the headlines that excessive alcohol consumption can lead to cancer?

Ryan Marino, MD So that is the main reason. I mean, if you think of, I’m trying to think of a good example here, like rubbing alcohol is a form of alcohol, but if that touches any like open skin or say you got it on your mouth or something, that is very painful just because the kind of composition of alcohol is damaging to those cells in your mouth, your mucus membranes. And so when you drink alcohol, there is some sort of damage being done and that’s why oropharyngeal, the head and neck, esophageal cancers and stuff can be associated as well. But it seems like kind of almost every form of cancer may be affected by alcohol in some way. We’re seeing colon, breast, all of these other different forms that aren’t just from the direct contact with alcohol.

Macie Jepson We’re going to continue to talk about the different parts of the body, but I want to also touch on something you just said that I feel like this is a good time to talk about the elephant in the room. You talked about binge drinking. You talked about excessive drinking. In your experience on the front lines, do we have a problem in America?

Ryan Marino, MD Yeah. There is a lot of alcohol consumption here and it seems like especially since the pandemic, the amount of kind of heavy drinking, not necessarily binge drinking but binge drinking as well as heavy chronic drinking seems to have gone up. And I don’t know that anyone has a good answer for why this is happening, but if you think of kind of American culture has always been kind of work hard, play hard, like the weekend warrior mindset. And I think we have a very strong hold from our alcohol industry on marketing and different kind of cultural events as well. So it kind of makes sense that this is happening, but it does seem to be a uniquely American phenomenon in a lot of ways.

Macie Jepson And what are you seeing as a physician? Are they coming through the emergency room? Are they coming to you for an appointment and saying, what have I done? What does that look like?

Ryan Marino, MD It can be a lot of different ways people can come in saying, I have kind of lost control of my drinking and I want help with it. And we’re seeing a lot of that. I mean people are like, I just didn’t know how it got to this point where I’m now drinking all the time. But also seeing a lot of the effects of people having these binge episodes especially, I mean, can have very immediate health effects. And then the long-term effects take probably more decades to really cause things like the severe liver damage, but certainly still seeing that all the time as well.

Pete Kenworthy Before we get on to the, you mentioned liver damage and we’re going to go on to some other body parts, too, but while we’re here talking about drinking, and my guess is everybody’s got their own definition of the things you’re talking about, right? Drinking too much. My definition of that is different than your definition of that, but there’s a clinical definition of that is my guess, that what is really too much, right? We’ve heard a lot. One glass of red wine a day is fine. That’s kind of what we’ve heard. So people then interpret that as well, two’s not bad then or one liquor drink. Or people start making their own assumptions about alcohol. And we were going to kind of reserve this for the end, but it seems like this is the time to talk about it. What is okay? What from a clinical standpoint is okay or is the answer none?

Ryan Marino, MD Yeah, that’s a great question because this has been changing so much in recent years and most recently, I believe the CDC has said that one drink or fewer per day for women and two drinks or fewer per day for men is okay. And they define that as one glass of wine being five ounces, one beer being 5% and 12 ounces and one shot of hard liquor. But in the kind of long term, that little snapshot of one day also doesn’t apply to, it doesn’t mean that drinking every day is okay. And more and more, as more data comes out, that very clearly shows that any amount of alcohol is detrimental. It seems like the recommendation is moving towards no amount is actually considered safe. And so it’s not like that one glass of wine at dinner is going to give you cancer per se. It’s just that there is no amount that is without any risk. And so minimizing it like dry January, I mean, if you can go 31 days without drinking, that’s great. And if you’re someone who drinks every night, maybe if you can go every other night or something, any little change is going to make a big difference.

Macie Jepson Let’s continue with our trip kind of through the body and kidneys. It makes sense to me. So please explain that. Lungs surprised me. How does drinking affect that?

Ryan Marino, MD Well, so interestingly enough, one of the ways that alcohol leaves your body is you actually breathe it out through the surfaces of your lungs. And so that’s something that comes up for me more often when people drink the toxic alcohols that I have to worry about getting them some sort of antidote or something because if we block other routes of metabolism, that’s the only way they can get it out is by breathing it out. But for regular alcohol, that is one of the ways and because it is just traveling through your bloodstream, it ends up getting to anywhere that blood is reaching.

Pete Kenworthy And the other way it gets out has to do with the kidney, right?

Ryan Marino, MD I mean clearing the metabolites of alcohol and even alcohol itself, I mean, comes out in your urine. You can test if someone has been recently drinking because there’ll be alcohol in their urine. But that’s where it all ends up being filtered out.

Pete Kenworthy And kidney disease can result from that.

Ryan Marino, MD Mm-hmm.

Pete Kenworthy So when you think about drinking anything, not just alcohol, and you actually already mentioned this a little bit ago, the liquid goes in your throat, your esophagus, then your stomach, all those things. You mentioned oral cancers coming from alcohol, but throat, esophagus, stomach, these all can be impacted by alcohol as well?

Ryan Marino, MD Yeah. In recent years I think rates of those cancers have been going up and there’s certainly other reasons that people can get those, but we’ve seen, I mean, smoking has gone down in the past few decades and with drinking going up, it kind of makes sense that those would be coming back up again.

Pete Kenworthy So the liver is the one we hear about the most. Can you tell us what happens there? I mentioned at the beginning of the podcast a couple of my friends have passed away and at least one of them I’m pretty sure was “organ failure.” So I assume that’s the liver. What happens there? Why does it fail? How much does it take for something like that to happen?

Ryan Marino, MD So the liver is the primary source or site of alcohol metabolism. And so to get the alcohol out of your body, it goes into the liver. The liver kind of uses it actually for energy and so metabolizes alcohol into various products. And the liver without alcohol present is usually going to be metabolizing fatty acids, which is a very important part of your kind of metabolism. And so for people who are drinking chronically, and this would be every day and really kind of all the time having alcohol always in their system, the liver completely changes its primary source of metabolism from fatty acids to alcohol. And so when it stops metabolizing those fatty acids, it then starts storing fat. And so people start getting fatty liver. And this is very inflammatory to the liver itself, leads to scarring down the road. And that eventually leads to, I mean, the scars kind of take out the functionality of the liver and so you can get full-blown liver failure, but this is usually something that will take decades to develop and really requires kind of pretty prolonged and heavy use. And so even for people who like I’m sure everyone knows that one person either in their family or friends or someone who drinks a lot, probably way too much and does so for many years and has no issues, it seems to only affect like a smaller number of these people, but there’s no way to predict that risk. And so even though I know someone who drank for 90 years and never developed liver failure, it doesn’t mean that I would ever want to take that risk myself.

Macie Jepson So cirrhosis is what we hear about and it seems to be the scariest, but at the same time, the liver regenerates. Isn’t it one of the most regenerating organs in our body?

Ryan Marino, MD Yeah.

Macie Jepson So how does that work?

Ryan Marino, MD The liver has pretty incredible powers of regeneration, can recover from a lot of insults, I mean. We even hear now about how you can donate a lobe of your liver to someone and you can grow them a whole new liver for transplantation. Cirrhosis, the term is for the amount of scarring and damage to the liver from alcohol that is considered irreversible. And so there is kind of a point where it’s too much to recover from. And that isn’t to say that there isn’t any hope or cirrhosis is the end of the road because if you are diagnosed with cirrhosis or someone you know is, there are plenty of things you can do to slow the progression to stop any further damage. But the road to cirrhosis is also very long. And so that fatty liver, the steatosis, the scarring, the fibrosis, those things can be identified earlier and those you can recover from a lot of the time. And especially as soon as you stop drinking, the fatty liver and that kind of stuff can start to resolve. The liver can regenerate and go back to functioning the way it wants to.

Macie Jepson So to be clear, there are a lot of steps along the way towards cirrhosis. Your one month off in January isn’t going to reverse that, but we really want to inform people with the facts because on social media in January they’re talking about that one week your body looks like this. In week two it feels like this. Break it down for us.

Ryan Marino, MD Yeah. That is always tricky because I mean people can have great effects and can start to see benefits right away. And I don’t want to say that you shouldn’t hope for that or you can’t have that, but when I hear that week one, your sleep will be better, week two, your skin will look fresher, all that stuff. I mean it’s really hard then for people who don’t get those results right away. And to just remember that the changes happening in your body are definitely happening even if your sleep maybe isn’t fixed right away, if your skin isn’t changing that kind of thing. On the inside, I mean the livers can go back to metabolizing the fats that it wants to and not storing them. And those kind of cellular level changes, all of that, your different organs can start healing themselves, that kind of thing.

Pete Kenworthy Can everything in the body start healing itself to some extent? And I realize there’s a lot of subjectivity here. It depends on how much you drank and for how long, but if we’re talking about those people who are drinking every day or maybe drinking a handful of times a week, more than the average person, and they’ve done some damage to some parts of their body, can all those parts recover?

Ryan Marino, MD For the most part, yeah. I mean there’s definitely some degrees of damage that can be irreversible. And so I mean the liver isn’t the only one. You can get enough damage to your heart and the heart muscle that may not be able to recover. But stopping is the best chance at any improvement. And I think one good example that we didn’t touch on that’s worth bringing up is the pancreas. And so pancreatitis, which is a horrible, painful condition, people have bad abdominal pain and vomiting is primarily caused by alcohol. That’s the number one cause. But as soon as people stop drinking, that inflammation immediately starts to resolve. And on the flip side, we see that I mean, if people go back to drinking, you can immediately have recurrence of that. So it is good to remember that on the inside things are healing and can get back to kind of their baseline state even if you don’t necessarily see the changes on the outside.

Macie Jepson And going back to drinking, that’s what I often think about. You’ve given yourself a break, your body’s ticking along, maybe healing itself a little bit, and then come February or whenever you decide to jump right back in, it’s got to be a shock to the body. That can’t be good, right?

Ryan Marino, MD I think though, I mean any amount of that kind of time off and healing is good and it seems like at least in terms of dry January, but when I’m talking to people who are just trying to quit drinking for other reasons or trying to cut back on their drinking, having that time away from alcohol beyond just letting your body kind of reset. And it also will help if you feel like you’re drinking a lot because you’ve developed tolerance, that tolerance can go away. And so if you started drinking again, you hopefully wouldn’t need to drink as much, but it allows people time to consider their relationship with alcohol. And so a lot of times, I mean people are drinking just because it’s something to do because we’ve associated with so many events, but other times people may be drinking because they’re having trouble sleeping, dealing with anxiety, stress, that kind of thing. And so having time without the alcohol on board to deal with whatever that is and kind of think about why you were drinking in the first place, seems to, at least in my anecdotal experience, help people if they do start drinking again or not completely stop in terms of reevaluating how much or why they’re drinking in the first place.

Macie Jepson You mentioned better sleep, not necessarily the case with alcohol. So can we talk about some other effects of quitting for a while? I read libido. I mean that should be enough right there to make some people want to stop drinking.

Ryan Marino, MD Yeah, I mean, these all are, I would want to put a caveat on that they are potential benefits, but people might not see them right away or might not see the same benefits as everyone else. And sleep I think is a great one because this is one that comes up in social media posts, especially with dry January. It’s like my first week I had endless energy. My second week I slept like a baby, that kind of thing. And for people who have like problem drinking or have been drinking for a very long time, we actually see a lot of disorders in kind of sleep. And those can actually be worse when people stop drinking. So alcohol itself is bad for your sleep because it disrupts your REM cycles. And so even though it may help people fall asleep, it may help people get a full night’s sleep, they’re not getting the same kind of quality sleep, and so your sleep will improve when you take the alcohol out of the picture.

But for a lot of people who really have been struggling with issues with alcohol, their sleep might be even worse after they stop drinking. And that is hard to kind of talk people through, especially when it comes to comparing yourself to these fantastic results that you see in a TikTok video because it will get better eventually. But yeah, your blood pressure can go down almost immediately. Even just reducing the amount you drink can start lowering your blood pressure. Libido can return and can improve for people who have been drinking for a long time, but again, in the short term may actually be even worse. So it is hard to kind of coach people through that when they’re expecting great results and not seeing them. But there’s a great chance that people could see those results right away.

Macie Jepson But it could be a long-term commitment for some people to really, a commitment to pull away from alcohol significantly.

Ryan Marino, MD And to undo a lot of these kind of changes in the body, especially if someone has been drinking for a very long time, it may take more than just a month. It may take months, three to five months even, to see some of those changes.

Pete Kenworthy My guess is, I was going to ask you what the first signs are of alcohol damage to your body, but my guess is if you see the signs, it’s too late?

Ryan Marino, MD It’s not that it’s too late, but it is one of those things where for the most part, there isn’t going to be any sort of outward sign. So I, I feel like I keep saying the same phrase where we probably all know someone, but I’m sure everybody knows that person who drinks way more than seems healthy and doesn’t have any sort of outward signs. They’re not unhealthy seeming. They’re not sick. They’re not having trouble with their job, their life, that kind of thing. But yeah, it can be kind of a later thing. It can be more of a masked illness, so to speak, or a hidden illness. But in terms of things to watch for, I mean, I think high blood is one of the earlier things that develops, that kind of thing. Mood disorders as well.

Macie Jepson If you’re looking for jaundice, that’s probably a little late.

Pete Kenworthy Can you tie a bow on this and with advice really for everyone, right? People who haven’t started drinking or maybe early drinkers, people who’ve been drinking for 20 years, people who’ve been drinking for 50 years, what should all those people know that maybe people don’t know? We know alcohol can have long-term impact, certainly on your liver. We just went through a bunch of other body parts, but what’s the takeaway about alcohol? It’s not pure evil, but it’s not pure joy either.

Ryan Marino, MD In terms of kind of takeaway points, it’s never too late or too little to try to reduce the amount that you’re drinking. So I mean, if you can cut back one drink or stop for one month or completely stop, all of those things are going to have some sort of health benefit. And even if you are someone who has cirrhosis stopping drinking, it’s still not too late for that. There still is a benefit. I think in terms of the other takeaway on kind a flip side is that, I mean, I remember for the past few decades just hearing health benefits from red wine. It’s great to have one drink a day, that kind of thing. And really within the past couple of years we’ve seen the complete opposite of that is true. And there is very good data that shows that just any amount of alcohol is going to have some potential for harm. And so it’s not that you should be scared and cut out the glass of wine with dinner or getting beers with your friends, but just remembering that there is no amount that is going to be good for you per se.

Pete Kenworthy Dr. Ryan Marino, toxicologist and addiction specialist from University Hospitals in Cleveland, thanks so much for joining us.

Ryan Marino, MD Yeah. Thanks for having me.

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What Are the Short-Term Effects of Alcohol?

• Onset of Effects
• Relaxation or Drowsiness

Euphoria or Giddiness

Changes in mood, lowered inhibitions, impulsive behavior, slowed or slurred speech, nausea and vomiting.

• Vision and Hearing Effects

Loss of Coordination

• Mental Focus
• Memory Gaps

Alcohol Poisoning

Alcohol  (ethanol) is an intoxicating substance found in beverages like wine, beer, and liquor. Shortly after consumption, your body rapidly absorbs alcohol into the bloodstream. Once in the bloodstream, alcohol affects every organ in the body, including your brain.

Drinking any amount or type of alcohol has a wide range of short- and long-term effects on your physical and mental health. As a central nervous system depressant, alcohol slows the body's systems and leads to noticeable changes in cognitive and physical functions.

This article discusses everything you need to know about the short-term effects of alcohol.

Daniel de la Hoz / Getty Images

How Long Does It Take for Short-Term Effects of Alcohol to Appear?

The short-term effects of alcohol appear quickly, typically within minutes after consuming your first drink. As you drink an alcoholic beverage, alcohol moves into your bloodstream through the stomach and small intestine.

Within five minutes, alcohol reaches your brain, slowing down the central nervous system and affecting the way you feel, think, and behave.

While the short-term effects of alcohol are universal, the time they take and the intensity of these effects vary from person to person. Alcohol can also affect the same person differently, depending on certain factors, including:  

• Amount consumed : The more alcohol you drink, the higher your blood alcohol concentration (BAC) rises. 
• Alcohol content :   Whiskey and other spirits with 40% alcohol per serving (1.5 ounces) tend to have more rapid effects compared to lower-alcohol alternatives like beer, which has 5% alcohol per serving (12 ounces). 
• Drinking pace : Quickly consuming alcohol leads to a more rapid rise in BAC and quicker onset of short-term effects vs. drinking at a slower pace. 
• Body weight : People with lower body weight tend to feel the effects of alcohol more quickly and intensely than heavier people. Essentially, the more you weigh, the more water your body contains. Higher water volumes in the body dilute alcohol.
• Sex : Females tend to have more body fat and less water per pound of body weight than males, which can lead to a higher BAC in females.
• Food in your stomach : Having food in your stomach slows down the rate of alcohol absorption and reduces the intensity of alcohol's short-term effects. 
• Medication or drugs :   Drinking alcohol while taking certain medications or using drugs can increase the effects of each substance and increase the risk of harmful interactions.

A Note on Gender and Sex Terminology

Verywell Health acknowledges that  sex and gender  are related concepts, but they are not the same. To accurately reflect our sources, this article uses terms like “female,” “male,” “woman,” and “man” as the sources use them.

Feelings of Relaxation or Drowsiness

As alcohol enters the bloodstream and reaches the brain, it binds to certain neurotransmitters (substances that facilitate communication between nerve cells) like gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) and glutamate.

This slows the communication between brain cells and has a calming effect on the mind and body. This is why you might feel relaxed and as though your stress and tension are melting away when drinking alcohol. It's also why alcohol can make you feel sleepy or drowsy, especially as your blood alcohol concentration rises.

Alcohol consumption can sometimes lead to feelings of euphoria or giddiness. As alcohol enters the bloodstream and reaches the brain, it prompts the release of dopamine and serotonin —two neurotransmitters associated with pleasure, reward, and happiness.

By promoting the release of these feel-good neurotransmitters, alcohol temporarily amplifies feelings of joy and lightheartedness.

While alcohol can initially boost your mood, these effects are temporary and wear off quickly. Alcohol impairs the brain's ability to regulate emotions, and mood changes are common. As the night wears on, you may notice your cheerful feelings soon begin to shift to irritability, sadness, aggression, or anxiety.

Alcohol's impact on neurotransmitters like serotonin and GABA can also contribute to mood changes the day after drinking. 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.

One of the best-known effects of drinking alcohol is lowered inhibitions. Alcohol disrupts the brain's prefrontal cortex —the area responsible for judgment and self-control. When drinking alcohol, you may become less cautious and more likely to engage in behaviors and take risks you wouldn't consider when sober.

For example, a usually shy and quiet person may become increasingly chatty, socially confident, and outgoing when drinking alcohol. Lowered inhibitions can also lead to poor decision-making and increase the risk of engaging in risky behaviors. 

Lowered inhibitions when drinking alcohol can lead to impulsive behavior—engaging in behaviors without considering the potential consequences of your actions. The impairing effects of alcohol on cognitive functioning —including concentration, thinking, reasoning, and decision-making—play a role in increased impulsivity while drinking.

Impulsive behaviors can include making poor financial decisions (e.g., spending rent money on a round of drinks for your friends) or engaging in risky sexual behaviors (e.g., condomless sex).

Alcohol intoxication also is associated with an increased risk of suicide because lowered inhibitions and mood changes can lead to suicidal ideation (thoughts or ideas about suicide) and increase the likelihood of impulsively acting on these thoughts.

Alcohol slows signals from the brain to the muscles responsible for the coordination and control of muscles involved in speech, leading to a noticeable slowing down or slurring of words when intoxicated.

Alcohol's impact on cognitive functioning can also make it challenging for people drinking alcohol to form and verbally express coherent thoughts.

Alcohol increases the production of stomach acids and can lead to reflux (stomach acids backing up into the esophagus and the throat). Alcohol also irritates the stomach lining, leading to inflammation ( gastritis ), which can make you feel nauseated and throw up.  

Your  liver breaks down alcohol and converts it into a toxin and known carcinogen called acetaldehyde. When you drink large amounts of alcohol or drink more quickly than the liver can metabolize it, alcohol accumulates in your bloodstream, triggering vomiting.

Alcohol causes irritation and inflammation along your gastrointestinal (GI) tract, disrupting normal digestive function. Evidence suggests that certain alcoholic beverages, such as wine and beer, appear to accelerate the movement of food and waste through the digestive system, which can lead to diarrhea .

Alcohol can also disrupt the balance of bacteria in your gut microbiome (the community of microbes that live in your digestive tract), leading to an overgrowth of certain bacteria that contribute to GI inflammation and diarrhea.

Getting a headache is a common experience after drinking too much alcohol. A combination of factors can contribute to alcohol-induced headaches , including the following:

• Alcohol is a vasodilator , meaning it opens (dilates) blood vessels and increases blood flow to the brain, which may contribute to headaches.
• Alcohol is a diuretic , meaning it increases urine production and the loss of fluids and electrolytes in the body, leading to dehydration-related headaches.
• Alcohol contains compounds called congeners , which are byproducts of alcohol fermentation or distillation. Evidence suggests that darker-colored drinks like red wine and whiskey contain higher amounts of congeners, which may trigger headaches in some people.

Changes in Vision, Hearing, and Perception

Alcohol disrupts the communication between the brain and sensory organs (e.g., eyes and ears), leading to changes in vision, hearing, and perception of the sounds and sights around you. 

Alcohol can disrupt the transmission of auditory signals from the ears to the brain and increase blood flow to the ears, resulting in tinnitus (ringing in the ears), difficulty distinguishing sounds, and trouble perceiving subtle differences in pitch or tone.

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).

Loss of coordination ( ataxia ) is a common short-term effect of alcohol and is linked to how alcohol affects the brain's cerebellum. The cerebellum is the brain's control center for movement, balance, and coordination.

Alcohol impairs the cerebellum's ability to process information and coordinate muscle movements effectively, leading to a loss of balance, unsteady gait (manner of walking), and difficulty performing fine motor skills (e.g., grasping).

Trouble Focusing or Making Decisions

Alcohol disrupts the brain's functioning in several ways, leading to trouble focusing and making decisions. Because alcohol is a depressant, it disrupts normal brain functions, making it harder to concentrate on tasks that require focused attention.

The frontal cortex is the brain's center for higher-order functions like planning, decision-making, and impulse control. Alcohol disrupts frontal cortex functioning, leading to poor judgment, difficulty weighing options logically, and increased impulsivity.

Alcohol also impairs working memory, making it harder to keep track of details, follow instructions, and complete complex tasks that require ongoing mental processing.

Loss of Consciousness or Gaps in Memory

After a night of drinking, you may have gaps in memory, in which you recall some details from a situation or event but forget others. Alcohol's impact on memory and consciousness is based on its effect on the hippocampus , the part of the brain that controls memory and learning.

When you consume alcohol, the effects of alcohol on the hippocampus make the formation of long-term memories less likely. Alcohol-related blackouts (gaps in your memory while drinking alcohol) can occur because alcohol hinders the ability of the hippocampus to transfer short-term memory to long-term storage in the brain.

While the short-term mood-boosting effects of alcohol can be enjoyable for some, they often come with a price: a hangover . A hangover is a set of unpleasant symptoms that can occur after consuming too much alcohol, including:

• Increased blood pressure
• Irritability
• Sensitivity to light and sound
• Stomach cramping
• Vertigo (a dizzying sensation of spinning or motion) 

Several factors can contribute to a hangover, including:

• Acetaldehyde exposure : The toxic acetaldehyde that is produced when the body breaks down alcohol can contribute to inflammation and hangover symptoms.
• Dehydration :   Because alcohol is a diuretic, it can cause excessive urination and loss of fluids.
• Disrupted sleep : While alcohol may initially make you tired, it disrupts sleep quality throughout the night. This can lead to feelings of fatigue, grogginess, and difficulty performing daily tasks. 
• Gastrointestinal irritation :   Alcohol irritates the lining of the gastrointestinal tract, increasing stomach acid amounts and leading to nausea, vomiting, and discomfort. 
• Inflammation : Alcohol can trigger low-grade inflammation throughout the body, contributing to hangover symptoms.

Alcohol poisoning , or alcohol overdose, occurs when you drink more than your body can handle. Your BAC increases to the point that it disrupts areas of the brain controlling essential functions like heart rate, breathing, and temperature control.

Symptoms of alcohol poisoning include:

• Cold, clammy skin
• Difficulty breathing
• Dulled reflexes (e.g., no gag reflex)
• Loss of consciousness
• Slowed heart rate

Alcohol poisoning can quickly become life-threatening and requires prompt medical treatment. Call 911 for help if you suspect someone is experiencing alcohol poisoning. Symptoms can vary from person to person, so it's best to exercise caution and seek medical help if someone you are with shows signs of extreme alcohol intoxication.

A Word From Verywell

Alcohol poisoning can be dangerous and life-threatening. It is important to always consume in moderation and to seek care if you exceed your limits. Luckily, alcohol poisoning is very treatable with prompt care.

The short-term effects of alcohol develop quickly—within minutes after your first drink—impacting mood, coordination, speech, memory, and behavior.

While many people who drink alcohol initially experience relaxation or euphoria, these feelings are temporary. Negative emotions, poor judgment, and changes to your vision, hearing, coordination, and memory-making abilities often follow.

Alcohol disrupts normal brain function, leading to lowered inhibitions, impulsive behavior, and difficulty focusing or making decisions.

Binge drinking (drinking excessive amounts) and drinking too quickly can trigger unpleasant symptoms that occur the night of or the day after drinking, including headaches, diarrhea, dehydration, nausea, and vomiting. Drinking too much or too quickly can lead to alcohol poisoning. This is a potentially life-threatening situation that requires immediate medical attention.

If you choose to drink alcohol, drink responsibly. This means pacing yourself, eating before drinking, knowing your limits, and avoiding excessive consumption. 

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By Lindsay Curtis Curtis is a writer with over 20 years of experience focused on mental health, sexual health, cancer care, and spinal health.

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Researcher explains the human toll of language that makes addiction feel worse 

When Mass General transplant hepatologist Wei Zhang says he wants his colleagues to think before they speak, he has the tragedy of a recent patient in mind.

Admitted to intensive care for advanced alcohol-associated liver disease, the 36-year-old woman hid the truth when asked about her drinking. “She was like, ‘No, I quit over a year ago, I didn’t drink at all,’” said Zhang, also director of the hospital’s Alcohol-Associated Liver Disease Clinic. “But we have tools that can detect the use of alcohol in the past three, four weeks.”

The patient, who had been traumatized by years of physical abuse, was denied a liver transplant, in part because she withheld information about her alcohol use. Her death days later was “a consequence of stigma,” Zhang said. Patients too often “feel they’re being judged and may fear that their condition is seen as a result of personal failing rather than a medical issue that needs treatment.” 

Amid increases in high-risk drinking and alcohol-associated liver disease across the country , he hopes  that new research can help complete the years-long work of erasing that stigma, saving lives in the process. 

For decades, medical terminology has labeled liver disease and other alcohol-related conditions as “alcoholic”: alcoholic liver disease, alcoholic hepatitis, alcoholic cirrhosis, alcoholic pancreatitis. Meanwhile, clinicians and administrators have described patients as addicts and alcoholics. 

More recently, specialists and advocates have sought with some success to revise how we talk about substance use and those struggling to overcome it, not just to reduce stigma but also to combat bias among medical professionals. According to the  National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism , the term “alcohol use disorder” is now preferable to “alcohol abuse,” “alcohol dependence,” and “alcoholism.”

“Emphasizing non-stigmatizing language is crucial not only for fostering honesty but also for supporting the overall treatment process and patient outcomes,” Zhang said. 

The new study is a step toward that goal. Inspired by his patients, Zhang set out to observe whether the terminology used by institutions that treat alcohol-associated liver disease reflects or rejects stigma. He and his team reviewed messages on more than 100 accredited liver transplant center websites, along with language used by addiction psychiatry sites. They found that almost nine of 10 transplant center websites use stigmatizing language such as “alcoholic.” Less than half of addiction psychiatry websites do the same.

“The gap between professional society recommendations and actual practice is concerning, since patients frequently use these online resources for information which can significantly influence their behavior and perceptions about alcohol-associated liver disease,” Zhang said.

Zhang’s anti-stigma efforts are grounded in strong evidence, according to Harvard Medical School psychiatrist  John F. Kelly , who published “Does It Matter How We Refer to Individuals with Substance-Related Conditions?” in 2009.

“Emphasizing non-stigmatizing language is crucial not only for fostering honesty but also for supporting the overall treatment process and patient outcomes.”

“Drug use disorder and alcohol use disorder are among the most stigmatized conditions universally across different societies because people feel that it’s self-induced — that people are to blame because they put it in their body,” said Kelly, also the founder of Mass General’s  Recovery Research Institute . “Just because they made that decision initially, doesn’t mean they plan on becoming addicted.”

In the 2009 study, Kelly and his colleagues described patients to more than 600 clinicians, alternating between “substance abuser” and “having a substance use disorder.” Those in the latter category were viewed more sympathetically and as more worthy of treatment. 

“I was quite surprised just how susceptible they were,” Kelly said. “These were passionate, dedicated clinicians. They were still susceptible to the negative punitive bias.”

They still are today, Zhang’s findings suggest. 

“We are very good at seeing patients with liver disease but if we add this behavioral mental disorder, it is somewhat out of our scope,” he said. “I think education could at least have them be more familiar with this topic and be willing to at least listen to the adoption and use of non-stigmatizing language.” 

“I think education could at least have them be more familiar with this topic and be willing to at least listen to the adoption and use of non-stigmatizing language.”

Building on the new study, Zhang has recommended to healthcare institutions and professional societies that they implement website feedback mechanisms and carry out regular content audits to guard against potentially harmful language. 

“The steps we are recommending should not only help to align clinical practice with sound language guidelines, but also foster a more empathetic and supportive healthcare environment for patients,” he said. 

Zhang also said healthcare institutions should look to leverage technology to support adoption of appropriate standards.

His team is collaborating with Mass General’s Research Patient Data Registry to obtain de-identified patient records, which they plan to review for instances of stigmatizing language. He hopes the process will help researchers quantify the prevalence of such language in clinical notes and identify patterns that can inform interventions. The team will also analyze the association of stigmatizing language with patient outcomes.  

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