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How Alcohol Affects Your Body and Mind
Contents
Introduction
When you drink alcohol
The next day
Later on
So how much is too much?
You're always being told that drinking too much alcohol is bad for you. But apart from a hangover the next day, what exactly are the risks?
After all, having a few drinks with your friends makes a good night out and for most people does no harm at all. But drinking too much can have some very serious effects and it's as well to know what they are.
When you drink alcohol
Alcohol is a drug and if you drink too much at a time, it's poisonous too. Some of its effects are pleasant - you can feel more relaxed, confident and sociable after a few drinks - though it just makes some people depressed. The downside is that you may become too relaxed and uninhibited, lose control of the situation you're in and end up doing things you wouldn't normally do, even if you don't feel or appear drunk. You might not even realise what you are doing.
You might have unsafe sex and get HIV, hepatitis or other sexually-transmitted diseases. A lot of teenage girls are drunk (or affected by drugs) when they get pregnant. You might become violent and get into a fight - a lot of people sitting in Casualty on Friday and Saturday nights have been in pub brawls.
Drink a bit more and the effects increase. Your speech may be slurred and incoherent, you may be unable to stand and you may be sick. Lots of accidents happen when people are drunk because their movements are uncoordinated or their judgement is affected.
Really heavy drinking can lead to unconsciousness and even death, either through alcohol poisoning or choking on vomit while you're unconscious or asleep.
How drunk you get - and how quickly - can vary greatly . If
several people drink the same amount of alcohol -
- Small people will be more affected than large ones because they have less blood and so the alcohol will be more concentrated.
- Women will generally be more affected than men because they have more fat and less fluid in their bodies so again the alcohol is more concentrated. Women may be affected more a couple of weeks before their period and again two or three days before it starts.
- Wine and sherry take effect more quickly than neat spirits or beer. Sparkling wine and lager work faster too. Mixing a fizzy drink with alcohol (lemonade with beer) also makes the alcohol take effect quicker.
- Young people may get drunk more quickly than older people.
- If you eat before drinking your body will absorb alcohol more slowly so it will have less effect. Drinking on an empty stomach will speed up and increase the effects of alcohol.
- Your body starts to get rid of alcohol almost as soon as you drink it so you'll get less drunk if you spread your drinking over a period instead of drinking a lot at one go.
The next day
Unless you get very drunk, your body will get rid of alcohol within a few hours. It takes about an hour to deal with half a pint of beer, a small glass of wine or a single measure of whisky, gin or vodka. If you've drunk a small amount the night before, you'll probably be OK the next morning but if you've had 'too much' you'll have a hangover - headache, nausea, sickness and generally feeling unwell. These effects usually wear off later in the day.
It's important to know that the next morning you may still have enough alcohol in your blood to be over the drink-drive limit. If so, you'll be breaking the law if you drive and it could be dangerous to do so or to operate machinery, especially if your concentration is also affected by a hangover.
Later on
Alcohol is a poison so if you drink a lot over a long period
it will harm your health, even if you don't actually get drunk
very often. Drinking too much is a direct cause of cirrhosis
- a disease that stops your liver working properly and can
eventually kill you. Drinking contributes to many other illnesses
- it usually isn't the main cause but heavy drinkers are more
likely to get them. There aren't many parts of your body that
are not affected. Heavy drinking can -
- destroy brain cells (and even moderate drinking can do this too);
- cause gastritis (a disease of the stomach) and internal bleeding;
- cause high blood pressure which in turn can cause strokes and heart disease;
- increase the risk of cancer of the throat and voice box and may also increase the risk of breast cancer;
- cause obesity (an obese person is one who is very overweight) which in turn can lead to health problems such as heart disease; and
- contribute to a whole range of health problems including impotence and infertility
There are particular risks for women, who are more likely than men to develop liver disease. Heavy drinking during pregnancy can cause babies to suffer from Foetal Alcohol Syndrome. This can affect the baby's growth, cause central nervous system defects and facial deformities. These problems are usually caused by constant heavy drinking throughout pregnancy - say, a bottle of wine or eight measures of spirits a day. There doesn't seem to be a totally safe limit for drinking while pregnant but most experts agree that one drink per day is not likely to cause problems either for mother or baby.
It's not just your body that heavy drinking harms - your mind can be affected too. Although alcohol may seem to relax you to begin with, it can actually make you more anxious. It can contribute to depression - which isn't just feeling 'fed-up'. Depression is a mental illness that can ruin your life and drive some people to suicide. Some experts think that almost two thirds of suicide attempts have some connection with alcohol.
If you regularly drink large amounts of alcohol you can become addicted to it. This means that you are unable to stop drinking, and the need for a drink can take over your whole life. An addict who cannot get alcohol may suffer very unpleasant withdrawal symptoms.
So how much is too much?
The current advice is that -
- Men shouldn't drink more than three or four units of alcohol
each day; and
- Women shouldn't drink more than two or three units each day;
- Half a pint of beer; or
- A glass of wine; or
- A measure of spirits (for example whisky, brandy, vodka, gin).
| Men | Women |
|---|---|
| One and a half to two pints of average strength beer; or | One to one and a half pints of beer; or |
| Three to four glasses of wine or single measures of spirits | Two to three glasses of wine or single measures of spirits |
These amounts are based on normal pub measures - if you pour yourself a drink at home you are likely to be more generous. A lot of lagers and some 'real ales' are much stronger than ordinary beer so you need to bear that in mind too.
Alcopops were introduced about six years ago and they are like soft drinks - lemonade, fruit drinks - but they contain alcohol. Some of them are stronger than ordinary beer - for example a 330 ml bottle can be equivalent to one and a half to two units of alcohol - and you can get very drunk very quickly if you drink too many of them. Even though they're often packaged to appeal to young people and may look more like soft drinks than alcoholic ones, all the rules about buying and drinking them are the same as for ordinary beer, wine and spirits.
It doesn't particularly matter if you occasionally go over these limits. But if you often drink more than this you could be storing up health problems for later on. And it's much easier for a young man to get a beer belly than to get rid of it! If you regularly drink much more than these amounts, and can't or don't want to cut down, then you could have a real drink problem and may need professional help to deal with it.
| Legal implications |  |