Effects of Alcohol on the Body and the Brain

There are many negative effects of alcohol on your body, your health and your life. Alcohol abuse can lead to absenteeism, calling in sick to work and a drop in productivity. Extra marital affairs, unexpected pregnancies and fatal traffic accidents are some of the other negative consequences.

One of the outcomes of binge drinking is getting a hangover. And as long as the alcohol is still in your body, you will experience headache, fatigue and irritability. How long the alcohol stays in your body depends on your blood alcohol content or BAC. By the way, binge drinking is when you drink more than the moderate amount within a couple of hours. And the moderate amount for men is only 2 glasses while it's only 1 glass for women.

Even if you consume alcohol once in a while, it is harmful because alcohol contains tyramine. Tyramine is known to raise your blood pressure. This is why you get a headache after having your drink especially red wine which has a higher amount compared to beer, liquor and white wine.

Alcohol causes dehydration. You will urinate frequently and remove water from your body. This is because alcohol is diuretic. On top of removing water from your body, consuming alcohol will deplete vitamins and minerals especially potassium, sodium and the B vitamins.

As a result of the depletion of nutrients, your muscles can't coordinate properly causing you to lose balance. When you've had too much of it, your blood alcohol concentration, or the proportion of alcohol to blood, will rise.

Your vision may also become blurred when the alcohol reaches the occipital lobe of your brain. And when the blood alcohol reaches the frontal lobe of your brain through your bloodstream, it will affect your reasoning and common sense. You cannot make any good judgment at this time and you lose your inhibition. It will result in making foolish decisions and doing things which you might regret.

Alcohol triggers irregular heartbeats and cause irritations to your stomach. The other negative effects of alcohol to your health include increasing the risk of heart disease, stroke, osteoporosis and some types of cancer. If you smoke, don't take any health supplements or have health problems, your risk is higher. You will also damage your liver. When the liver breaks down the alcohol, which is about 1 unit of alcohol per hour, a toxic by product is produced that may cause cirrhosis.

The harm, risks and effects of alcohol on women are more serious. Women risk being abused, increase the odds of unintended pregnancies and unintentional injuries due to the effects of alcohol. Pregnant women who consume alcohol may cause unborn babies to develop a birth defect called fetal alcohol syndrome.

Women who are thinking of becoming pregnant are advised not to consume alcohol. And teenagers or those below the legal drinking age shouldn't even try it. It isn't only because it is illegal. It may initiate alcohol abuse which later may lead to alcohol dependence.

This video will show you how to detect the signs of alcoholism.