Certain factors may increase your chances of experiencing alcohol use disorder. Drinking alcohol on a regular basis can also lead to dependence, which means your body and brain have grown used to alcohol’s effects. As a result, they eventually need to drink more to notice the same effects they once did. With these conditions, you’ll only notice symptoms during alcohol intoxication or withdrawal. Excessive drinking may affect consequences of alcohol your menstrual cycle and potentially increase your risk for infertility. If your body can’t manage and balance your blood sugar levels, you may experience greater complications and side effects related to diabetes.
Complications of alcohol use disorder: How does it affect the body’s systems?
Heavy drinking can affect the liver, which is our body’s natural detoxifying organ. Alcoholic liver disease is a spectrum of disease that includes steatosis, where an excess of fat builds up in the liver, and alcoholic hepatitis, where liver cells are chronically inflamed. The most severe form of liver disease is alcoholic cirrhosis, which is where fatty liver tissue is replaced by scar tissue and can no longer function. Liver damage can lead to irreversible symptoms including jaundice, swelling of legs and abdomen, internal bleeding, fever, brain fog, and nausea. Research has demonstrated that long-term heavy drinking weakens the heart muscle, causing cardiomyopathy.
Alcohol and heart health: A complex relationship
For those who also experience mental health struggles, there are treatment programs involving the use of different therapeutic modalities to heal the mind on the road to recovery. The physical short-term impact that alcohol has on the body starts almost immediately, leading to a range of physical impairments. Even after a few drinks, individuals may experience dizziness, nausea, slurred speech, and loss of coordination. In more extreme cases of excessive alcohol consumption, individuals can experience blackouts, alcohol poisoning, and even respiratory failure, which can be life-threatening. All of these issues result from the widespread effects alcohol has on your body’s various systems.
The Impact of Alcohol on Your Body
Problem drinking is not defined only by how often or even how much a person drinks. Instead, it comes down to the effects of alcohol addiction on a person’s life. People who have issues with their work life, family relationships, finances or emotions because of their alcohol use could have a drinking problem. However, more recent research warns against using alcohol as a strategy for improving heart health, says Andrews.
In the past, moderate drinking was thought to be linked with a lower risk of dying from heart disease and possibly diabetes. After more analysis of the research, that doesn’t seem to be the case. In general, a healthy diet and physical activity have much greater health benefits than alcohol and have been more extensively studied.
- Theories suggest that for certain people drinking has a different and stronger impact that can lead to alcohol use disorder.
- It’s really disappointing to see that, but not shocking,” Scheller said.
Alcohol also causes damage to nerves and pathways, which disrupts communication between essential organs and bodily functions. The pancreas is essential for breaking down enzymes and starches (like those in alcohol). When the pancreas becomes irritated and inflamed, you can develop pancreatitis. However, when the intestines become irritated and inflamed by too much alcohol, they lose their efficiency, which manifests as chronic diarrhea. Seizures, hallucinations, and delirium may occur in severe cases of withdrawal. Difficulty absorbing vitamins and minerals from food can cause fatigue and anemia, a condition where you have a low red blood cell count.
- In the United States, people younger than age 21 are not legally able to drink alcohol.
- Alcohol interferes with the brain’s communication pathways and can affect the way the brain looks and works.
Lastly, hormonal imbalances related to alcohol use can also deregulate naturally-occurring cholesterol in the body and contribute to high cholesterol, which is a risk factor for heart disease. Considering these hormonal dysregulations, unhealthy alcohol use can also contribute to low bone density for older men and post-menopausal women. Low bone density can increase the likelihood of osteoporosis, vertebral fractures, wrist fractures, and hip fractures. Because of this, heavy drinkers are particularly susceptible to sudden periods of low blood sugar, or hypoglycemia. Alcohol also suppresses the body’s natural responses to when it senses low blood sugar starting to occur, which makes these dips more frequent and severe.
Alcohol-induced mental health conditions
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. AUD is characterized by an impaired ability to stop or control alcohol use despite adverse social, occupational, or health consequences. Alcohol is a factor in about 25% of suicides, about 40% of fatal burn injuries, about 50% of fatal drownings and of homicides, and about 65% of fatal falls. Around 31% of all motor vehicle traffic fatalities involve alcohol.
Short-term effects
Chronic alcohol consumption can also lead to a deficiency in vitamin B1 (thiamine), potentially resulting in serious neurological disorders like Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome, she adds. “Long-term heavy drinking may contribute to cognitive decline and increase the risk of dementia and neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease,” adds Andrews. Prolonged alcohol addiction can lead to devastating effects on the body. Chronic drinking can lead to liver diseases, such as cirrhosis, pancreatitis, high blood pressure, heart disease, and an increased risk of cancer.
The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism defines moderate drinking as two or fewer drinks in a day for men and one or less in a day for women. Excessive (binge) drinking is defined as four or more drinks on a single occasion for women and five or more drinks on a single drug addiction treatment occasion for men. Alcohol poisoning can quickly become life-threatening and requires prompt medical treatment.
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