Talk to a healthcare provider if you are concerned about your drinking or that of a loved one. Professional treatments and support can help you overcome alcohol misuse and alcohol use disorder and improve your overall health and well-being. 25.8% of people classified their recent consumption habits as binge drinking (excessive drinking in a defined amount of time). If you feel that you sometimes drink too much alcohol, or your drinking is causing problems, or if your family is concerned about your drinking, talk with your health care provider. Other ways to get help include talking with a mental health professional or seeking help from a support group such as Alcoholics Anonymous or a similar type of self-help group.
Here’s a breakdown of alcohol’s effects on your internal organs and body processes. Alcohol can cause both short-term effects, such as lowered inhibitions, and long-term effects, including a weakened immune system. Steatotic liver disease used to go by the name fatty liver disease. But when you ingest what is mesculin too much alcohol for your liver to process in a timely manner, a buildup of toxic substances begins to take a toll on your liver. You probably already know that excessive drinking can affect you in more ways than one. “My personal experience has really molded my professional practice,” says Klein, who got sober from alcohol and drug use in 2016.
Symptoms
Alcohol use, especially excessive alcohol consumption, can harm your physical and mental health. From damaging vital organs to impairing brain function and jeopardizing relationships, the negative consequences of excessive alcohol use are far-reaching. Chronic alcohol use raises your risk for health problems, including heart disease, liver disease, cancer, and mental health disorders.
This is of particular concern when you’re taking certain medications that also depress the brain’s function. If you drink heavily for a long time, alcohol can affect how your brain looks and works. And that’ll have big effects on your ability to think, learn, and remember things. It can also make it harder to keep a steady body temperature and control your movements. Heavy drinking means eight or more drinks a week for women and 15 or more for men. Alcohol misuse at an early age increases the risk of developing AUD.
- Drinking too much alcohol over time may cause inflammation of the pancreas, resulting in pancreatitis.
- These brain changes contribute to the compulsive nature of addiction, making it difficult to abstain from alcohol.
- Your bones get thinner and more fragile, a condition called osteoporosis.
- NIAAA Director George F. Koob, Ph.D., said that as of May 2023, the institute is not aware of specific health guidelines on alcohol consumption for transgender or gender-nonconforming individuals.
- Your liver is a remarkable organ with hundreds of essential functions.
Mental health
Over time, alcohol use takes a toll on your body and increases your risk of over 200 health conditions. The brain is highly vulnerable to the damaging effects of alcohol, which disrupts communication between brain cells. Excessive or chronic alcohol use can lead to a steady decline in cognitive function, causing memory problems, difficulty learning new information, mood changes, and behavior changes. Chronic alcohol use and binge drinking damage the heart muscle, making it harder for the heart to pump blood effectively. Alcohol can also contribute to arrhythmias (irregular heartbeats) and hypertension (high blood pressure), increasing the risk of heart attack, stroke, and heart failure. Wine—specifically red wine—contains high levels of antioxidants.
For example, it may be used to define the risk of illness or injury based on the number of drinks a person has in a week. With these conditions, you’ll only notice symptoms during alcohol intoxication or withdrawal. These symptoms typically improve quickly when alcohol use stops. Long-term alcohol use can affect bone density, leading to thinner bones and increasing your risk of fractures if you fall. A damaged pancreas can also prevent your body from producing enough insulin to use sugar. This can lead to hyperglycemia, or too much sugar in the blood.
Often, the alcohol-provoked lung damage goes undetected until a second insult, such as a respiratory infection, leads to more severe lung diseases than those seen in nondrinkers. The gastrointestinal (GI) system is typically the first point of contact for alcohol as it passes through the body and is where alcohol is absorbed into the bloodstream. One of the most significant immediate effects of alcohol is that it affects the structure and integrity of the GI tract. These organisms affect the maturation and function of the immune system.
A Weaker Immune System
Any amount of alcohol can diminish your judgment and functioning, and even low or moderate alcohol use can have harmful effects on different organs. Many people with alcohol use disorder hesitate to get treatment because they don’t recognize that they have a problem. An intervention from loved ones can help some people recognize and accept that they need professional help. If you’re concerned about someone who drinks too much, ask a professional experienced in alcohol treatment for advice on how to approach that person.
For this reason, your liver is particularly vulnerable to damage by alcohol intake (3). Whether you’re a light, moderate, or heavy drinker, alcohol can reduce bone mass. Alcohol use can damage the hippocampus, the part of your brain responsible for memory and learning.
HIV/AIDS is a disease in which mucosal immunity already is under attack. Bagby and colleagues review substantial evidence that alcohol further disrupts the immune system, significantly increasing the likelihood of HIV transmission and progression. 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 occasion for men. Every person has their own reasons for drinking or wanting to reduce their alcohol consumption. Depending on how much you have been drinking, your body may experience physical and psychological changes as you reduce your intake, known as withdrawal.
If you do it for years, you can make those heart rhythm changes permanent and cause what’s called arrhythmia. Over time, it causes heart muscles to droop and stretch, like an old rubber band. Your heart can’t pump blood as well, and that impacts every part of your body. Tolerance and dependence can both happen as symptoms of alcohol use disorder, a mental health condition previously referred to as alcoholism, that happens when your body becomes dependent on alcohol. This condition can be mild, moderate, or severe, depending on the number of symptoms you have.