Alcohol 101: Physical Effects of Alcohol


            Quick Quiz

            Question: How long is your body affected when you drink?
            Answer: Depending on how much you drink, your body can be affected up to 72 hours after you stop drinking.



            Short Term Effects of Alcohol Consumption:
            *Note: Effects depend on amount of alcohol consumed and are more pronounced as amount
            consumed increases.

            On Thinking and Judgment:

• Decreased judgment and thinking ability, including decisions and
  consequences. For example: not thinking about consequences of
  actions or words, acting on impulse, mussing social cues and loss of
  awareness of how your behavior impacts others.

• Slower overall thinking process

• Decreased concentration and focus

• Decreased awareness of surroundings

                  • Decreased inhibitions, which can lead to risky behavior by: giving signals we don’t mean, invading others’
                    space, increased touching and personal disclosure and an increased focus on obtaining pleasure.

            On physical performance:

                  • Slowed reaction time, as well as decreased awareness of physical discomfort

                  • Distorted perception which affects accuracy

                  • Impaired fine motor and gross motor coordination, as well as
                    hand-eye coordination and balance, which can affect your
                    ability to leave an unwanted situation, assert your rights and
                    choices, to act and ensure your own safety and increases risk
                    of injury.

                  • Decrease in physical strength and endurance

                  • Increased fatigue and increased muscle fatigue during
                    physical exertion and inability to repair cells following
                    strenuous exercise.

                  • Difficulty regulating body temperature

            On the Liver:

                  • Impairs liver’s ability to filter waste and other toxins out of the bloodstream while it is processing the alcohol

            On Sexual Performance:

                  • While alcohol appears to reduce inhibitions about sexual behavior, it actually reduces sexual ability and
                    performance.

                  • Reduces sensory pleasure due to alcohol’s depressant effects

            On Nutrition:

                  • Drinking alcohol makes you feel full, but provides no nutritional value, as well as the calories can quickly
                    add up.

            On the Immune System:

                  • Depresses the body’s immune system, making it easier to get sick

                  • Also disrupts your sleep patterns, further depressing the immune system

            On Sleeping Patterns:

                  • Decreases sleep quality, restfulness and rejuvenation and energy replacing effect

            On the Stomach:

                  • Irritates stomach lining which can cause vomiting

                  • Can cause nausea, stomach pain and other stomach problems

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            Long Term Physical Effects of Alcohol:
            The following long term effects can occur from heavy, frequent consumption of alcohol over long periods of time.

                  • Cognitive Impairment: People who drink heavily for long periods of time show poorer performance on
                    tasks requiring short-term memory and logical reasoning and slower information processing and response.

                  • Sexual Impairment: Research has shown a correlation between heavy drinking and impotence/erectile
                    dysfunction occurring in males as early as their late 20s.

                  • Gastro-Intestinal Tract/Stomach: Absorption problems of the small intestine, increased risk of gastritis,
                    ulcers, pancreatic diseases, and increased risk of mouth, esophagus and stomach cancer.

                  • Heart: May weaken the heart muscle and raise blood pressure.

                  • Liver: Can cause fatty liver, alcoholic hepatitis, cirrhosis of the liver and increased risk of liver cancer. Also,
                    even heavy drinking on one occasion can cause liver irritation. Continued liver irritation results in your liver
                    taking a longer time to heal causing more liver damage.

                  • Central Nervous System: May result in damage to the brain or peripheral nervous system. Brain atrophy
                    (loss of brain mass) is reported on 50 – 100 percent of people with alcohol dependency.

                  • Nutrition: Depletion of water soluble vitamins, impaired utilization of vitamins and nutrition from food
                    consumed, often less nutrition is consumed.

                  • Breasts: Recent research links frequent, heavy alcohol consumption with a higher rate of breast cancer.

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            Question: What is heavy drinking?

            Answer: There are different definitions depending on the source you use:

• The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, CDCP, defines
  heavy drinking as 3 or more drinks in a row for men and 2 or more
  drinks in a row for women.

• The Harvard School of Public Health defines heavy drinking as 5 or
  more drinks in a row for men and 4 or more drinks in a row
  for women.

*Remember: A standard drink is equal to one 12 ounce beer with 5%
alcohol, one 5 ounce glass of wine or one 1.5 ounce shot of distilled
80-proof (40% alcohol) spirits. Each of these drinks contains about
half an ounce of pure ethyl alcohol (ethanol).

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            Prevention and Wellness Services - Alcohol and Drug Consultation, Assessment and Skills Program (ADCAS)
            www.wwu.edu

            Information for this page can be found in "A Primer of Drug Action," 2001, by Robert M. Julien, M.D., Ph.D and in
            "Brief Alcohol Screening and Intervention for College Students: A Harm Reduction Approach," 1999, by Linda A.
            Dimeff, John S. Baer, Daniel R. Kivlahan, and G. Alan Marlatt.