Many of us enjoy a drink or two. In fact, alcohol is the most widely used substance worldwide – and like other psychoactive substances, it affects both your mind and body. Heavy drinking or binge drinking episodes, specifically, can damage your body in many ways. Some effects are immediate and linger for a bit, while others can significantly impact your physical and mental health.
In this article, we will explore both short and long-term alcohol addiction effects on your body so that you can make informed decisions before you consume alcohol.
What Happens Right Away? The Short-Term Effects of Alcohol Addiction
Alcohol is a central nervous system (CNS) depressant, which means it slows down your brain functioning and induces a sense of relaxation and peace. However, these initial, pleasing feelings give way to unwanted, unpleasant short-term effects, such as:
Hangover – You can experience feelings like vomiting, dry mouth, headache, lightheadedness, difficulty focusing, and tiredness.
Loss of Coordination and Judgment – Wherein you experience blurry vision, slowed reflexes, and slurred speech.
Risky Behaviors and Injuries – Given your loss of coordination and judgment, you can be at a greater risk of falls, accidents, unprotected sex, and conflict.
Alcohol Poisoning and Overdose – In greater quantities within shorter times, like binge drinking, one can experience confusion, vomiting, slowed breathing, pale or bluish skin, memory loss (blackouts), and a loss of consciousness from which one cannot be woken up.
What Happens Over Time? Long-Term Effects of Alcohol Addiction
Drinking too much, whether on a single occasion or over a period of time, can affect your whole body – brain, liver, gut, pancreas, lungs, immune system, heart, and other parts as well.
Brain – Long-term exposure to alcohol can change your brain chemistry and functioning to the point that it gets used to the presence of alcohol. Not drinking alcohol can make you feel like nothing is normal, and you can experience withdrawal symptoms as well.
Skin – Alcohol use disorder can manifest in the skin as flushing, spider veins, jaundice, rosacea, psoriasis, and other infections, often because of poor nutrition and liver damage. Skin can also become more saggy, giving a prematurely aged look.
Bone Health and Weight Concern – Alcohol can weaken bones (and increase osteoporosis risk); meanwhile, weight gain is not as straightforward, but excessive alcohol intake often disrupts metabolism and appetite control.
Liver – As alcohol is broken down in the liver, it strikes the liver the hardest. It can lead to multiple kinds of liver inflammation and scarring, such as hepatitis, fibrosis, and cirrhosis.
Gut Health – Alcohol can damage gut health by causing a leaky gut, which can lead to inflammation, impaired nutrient absorption, digestive concerns, and the increased risk of certain cancers like colorectal cancer, esophageal cancer, and oral cavity cancer.
Pancreas – Alcohol misuse can inflame the pancreas – a condition known as pancreatitis. This inflammation interferes with the pancreas’s ability to produce digestive enzymes and hormones that regulate blood sugar.
At first, it may appear as acute pancreatitis, marked by sudden and painful flare-ups, but with ongoing alcohol use, it can progress to chronic pancreatitis. Over time, this raises the risk of serious complications, including diabetes and even pancreatic cancer.
Lungs – Alcohol use can increase the risk of pneumonia, tuberculosis, and acute respiratory distress symptoms.
Immune System – Alcohol misuse over a period of time weakens the immune system, which means that one might fall sick often. A weakened immune system can increase the risk of infection, inflammation, and alcohol-related organ damage. In fact, it can even increase the likelihood of life-threatening diseases like HIV and AIDS.
Heart – Alcohol misuse can damage the heart in that it can lead to high blood pressure, irregular heartbeat, increased heart rate, ischemic heart disease, and heart attack.
Increased Risk of Cancers – There is an increased risk of certain cancers among those who misuse alcohol when compared to those who do not. These cancers can be head and neck cancer, esophageal cancer, breast cancer, liver cancer, and colorectal cancer.
Why Less is More With Alcohol?
How alcohol can affect your body depends on the severity of drinking patterns as well as the quality of the drink you consume. It can also depend on age, genetics, body size, and other personal factors.
As you can see, you can tell that alcohol addiction effects can become entrenched in your body with regular, heavy alcohol use. While abstinence is the best option for your health, this is easier said than done with alcohol, which happens to be glorified in different cultures and is the front and center of social gatherings and parties. So, what can you do instead?
The Centers for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC) suggests that 1 or 2 drinks per day for males and 1 drink per day for females is safe, provided a person does not have pre-existing health conditions, such as a risk of seizures.
Just for your information, a standard drink refers to 12 ounces of beer, 5 ounces of wine, and 1.5 ounces of distilled spirits such as rum, vodka, and whiskey. So, heavy drinking is classified as:
- 15 or more drinks per week for males.
- 8 or more drinks per week for females.
On the other hand, binge drinking is classified as:
- 5 or more consecutive drinks within 2 hours for males.
- 4 or more consecutive drinks within 2 hours for females.
So, as per the safety standards, engaging in moderate drinking is the way to drink safely and responsibly. But when drinking exceeds this, it can easily get out of your control and lead to alcohol use disorder.
The Cycle of Alcohol Addiction – Effects Become Entrenched
In many cases, it is easier said than done to control your drinking, given how addictive alcohol is.
Alcohol addiction or alcohol use disorder is a brain-related condition characterized by heavy, chronic, compulsive drinking. The longer it goes on, it rewires the brain to make a person more and more dependent on alcohol.
Identifying the signs of alcohol addiction early to seek the care you need and deserve enhances the prognosis. However, no matter how severe the alcohol addiction effects are, you can benefit from effective treatment options, like:
- Medically supervised detox
- Medication management involving acamprosate, disulfiram, and naltrexone to reduce cravings, other symptoms, and the risk of relapse.
- Behavioral therapeutic models such as motivational interviewing, cognitive behavioral therapy, contingency management, and 12-Step recovery models.
- Aftercare, which involves supportive counseling, medication monitoring, relapse prevention, sober living, and peer support such as Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) and SMART Recovery.
Taking Steps Toward Health – One Day at a Time!
If you are worried about alcohol addiction effects in yourself or someone else, then the best thing to do is reach out. Sober Living West will connect you with therapists and addiction medicine specialists who can offer personalized care and direction. Recovery is not just about giving up alcohol; it is rebuilding your health brick by brick, with one right step at a time, at your own pace. Please do not hesitate to contact us at (310) 218-5158 to begin healing today!