Long-Term Effects of Alcohol: Dangers, Risks & Effects

As a result, they eventually need to drink more to notice the same effects they once did. Alcohol use can factor into mental health symptoms that closely resemble those of other mental health conditions. Some of these effects, like a relaxed mood or lowered inhibitions, might show up quickly after just one drink. Others, like loss of consciousness or slurred speech, may develop after a substance abuse counselor definition few drinks.

Having a healthy gut is an important part of overall health and well-being. A healthy gut keeps mood stable, hormones regulated, immunity intact, and inflammation low. Alcohol can wreak havoc on gut health by damaging the lining of the gastrointestinal tract and killing off beneficial gut bacteria.

Thanks to generous benefactors, your gift today can have 5X the impact to advance AI innovation at Mayo Clinic. Heavy drinking also has been linked to intentional injuries, such as suicide, as well as accidental injury and death. Difficulty absorbing vitamins and minerals from food can cause fatigue and anemia, a condition where you have a low red blood cell count. Ulcers can cause dangerous internal bleeding, which can sometimes be fatal without prompt diagnosis and treatment.

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Chronic drinking can affect your heart and lungs, raising your risk of developing heart-related health issues. The connection between alcohol consumption and your digestive system might not seem immediately clear. The side effects often only appear after the damage has happened. Alcohol use can damage the hippocampus, the part of your brain responsible for memory and learning. Some studies have found that even light or moderate drinking can lead to some deterioration of the hippocampus. This is when your body doesn’t make enough healthy red blood cells to move oxygen around.

Over time, alcohol can cause damage to your central nervous system. You might notice numbness and tingling in your feet and hands. 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. Long-term alcohol use can change your brain’s wiring in much more significant ways. Ways that your standard hangover cures won’t even begin to touch.

Alcohol can impact various parts of the body, including the brain, heart, liver, and pancreas, as well as essential body systems like the immune and digestive systems. Alcohol use can increase the risk of cardiovascular problems, cognitive decline, liver disease, mental health conditions, and more. Alcohol consumption irritates the lining of the stomach and intestines. A night of drinking can cause uncomfortable symptoms like diarrhea, nausea, and vomiting. Chronic and excessive alcohol use disrupts the balance of bacteria in the gut microbiome (dysbiosis). Over time, this imbalance triggers chronic gastrointestinal inflammation, leading to a higher risk of gastrointestinal diseases.

1. 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.
2. Cirrhosis, on the other hand, is irreversible and can lead to liver failure and liver cancer, even if you abstain from alcohol.
3. It makes your body release stress hormones that narrow blood vessels, so your heart has to pump harder to push blood through.

Alcoholics Anonymous is available almost everywhere and provides a place to openly and nonjudgmentally discuss alcohol issues with others who have alcohol use disorder. Like a clog in a drain, those thickened fluids can jam up your ducts. That can lead to pancreatitis, which is inflammation of the pancreas. That allows excess calories from the foods you eat to sit around, leading to weight gain. Your liver detoxifies and removes alcohol from your blood through a process known as oxidation. When your liver finishes that process, alcohol gets turned into water and carbon dioxide.

Deciding about drinking

That’s because drinking during pregnancy doesn’t just affect your health. It can lead to miscarriage, stillbirth, or premature delivery. If your body can’t manage and balance your blood sugar levels, you may experience greater complications and side effects related to diabetes. Here’s a breakdown of alcohol’s effects on your internal organs and body processes. “Excessive alcohol consumption can cause nerve damage and irreversible forms of dementia,” Dr. Sengupta warns. Your body breaks alcohol down into a chemical called acetaldehyde, which damages your DNA.

Alcohol-induced mental health conditions

Binge drinking too often can make it harder to fall asleep and stay asleep. It can also increase snoring and sleep apnea, making it hard to get a good night’s rest. There is a clear link between heavy alcohol use and many types of cancers. Alcohol can damage the cells in your mouth, throat, voice box, and esophagus. Alcohol can help cancer-causing chemicals in tobacco and other sources enter your cells more easily.

In people assigned female at birth, consuming more than four drinks in one sitting is considered binge drinking. However, there may be legal, financial, or relational consequences for drinking heavily. Though alcohol seems woven into the fabric of our social lives, drinking can have harmful health effects, even in small doses. Short-term and long-term effects of alcohol can negatively impact the mind and body, despite any potential benefits. A robust immune system is essential for fighting off illness and immunity is negatively affected by chronic alcohol consumption.

Alcohol puts the brakes on your body’s defenses, or immune system. Your body can’t make the numbers of white blood cells it needs to fight germs. So for 24 hours after drinking too much, you’re more likely to get sick.

Damaged DNA can cause a cell to grow out of control, which results in cancerous tumors. Steatotic liver disease used to go by the name fatty liver disease. You probably already know that excessive drinking can affect you in more ways than one. It’s called “low risk” rather than “safe” because there’s no safe drinking level. There’s now a better understanding of the link between drinking and some illnesses, including a range harbor house sober living of cancers.

You may experience a disruption in mood

Any amount of alcohol can diminish your judgment and functioning, and even low or moderate alcohol use can have harmful effects on different organs. You may know about the dangers of blood clots and high levels of fats and cholesterol in your body. Studies of heavy drinkers also show that they are more likely to have trouble pumping blood to their heart and may have a higher chance of dying from heart disease. Over time, your brain’s structure and function change, leading to tolerance, meaning you may require higher amounts of alcohol to achieve the desired effects. These brain changes contribute to the compulsive nature of addiction, making it difficult to abstain from alcohol. 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.

Too much booze may also make you more likely to skip meals, which can short-change your body of iron. 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. Alcohol is one of the leading causes of death in the United States, contributing to approximately 178,000 deaths annually. Over time, alcohol use takes a toll on your how to flush alcohol from urine body and increases your risk of over 200 health conditions. During pregnancy, drinking may cause the unborn baby to have brain damage and other problems.