How Alcohol Affects Your Body (
courtecy;- webMD )
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Straight
to Your Head
Thirty seconds after
your first sip, alcohol races into your brain. It slows down the chemicals and
pathways that your brain cells use to send messages. That alters your mood,
slows your reflexes, and throws off your balance. You also can’t think straight,
which you may not recall later, because you’ll struggle to store things in
long-term memory.
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Your
Brain Shrinks
If you drink heavily for
a long time, booze can affect how your brain looks and works. Its cells start
to change and even get smaller. Too much alcohol can actually shrink your
brain. 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.
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Does
It Help You Sleep?
Alcohol’s slow-down
effect on your brain can make you drowsy, so you may doze off more easily. But
you won’t sleep well. Your body processes alcohol throughout the night. Once
the effects wear off, it leaves you tossing and turning. You don’t get that
good REM sleep your body needs to feel restored. And you’re more likely to have
nightmares and vivid dreams. You’ll also probably wake up more often for trips to
the bathroom.
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More
Stomach Acid
Booze irritates the
lining of your stomach and makes your digestive juices flow. When enough acid
and alcohol build up, you get nauseated and you may throw up. Years of heavy
drinking can cause painful sores called ulcers in your stomach. And high levels
of stomach juices mean you won’t feel hungry. That’s one reason long-term
drinkers often don’t get all the nutrients they need.
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Diarrhea
and Heartburn
Your small intestine and
colon get irritated, too. Alcohol throws off the normal speed that food moves
through them. That’s why hard drinking can lead to diarrhea, which can turn
into a long-term problem. It also makes heartburn more likely – it relaxes the
muscle that keeps acid out of your esophagus, the tube that connects your mouth
and stomach.
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Why
You Have to Pee … Again
Your brain gives off a
hormone that keeps your kidneys from making too much urine. But when alcohol
swings into action, it tells your brain to hold off. That means you have to go
more often, which can leave you dehydrated. When you drink heavily for years,
that extra workload and the toxic effects of alcohol can wear your kidneys
down.
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The
Steps to Liver Disease
Your liver breaks down
almost all the alcohol you drink. In the process, it handles a lot of toxins.
Over time, heavy drinking makes the organ fatty and lets thicker, fibrous
tissue build up. That limits blood flow, so liver cells don’t get what they need
to survive. As they die off, the liver gets scars and stops working as well, a
disease called cirrhosis.
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Pancreas
Damage and Diabetes
Normally, this organ
makes insulin and other chemicals that help your intestines break down food.
But alcohol jams that process up. The chemicals stay inside the pancreas. Along
with toxins from alcohol, they cause inflammation in the organ, which can lead
to serious damage. After years, that means you won’t be able to make the
insulin you need, which can lead to diabetes. It also makes you more likely to
get pancreatic cancer.
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What’s
a Hangover?
That cotton-mouthed,
bleary-eyed morning-after is no accident. Alcohol makes you dehydrated and
makes blood vessels in your body and brain expand. That gives you your
headache. Your stomach wants to get rid of the toxins and acid that booze
churns up, which gives you nausea and vomiting. And because your liver was so
busy processing alcohol, it didn’t release enough sugar into your blood,
bringing on weakness and the shakes.
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An
Offbeat Heart
One night of binge
drinking can jumble the electrical signals that keep your heart’s rhythm
steady. If you do it for years, you can make those changes permanent. And,
alcohol can literally wear your heart out. Over time, it causes heart muscles
to droop and stretch, like an old rubber band. It can’t pump blood as well, and
that impacts every part of your body.
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A
Change in Body Temperature
Alcohol widens your
blood vessels, making more blood flow to your skin. That makes you blush and
feel warm and toasty. But not for long. The heat from that extra blood passes
right out of your body, causing your temperature to drop. On the other hand, long-term,
heavy drinking boosts your blood pressure. It makes your body release stress
hormones that narrow blood vessels, so your heart has to pump harder to push
blood through.
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A
Weaker Immune System
You might not link a
cold with a night of drinking, but there might be a connection. Alcohol puts
the brakes on your immune system. Your body can’t make the numbers of white
blood cells it needs to fight germs. So for 24 hours after drinking, you’re
more likely to get sick. Long-term, heavy drinkers are much more likely to get
illnesses like pneumonia and tuberculosis.
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Hormone
Havoc
These powerful chemicals
manage everything from your sex drive to how fast you digest food. To keep it
all going smoothly, you need them in the right balance. But alcohol throws them
out of whack. In women, that can knock your periods off cycle and cause problems
getting pregnant. In men, it can mean trouble getting an erection, a lower
sperm count, shrinking testicles, and breast growth.
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Hearing
Loss
Alcohol impacts your
hearing, but no one’s sure exactly how. It could be that it messes with the
part of your brain that processes sound. Or it might damage the nerves and tiny
hairs in your inner ear that help you hear. However it happens, drinking means
you need a sound to be louder so you can hear it. And that can become
permanent. Long-term drinkers often have hearing loss.
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Thin
Bones, Less Muscle
Heavy drinking can throw
off your calcium levels. Along with the hormone changes that alcohol triggers,
that can keep your body from building new bone. They get thinner and more
fragile, a condition called osteoporosis. Booze also limits blood flow to your
muscles and gets in the way of the proteins that build them up. Over time,
you’ll have lower muscle mass and less strength.
This tool does not provide medical advice.
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