Drinking too much – on a single occasion or over time – can take a serious toll on your health. Here’s how alcohol can affect your body:
Brain:
Alcohol interferes with the brain’s communication pathways, and can affect the way the brain looks and works. These disruptions can change mood and behavior, and make it harder to think clearly and move with coordination.
Heart:
Drinking a lot over a long time or too much on a single occasion can damage the heart, causing problems including:
- Cardiomyopathy – Stretching and drooping of heart muscle
- Arrhythmias – Irregular heart beat
- Stroke
- High blood pressure
Liver:
Heavy drinking takes a toll on the liver, and can lead to a variety of problems and liver inflammations including:
- Steatosis, or fatty liver
- Alcoholic hepatitis
- Fibrosis
- Cirrhosis
Pancreas:
Alcohol causes the pancreas to produce toxic substances that can eventually lead to pancreatitis, a dangerous inflammation in the pancreas that causes its swelling and pain (which may spread) and impairs its ability to make enzymes and hormones for proper digestion.
Cancer:
According to the National Cancer Institute: "There is a strong scientific consensus that alcohol drinking can cause several types of cancer. In its Report on Carcinogens, the National Toxicology Program of the US Department of Health and Human Services lists consumption of alcoholic beverages as a known human carcinogen.
"The evidence indicates that the more alcohol a person drinks–particularly the more alcohol a person drinks regularly over time–the higher his or her risk of developing an alcohol-associated cancer. Even those who have no more than one drink per day and people who binge drink (those who consume 4 or more drinks for women and 5 or more drinks for men in one sitting) have a modestly increased risk of some cancers. Based on data from 2009, an estimated 3.5% of cancer deaths in the United States (about 19,500 deaths were alcohol related."
Clear patterns have emerged between alcohol consumption and increased risks of certain types of cancer:
- Head and neck cancer, including oral cavity, pharynx, and larynx cancers.
- Esophageal cancer, particularly esophageal squamous cell carcinoma. In addition, people who inherit a deficiency in an enzyme that metabolizes alcohol have been found to have substantially increased risks of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma if they consume alcohol.
- Breast cancer: Studies have consistently found an increased risk of breast cancer in women with increasing alcohol intake. Women who consume about 1 drink per day have a 5 to 9 percent higher chance of developing breast cancer than women who do not drink at all.
For more information about alcohol and cancer, please visit the National Cancer Institute's webpage "Alcohol and Cancer Risk" (last accessed October 21, 2021).
Immune System:
Drinking too much can weaken your immune system, making your body a much easier target for disease. Chronic drinkers are more liable to contract diseases like pneumonia and tuberculosis than people who do not drink too much. Drinking a lot on a single occasion slows your body’s ability to ward off infections – even up to 24 hours after getting drunk.
For more information about alcohol's effects on the body, please visit theInteractive Bodyfeatureon NIAAA'sCollege Drinking Prevention website.
FAQs
Alcohol interferes with the brain's communication pathways and can affect the way the brain looks and works. Alcohol makes it harder for the brain areas controlling balance, memory, speech, and judgment to do their jobs, resulting in a higher likelihood of injuries and other negative outcomes.
What are five effects of drinking too much? ›
No "safe" drinking level
mouth cancer, throat cancer and breast cancer. stroke. heart disease. liver disease.
What are the consequences of drinking a lot of alcohol? ›
Health/safety consequences
Excessive alcohol consumption can affect your breathing, heart rate and gag reflex and potentially lead to coma and death. While often physical scars fade, the psychological scars resulting from alcohol-related trauma can linger - sometimes for a lifetime.
What damage does alcohol do to the body? ›
Organs known to be damaged by long-term alcohol misuse include the brain and nervous system, heart, liver and pancreas. Heavy drinking can also increase your blood pressure and blood cholesterol levels, both of which are major risk factors for heart attacks and strokes.
What illness can alcohol cause? ›
Drinking beyond U.S. Dietary Guidelines levels can cause liver disease, including steatosis (accumulation of fat), steatohepatitis (inflammation), fibrosis and cirrhosis (scarring), hepatocellular carcinoma, and alcohol-associated hepatitis.
How bad is alcohol for you? ›
Alcohol is a toxic, psychoactive, and dependence-producing substance and has been classified as a Group 1 carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer decades ago – this is the highest risk group, which also includes asbestos, radiation and tobacco.
How does alcohol affect behavior? ›
Social and financial problems
Alcohol can reduce your inhibitions and lead you to behave in a way you normally wouldn't. You may commit a crime, behave in an antisocial way or do something embarrassing. Your behaviour could affect your friendships, your work and your family.
Does alcohol cause dementia? ›
Research into alcohol and dementia risk
Each combined multiple research studies to reach a consensus on alcohol consumption and the development of dementia. It is clear that excessive drinking increases a person's risk of dementia compared with not drinking at all.
What organ does alcohol affect the most? ›
10% to 20% of those who drink heavily will develop liver cirrhosis. Cirrhosis is a condition in which the liver is so scarred that it can no longer function due to scar tissue replacing the healthy liver cells. Cirrhosis is irreversible and can cause fatal liver failure and liver cancer if left untreated.
How many years of drinking is bad? ›
People with serious liver damage have usually been drinking for 20 or more years. But complications can develop after 5 to 10 years of heavy drinking. Again, this can be highly variable between individuals and is likely genetic. What are the early signs of liver damage?
Alcohol's Effect on Immunity and Inflammation. Alcohol can induce intestinal inflammation through a cascade of mechanisms that subsequently lead to inflammation and organ dysfunction throughout the body, in particular in the liver and brain.
How long does it take for inflammation from alcohol to go away? ›
A 2021 review of research notes that several studies determined that two to four weeks of abstinence from alcohol by heavy-alcohol users helped reduce inflammation and bring down elevated serum levels in the liver. In short: A few weeks off will help.
What happens to excess alcohol in the body? ›
Symptoms of alcohol overdose include mental confusion, difficulty remaining conscious, vomiting, seizures, trouble breathing, slow heart rate, clammy skin, dulled responses (such as no gag reflex, which prevents choking), and extremely low body temperature. Alcohol overdose can lead to permanent brain damage or death.
What are 6 effects of alcohol on the body? ›
Research has shown that people who misuse alcohol have a greater risk of liver disease, heart disease, depression, stroke, and stomach bleeding, as well as cancers of the oral cavity, esophagus, larynx, pharynx, liver, colon, and rectum.
What are 3 harms of alcohol? ›
fertility issues such as reduced sperm count and reduced testosterone levels in men. brain damage and brain-related conditions such as stroke and dementia. heart issues such as high blood pressure, heart damage and heart attacks. cirrhosis of the liver and liver failure.
