If your body can’t manage and balance your blood sugar levels, you may experience greater complications and side effects related to diabetes. Drinking too much alcohol over time may cause inflammation of the pancreas, resulting in pancreatitis. Pancreatitis can activate the release of pancreatic digestive enzymes and cause abdominal pain. Here’s a breakdown of alcohol’s effects on your internal organs and body processes. You shouldn’t attempt to drive or operate heavy machinery while under the effects of alcohol.

It powers key functions and processes like movement, memory, speech, thought processes, and more. A comprehensive 2015 review found that alcohol use is one of the leading contributors to pancreatitis because it causes the pancreas to produce toxic substances. The pancreas is essential for breaking down enzymes and starches (like those in alcohol). When the pancreas becomes irritated and inflamed, you can develop pancreatitis. Your liver produces enzymes that break down alcohol, but your liver can only handle so much alcohol at one time (approximately 1 ounce per hour).

Other chronic diseases

That’s because alcohol can weaken your immune system, slow healing and make your body more susceptible to infection. Having a glass of wine with dinner or a beer at a party here and there isn’t going to destroy your gut. But even low amounts of daily drinking and prolonged and heavy use of alcohol can lead to significant problems for your digestive system. But there’s plenty of research to back up the notion that alcohol does lead to weight gain in general. In reality, there’s no evidence that drinking beer (or your alcoholic beverages of choice) actually contributes to belly fat. You probably already know that excessive drinking can affect you in more ways than one.

1. PLUS, the latest news on medical advances and breakthroughs from Harvard Medical School experts.
2. Drinking alcohol on a regular basis can also lead to dependence, which means your body and brain have grown used to alcohol’s effects.
3. Health professionals counsel the person and family about the nature of addiction and help the person find positive alternatives to using alcohol.
4. Alcohol use disorder includes a level of drinking that’s sometimes called alcoholism.
5. A weakened immune system has a harder time protecting you from germs and viruses.

Finding treatment for alcohol use disorder

If you have a history of withdrawal symptoms, see a health professional before quitting. You should also see a professional before quitting alcohol if you have other health conditions. Research shows a high correlation between alcohol misuse and high-risk sexual behavior, violence, crime, self-injury, and fatal injury from things like motor vehicle accidents. People with AUD represent about 20–35 percent of completed suicides. If you are drinking more than that at any one time, you may be misusing alcohol. Excessive drinking is defined as 15 drinks or more a week for men and eight drinks or more a week for women.

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. Over time, drinking can also damage your frontal lobe, the part of the brain responsible for executive functions, like abstract reasoning, decision making, social behavior, and performance. Slurred speech, a key sign of intoxication, happens because how do you smoke moon rocks alcohol reduces communication between your brain and body.

Continuing to drink despite clear signs of significant impairments can result in an alcohol overdose. An alcohol overdose occurs when there is so much alcohol in the bloodstream that areas of the brain controlling basic life-support functions—such as breathing, heart rate, and temperature control—begin to shut down. In fact, recent studies (Rehm and Parry 2009; Rehm et al. 2009a) found that the overall impact of alcohol consumption on infectious diseases is substantial, especially in sub-Saharan Africa. 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).

In the case of a hemorrhagic stroke, rupture of a blood vessel and bleeding into the brain occurs, which prevents normal blood supply to other brain regions. Every state in the U.S. has a legal limit (or a point at which it is legally unsafe to operate a motor vehicle) of 0.08%. It’s important to note that any amount of alcohol in your system can interfere with your ability to think and function without impairment.

Alcohol Addiction and Withdrawal

If your pattern of drinking results in repeated significant distress and problems functioning in your daily life, you likely have alcohol use disorder. However, even a mild disorder can escalate and lead to serious problems, so early treatment is important. Unhealthy alcohol use includes any alcohol use that puts your health or safety at risk or causes other alcohol-related problems.

Alcohol use can increase the risk of cardiovascular problems, cognitive decline, liver disease, mental health conditions, and more. Although there are many risks to drinking alcohol, there also may be some benefits of moderate drinking. That means no more than two drinks a day for men and no more than one drink a day for women.