One of the benefits of quitting alcohol is you can improve your heart health, especially for potentially reversible conditions like alcohol related dilated cardiomyopathy. Whether you’re considering Sober October, Dry January or are ready to go booze-free without the help of a themed month, there are amazing benefits to breaking up with alcohol. Dr. Hannah Hildahl, UnityPoint Health, explains what alcohol does to your mind and body from top to bottom. As of 2021, 29.5 million people aged 12 and older had an alcohol use disorder in the past year. Your central nervous system consists of the brain, spinal cord, and neurons that communicate messages throughout your body.
- Dr. Pascale Allotey advocates for comprehensive maternal health policies, stressing the importance of women’s voices in shaping effective healthcare solutions.
- Developing a habit of using alcohol to ease anxiety can cause you to drink more, which can turn into a destructive cycle in which higher levels of anxiety trigger more consumption, further increasing anxiety.
- Researchers found those who use alcohol to cope with anxiety have greater chances of becoming dependent, misusing alcohol, or developing alcohol use disorder.
- If you are drinking heavily or are worried you may be dependent on alcohol, reach out to a healthcare provider before you start reducing your alcohol consumption to determine the safest way to make changes.
Getting Help for Alcohol Addiction
Chronic alcohol use causes hormone imbalances in both men and women and leads to problems with fertility. Alcohol impairment can lead to serious falls or vehicular collisions resulting in what is alcoholism traumatic brain injuries. In fact, 52% of people admitted to the hospital with a traumatic brain injury have a measurable amount of alcohol in their system when they arrive at the emergency room. Withdrawing from alcohol is a process that isn’t always going to be easy or enjoyable.
Is drinking some alcohol better than not drinking it at all?
In more extreme cases of excessive alcohol consumption, individuals can experience blackouts, alcohol poisoning, and even respiratory failure, which can be life-threatening. The liver metabolizes most of the alcohol you consume, breaking it down into acetaldehyde. Acetaldehyde is a toxin that can damage the body’s organs and tissues before it is further broken down into acetate. Years of moderate to heavy drinking can cause liver scarring (fibrosis), increasing the risk of liver diseases like cirrhosis, alcoholic hepatitis, fatty liver disease, and liver cancer.
Long-Term Effects of Alcohol on the Heart
Alcohol can be harmful to health because it affects nearly every organ in the body, can lead to addiction, and increases the risk of accidents, liver disease, and certain cancers. Those suffering from both mental health and alcohol abuse should seek treatment from an inpatient or outpatient treatment program. If excessive alcohol use has led to withdrawals, first seek treatment from a detox program for alcoholism. Every person has their own reasons for drinking or wanting to reduce their alcohol consumption. Depending on how much you have been drinking, your body may experience physical and psychological long term effects of alcohol changes as you reduce your intake, known as withdrawal. In low to moderate alcohol consumption, antioxidants may provide some cardiovascular benefits.
What Does Alcohol Do to Your Body? 9 Ways Alcohol Affects Your Health
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. “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. Damaged DNA can cause a cell to grow out of control, which results in cancerous tumors.
Long-Term Health Risks
- Over time, alcohol use takes a toll on your body and increases your risk of over 200 health conditions.
- Whether you’re a casual sipper or someone contemplating a lifestyle change, understanding how alcohol affects your body is crucial.
- The long term effects of drinking refer to the ways in which prolonged alcohol consumption alters our wellbeing over an extended period of time.
- An immune response causes alcohol allergy, whereas the digestive system is responsible for alcohol intolerance.
Key areas of their brains had undergone dramatic functional changes compared to healthy rats. For the first time, researchers demonstrate in an animal how heavy alcohol use leads to long-term behavioral issues by damaging brain circuits critical for decision-making. Long-term drinking can throw your immune system into chaos, increasing the likelihood of chronic inflammation and respiratory illnesses like pneumonia. Understanding this link can empower you to keep your immune system in check. Interestingly, while alcohol can create feelings of calm, it can also act as a stimulant that impairs alertness. Long-term use might lead to a build-up of toxins in the brain, affecting essential nutrient absorption and potentially resulting in detrimental cognitive effects.
