The Impact of Alcohol on Physical Health
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Peace Valley Recovery is located in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. Our mission is to provide patient-centered care that focuses on healing and recovery from addiction. This blog provides information, news, and uplifting content to help people in their recovery journey.
Authored by Chris Schumacher, | Medically Reviewed by Peace Valley Recovery Editorial Staff,
Last Updated: June 7, 2024
Let’s paint a picture that many of us can relate to – it’s Friday at 5:00 pm after a grueling work week. Maybe you had to fire someone, or maybe your boss was worse than usual, but all you can think about is clocking out and leaving it all behind you with a drink in your hand. We get it, it’s a seemingly great way to unwind, and no matter where you reside in the world, it’s a universal approach to stress relief. Yeah, it might work in the short-term, but the problem is when you regularly lean on a substance like alcohol, it’ll have a significant impact on your physical health.
Like all drugs, the more alcohol you drink, the greater the tolerance you’ll develop. Maybe you only have a few drinks on that Friday night and call it quits, but the more often you do it, you’ll start noticing it’s not working like it used to and start drinking more. Eventually, you’ll be throwing back drinks like it’s nothing. In many cultures, the amount of alcohol one person can ingest is worn as a badge of honor, but this is when alcohol can start causing real damage. Excessive alcohol use was responsible for around 178,000 deaths in the United States between 2020 and 2021.
While some people can drink on occasion and not endure any adverse risks, others will fall into the trap of addiction and cause serious and sometimes irreversible damage. If you fall into the latter and your drinking has spiraled out of control, it’s critical that you thoroughly understand the damage it’s causing to your body.
How Alcohol Affects Your Body in the Short-Term
If you’re someone who drinks occasionally, you won’t feel the effects of alcohol on your body right away. Alcohol, in moderation, is considered to carry minor risks. For example, if you have a beer at the ball game or a glass of wine with dinner on the weekends, you won’t run into issues. However, those who binge drink, which is defined by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) consuming five or more drinks on an occasion for men and four or more drinks for women, will notice more health effects sooner. Binge drinking is considered the most common and costly pattern of excessive alcohol use in the United States.
Although the risks are minor when drinking in moderation, that doesn’t mean the risk is zero. Recent research suggests there is no “safe” amount of alcohol since even moderate drinking can adversely impact your brain – something to keep in mind. When studies like this are released, it makes you wonder how something so sinister like alcohol, which destroys lives and harms our bodies, can be so widely available.
So, what are the short-term effects of alcohol on our body?
- A sense of euphoria
- Feeling relaxed or drowsy
- Lowered inhibitions
- Changes in mood
- Impulsive behavior
- Slowed or slurred speech
- Nausea and vomiting
- Diarrhea
- Loss of coordination
- Changes in hearing and vision
- Loss of consciousness or gaps in your memory, known as blackouts
While none of these effects may seem “life-threatening” per se, alcohol can lead to someone making poor decisions in the heat of the moment, such as having unprotected sex with a stranger, which leads to a sexually transmitted disease, getting behind the wheel of a motor vehicle and causing an accident, or falling over and hitting your head. Poor decision-making can certainly lead to long-term problems.
Even if you’re someone that’s responsible and uses ride shares or doesn’t give into impulsive thinking, alcohol is slowly damaging your body from your esophagus down to your colon. Let’s examine those impacts below.
What Is Alcohol Doing to My Body in the Long-Term?
Drinking too much alcohol will eventually cause significant problems. If you drink regularly for prolonged periods, it’s not a matter of if, but rather, when will these problems manifest into something serious. Here is a list of long-term effects of alcohol on your body:
- Insomnia and other sleep problems
- Changes in mood, such as anxiety and irritability
- Changes in libido and the ability to function sexually
- A weakened immune system, causing you to get sick more often
- Changes in your appetite, causing either weight gain or weight loss
- Significant memory problems
- An inability to focus on tasks
- Problems with relationships
The easiest way to describe alcohol is that it’s poison – every time you consume it, it is tearing apart your organs. Let’s delve into its effects on your internal organs and body processes and potential issues it can lead to down the road.
Inflammatory Damage
We all know how important our liver is – it’s a vital organ and gland that carries out over 500 functions! You read that right, and its most important function is to break down food and convert it into energy. It also breaks down and removes toxins and harmful substances. Those who regularly drink alcohol interfere with this process and increase the risk of alcohol-related liver disease and chronic liver inflammation.
- Alcohol-related liver disease is a potentially deadly condition that causes toxins and waste to build up in your body.
- Chronic liver inflammation will eventually cause scarring of the liver, known as cirrhosis, which can lead to you needing a new liver or your death.
Digestive & Endocrine Gland Issues
Those who consume too much alcohol will eventually run into inflammation of their pancreas, causing a painful condition called pancreatitis. Pancreatitis has the potential to activate the release of pancreatic digestive enzymes that cause uncomfortable stomach pain. If you continue drinking, this can become a long-term condition that leads to severe complications.
Cardiovascular Problems
There is a clear link between regular alcohol consumption and cardiovascular problems. Over time, alcohol use will lead to high blood pressure. When you experience hypertension for a prolonged period, it puts additional stress on your heart and can cause cardiovascular disease (CVD), which increases your risk of heart attack and stroke.
Skeletal and Muscle Systems
Long-term alcohol consumption affects bone density, which leads to thinner bones and an increased risk of fractures if you fall over. It’s important to note that weakened bones also heal slower. Even in the short-term, alcohol can lead to cramping, muscle weakness, and atrophy.
Alcohol Can Cause Several Types of Cancer
One of the worst issues humans face is cancer. If you’re scared about something that is potentially incurable, miserable, and life-threatening, you might want to put the drink down. Alcohol raises your risk of getting several kinds of cancer, including the following:
- Mouth & throat cancer
- Voice box (larynx) cancer
- Liver cancer
- Esophagus cancer
- Colon & rectum cancer
- Breast cancer (in women)
According to the CDC, drinking three or more alcoholic drinks per day increases the risk of stomach and pancreatic cancers. Scientists have also found that alcohol increases the risk of prostate cancer. All alcoholic drinks are linked to cancer – the more you drink, the higher your risk.
I Can’t Stop Drinking – How Can Peace Valley Recovery Help?
We get it because we’ve been there. Those who treat addiction do so because we’ve been in your shoes and know that you can, in fact, get better. In most cases, it takes hitting rock bottom before seeking help, but if you’re concerned about the long-term physical effects of alcohol and the havoc it’s causing inside of your body, it’s time to reach out to someone who’s been where you are before it’s too late. Maybe you don’t seek help today, but now you know who to reach out to when you’re ready – and that’s Peace Valley Recovery. We’re looking forward to hearing from you. Here’s our number when you’re ready to learn more about our services: 215-780-1953.
