About Alcohol's Effects on the Body

Here are a few of the "highlights" we all would hope to avoid.

For a more complete list review the information on the health department pages at Santiago Canyon College.

The Brain

Drinker experiences mild euphoria and loss of inhibition as alcohol impairs regions of the brain controlling behavior and emotion. Alcohol impairs judgment, memory, concentration and co-ordination; as well as inducing extreme mood swings and emotional outbursts.

Alcohol acts as a sedative on the Central Nervous System, depressing the nerve cells in the brain, dulling, altering and damaging their ability to respond. Large doses cause sleep, anesthesia, respiratory failure, coma and death.

Long term drinking may result in permanent brain damage, serious mental disorders and addiction to alcohol.

Steady drinking over many years leads to permanent changes in the brain. One of the permanent effects of alcohol on the brain is to reduce the amount of brain tissue and to increase the size of the ventricles instead. Another way in which alcoholic drinks affect the brain is through depriving it of food substances such as vitamins. This is because heavy drinkers often neglect their diet, which can lead to vitamin deficiencies. Thiamine, one of the 'B' vitamins is most commonly missing from the diet and can lead to serious mental disturbance.

Impaired visual ability, Altered sense of time and space, Impaired fine motor skills, Loss of pain perception, Unclear hearing, Slows reactions, Dulled smell and taste, Impaired sexual performance.

The Heart

The heart can be affected by the vitamin deficiencies caused by a neglected diet. The pumping action of the heart is weakened and heart failure can result from this.

The Liver

Some of the most serious effects on the body of drinking alcoholic drinks are caused by damage done to the liver by alcohol. If alcohol is frequently in the blood in large amounts, it causes the liver cells to die and prevents the liver from working efficiently. This disease is called Cirrhosis. In the case of a generally healthy person, if alcohol is taken infrequently or only in moderate amounts, any damaged liver tissue has time to repair itself.

Chromic heavy drinking may cause alcoholic hepatitis (inflammation and destruction of the liver cells) and then cirrhoses (irreversible lesions, scarring and destruction of liver cells). Impairs the liver's ability to remove yellow pigment and skin appears yellow (Jaundice). Liver damage causes fluid to build in extremities (Edema). Decreases production of blood-clotting factors; may cause uncontrolled bleeding. Liver accumulates fat which can cause liver failure, coma and death.

Reproductive Organs

Your sex life can be harmed by drinking alcoholic drinks. Alcohol depresses nerve impulses. In men, it can depress those which cause erections. In women, heavy drinking during pregnancy can harm the fetus. The baby, when it is born, may be very small and could have reduced intelligence and facial deformities. This condition is called Fetal Alcohol Syndrome and babies born to mothers with an alcohol problem are at a high risk of suffering from this.

Sexual functioning can be impaired and deteriorate, resulting in impotence and infertility, sometimes irreversible. Females also have high risk of developing breast cancer.

Pregnancy & Unborn Babies

Drinking during pregnancy significantly increases the chance of delivering a baby with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, small head, possible brain damage, abnormal facial features, poor muscle tone, speech and sleep disorders and retarded growth and development.