The Impact of Alcohol on Physical Health

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.

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.

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.

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:

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.