How can alcohol affect your mental health?

Brain chemistry - Alcohol affects the chemistry of the brain, increasing the risk of depression, panic disorder and impulsive behaviour . Hangovers - If you have a hangover, it can make you feel ill, anxious and jittery. If this happens all the time, it can have a negative effect on your mental health.

What does alcohol do to your body?

Like all drugs, alcohol can damage your body, especially if you drink heavily every day or in binges. Potential short-term effects of alcohol include hangover and alcohol poisoning, as well as falls and accidents, conflict, lowered inhibitions and risky behaviours .

What are three parts of the brain affected by alcohol?

This level of intoxication affects the occipital lobe, temporal lobe and frontal lobe in your brain. Drinking too much can cause side effects specific to each lobe's role, including blurred vision, slurred speech and hearing, and lack of control, respectively.

Which behavior is most likely to indicate alcohol abuse?

Signs and symptoms may include: Being unable to limit the amount of alcohol you drink. Wanting to cut down on how much you drink or making unsuccessful attempts to do so. Spending a lot of time drinking, getting alcohol or recovering from alcohol use. Feeling a strong craving or urge to drink alcohol. More items... May 18, 2022

What does alcohol do to your brain over time?

Alcohol interferes with the brain's communication pathways and can affect the way the brain looks and works . Alcohol makes it harder for the brain areas controlling balance, memory, speech, and judgment to do their jobs, resulting in a higher likelihood of injuries and other negative outcomes.

How many years of drinking is bad?

No "safe" drinking level The type of illnesses you can develop after 10 to 20 years of regularly drinking more than 14 units a week include: mouth cancer, throat cancer and breast cancer. stroke. heart disease.

Is drinking alcohol every day bad?

According to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, drinking is considered to be in the moderate or low-risk range for women at no more than three drinks in any one day and no more than seven drinks per week . For men, it is no more than four drinks a day and no more than 14 drinks per week.

How does alcohol affect mental capacity?

The effects of alcohol are temporary and for the purpose of determining a person's mental capacity, a person will not be assessed whilst they are intoxicated . There are some individuals, however, that are dependant on alcohol and that dependency may affect the determination of a person's mental capacity.

Does alcohol impact anxiety?

Drinking alcohol may temporarily reduce your worries, lower your stress levels and take your mind off any troubles. However, excessive drinking can lead to increased anxiety the next day : a phenomenon that's become known as 'hangxiety'. It can also make any existing anxiety worse in the long run.

How can alcohol affect your health and wellbeing?

Organs known to be damaged by long-term alcohol misuse include the brain and nervous system, heart, liver and pancreas. Heavy drinking can also increase your blood pressure and blood cholesterol levels , both of which are major risk factors for heart attacks and strokes.

Does alcohol make stress worse?

While it may make you feel better initially, drinking alcohol regularly can actually make stress and anxiety worse . Here, I explain how alcohol affects your mental health, and share other healthier ways to relax at the end of a long and busy day.

How alcohol abuse affects your brain (2024)

Author: Brad Lander, PhD

Topics:

Health and Wellness
Addiction
Neurological Institute

March 16, 2021

Alcohol abuse can cause many adverse effects to your brain and body. Here’s what you need to know about the damaging effects of alcohol abuse.

What can alcohol abuse do to the brain?

Alcohol is an irritant to all body tissue, from where it comes in to where it goes out. Alcohol does kill brain cells. Some of those cells can be regenerated over time. In the meantime, the existing nerve cells branch out to compensate for the lost functions. This damage may be permanent. Moreover, after a certain age, the connections between neurons begin to prune back. In a brain damaged by alcohol, we may see early-onset dementia.

Age makes a difference. The brain is developing until about age 26. This is especially true between the ages of 13 and 26, when there’s explosive growth in the prefrontal cortex. People that start drinking heavily at this time are more prone to cognitive problems like impulsivity, emotional dysregulation, anxiety and depression.

How harmful is binge drinking?

Binge drinking is defined by The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism as drinking to a blood alcohol level to .08% or above. This typically happens when men consume five or more drinks or women consume four or more drinks in about two hours.

The immediate consequences of binge drinking include:

Upset stomach and vomiting
Headaches
Breathing difficulties
Rapid/irregular heartbeat, increased blood pressure
Distorted vision and hearing
Decreased perception and coordination
Blackouts (memory lapses)
Decreased sexual performance
Dehydration
Dangerous interaction with some prescribed and over-the-counter medications
Fatal alcohol poisoning

Behavioral consequences include:

Accidents due to problems with balance and slowed reaction times
Social consequences related to impaired judgment
Damaged relationships
Imprudent sexual encounters
Assault
Law enforcement involvement

What are the long-term effects of alcohol abuse on the brain?

There are numerous long-term effects of alcohol abuse on the brain. These include a decrease in motor skills, both short-term and long-term memory loss, anxiety, depression, irritability and insomnia.

What are long-term effects of alcohol abuse on the rest of the body?

Alcohol abuse also affects the rest of the body. Alcohol abuse can lead to heart damage like stroke, arrhythmia and high blood pressure. It can also cause inflammation of the panaceas and liver, including fatty liver, hepatitis and cirrhosis. Abuse of alcohol can cause cancer. In 2009, 3.5 % of all cancer deaths in the United States were alcohol related. It’s now more important than ever to have a healthy immune system, and alcohol abuse can suppress the immune system.

Is there any way to reverse the effects?

Many of the effects of heavy alcohol use are reversible, or can at least be significantly improved. The first step is to stop drinking. While many binge alcohol users aren’t alcoholics, they need to stop doing the thing that’s causing the damage. Professionals such as internists, neurologists, addiction specialists, dietitians, psychiatrists, cardiologists, physical therapists and others can all help the recovery process.

It’s important to know the human body can handle moderate levels of alcohol without any problems. We see the problems arise with heavy use. According to the US Dietary Guidelines, people should limit drinking to one serving of alcohol per day for women and up to two servings per day for men.

Brad Lander is a clinical psychologist and addiction medicine specialist at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center.

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