Effects Of Alcohol On The Brain And Body

Like any substance that gives people pleasure, alcohol affects the part of the brain responsible for reward and control. It is ranked the fifth most addictive substance. The immediate effect of consuming excessive alcohol is the sick feelings of hangover but that should be the least of your concern as it has other serious businesses with your brain and body organs. The motive of most people for consuming alcohol is to feel good. That is made possible by triggering the release of dopamine, the feel good hormone in the brain. Alcohol has effect on other areas of the brain. Not just the reward area but also affects the functioning of other neurotransmitters, chemical messengers such as serotonin, GABA, glutamate and the endorphins.
The brain in no time get used to 'the cheap and easy' reward it get from Alcohol intake and the 'threshold for feeling good' raised higher, regular alcohol consumers will need to drink more of alcohol to feel good. Right there, addiction sets in. The brain is obviously the organ of the body that 'reflects' immediate effect of excessive alcohol but it affects other organs of the body from top to down.

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How does Alcohol affect the brain?

Neurotransmitters are the chemical messengers that send signals throughout the brain, linking the numerous nerve cells in the brain.

The operations of these messengers is the reason humans behaviors and actions are coordinated and controlled. The first sign of drunkenness is uncontrollable and uncoordinated behaviors because normal operations of the brain have been tampered with. Lets take a look at how this alcohol destabilizes the work of the natural chemical messenger in the nervous system.

Alcohol is popularly regarded as depressant because it slows down the rate of brain's processing. Gamma-Aminobutyric Acid, GABA is the inhibitory neurotransmitter that delays signal in the brain which is important in controlled human's behaviour, alcohol triggers the release of this neurotransmitter in excess. Alcohol activating the GABA receptors meaning too much 'stop' neurons are activated and decease the rate of activities in some ares of the brain. Your energy and activities drop significantly after getting drunk. Everything seems calm and your become sluggish with slurred speech same as taking barbiturates and benzodiazophines, the reason it is always advised not take drugs such as valium and xanax with alcohol. Substances and drugs containing cannabidiol and opiods are also found to have depressant effects on the central nervous system which when taking excessive with too much alcohol can lead respiratory depression, lower blood pressure or heart rate or even death in the extreme.

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Also alcohol suppresses the release of another chemical messenger, glutamate, which is known as excitory neurotransmitter. This leads to tremendous reduction of neuro-activities, making the brain slow and less functional. Thinking rational becomes difficult, normal posture and movements become hard to maintain as you become clumsy.

The brain rewards you for an achievement, survival related behaviors/actions or doing something pleasurable by releasing a dopamine in the reward center.

This is where the good feelings come from. Substances like drugs and alcohol trick the brain into releasing dopamine in the reward pathway. Then you lose your inhibitions. A melancholic person suddenly becomes the life of the party. High and continuous release of dopamine by alcohol intake desensitizes the reward system, it now takes more than the previous' rewarding actions' to get dopamine released. Alcohol and related substances becomes more rewarding leading to depression. Now higher volume than before is needed to feel good, which ultimately leads to over consumption and addiction.

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What happens in the body

Once you take that gulp of liquor, it goes down to your stomach where about one-fifth is absorbed out of which some get into the blood stream early. The remaining found their way through the small intestine to the liver into your blood stream. The liver is only organ capable of metabolizing effectively about 15mg/dL per hour which is about one drink an hour. Intoxication, from accumulation of ethanol in the body set in once you pass this threshold. Two enzymes are responsible metabolizing alcohol in the liver - Alcohol dehydrogenase and aldehyde dehydrogenase.

The former, ADH also present in the stomach oxidizes the alcohol to Acetaldehyde, a toxic and cancer causing compound. The latter enzyme then metabolizes Acetaldehyde to acetic acid (vinegar), a less harmful compound which is broken down into CO2 and water.

The Liver works on alcohol immediately because it recognizes it as poisonous, this gives room for fatty acid to accumulate which can lead to damaged liver in alcoholics. The liver circulates the excess alcohol it can not metabolize to other parts of the body. Remember it can only handle about one bottle of beer or a glass of wine per hour.

On getting to the heart, alcohol lowers the blood pressure and relaxes the blood vessels. The heart transfers the blood mixed with alcohol to the lungs, which is where your alcohol-filled breathes come from. The lungs return the alcohol filled with blood back to the heart which pumps it to every part of your body including the brain and the skin which causes you sweat a lot or even smell of alcohol.

In the kidney where the amount of water in the body is been managed with the help of anti-diuretic hormone. Alcohol decreases the production of this hormone which reduce water re-absorption by the kidney and increase excretion of urine leading to dehydration of the body.

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Hangover

Of course the immediate effect of excessive alcohol consumption is hangover which comes in the form of headache, dizziness, fatigue, nausea, loss of appetite among others.

This effect of headache from hangover has been linked to excess acetaldehyde formed from alcohol and dehydration resulting from excess urination. Dehydration also leads to dry mouth thirsty and dizziness. Increase in Cytokines protein produced by hormonal cells that strengthen immune system and defend the body against diseases are highly suspected to contribute to fatigue and nausea. Alcohol is also likely to disturb the production of glucose in (source of energy for cells) the liver, leading to lack of energy and dizziness.

When is it too much?

Regular Over consumption of alcohol has too many negative and sometimes deadly effects on the vital organs of the body to be ignored. The compound, extended effect can also lead to alcohol poisoning, anemia, cirrhosis, heart failure, stomach and intestine problems. high blood pressure. Not mentioning social and physiological issues.The key is moderation. One or two bottle bottle every now and then should reduce the chance of these effects. Drink responsibly!

Thank you for reading

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