Effects of Alcohol on your Body

Brain

Addiction

If you feel a regular need to drink, or you drink a fair amount every day, you may be addicted to alcohol or on the way there. People with high alcohol tolerance are especially vulnerable to alcohol dependency.

Depression

Drinking might cheer you up for a few hours but in the long term it is more likely to make you feel depressed. Alcohol changes the chemistry of the brain, increasing the risk of depression or contributing to making depression worse.

Memory

You may not normally drink enough to have a complete memory blackout, but alcohol – even in more sensible amounts – can affect your day-to-day memory. And the more you drink, the more you forget.

Inside your body

Mouth and throat

Regularly drinking more than the recommended amounts increases your risk of mouth and throat cancers between two- and fivefold. The risk of mouth cancer, if you also smoke, is even greater. Stopping drinking will bring these risks down.

Heart

Drinking more than the sensible limits can lead to high blood pressure and to serious heart problems. For example, drinking at higher risk levels increases the chances of suffering high blood pressure two- to fourfold.

Liver

Fatty liver is the first stage of liver damage but it is reversible. More serious conditions include alcohol hepatitis and liver cirrhosis. The risk of liver cirrhosis is increased in those drinking above lower risk levels between twofold and 13-fold (the latter figure is the risk for the higher risk drinkers).

Stomach

Gastritis is a condition where the stomach lining is inflamed. The symptoms are similar to the sick, nauseated feeling and stomach pains you get from a hangover.

Fertility

Alcohol can lead to 'brewer’s droop' in men(loss of erection during sex) and to reduced sexual performance. Intoxication can increase the risk of an unwanted pregnancy or sexually transmitted diseases. Excessive drinking also affects female fertility. Among other effects, it upsets vital hormones that affect reproductive function.

Bowel

Drinking increases your chance of developing bowel cancer.

On the outside

Skin

As alcohol is a diuretic, it dehydrates your body. It can also permanently enlarge blood vessels in your skin, leading to a permanent flush. And it aggravates conditions such as rosacea and psoriasis.

Breasts

Alcohol is not the main cause of breast cancer, but drinking alcohol does increase your risk of developing it. For those drinking above lower risk levels, the risk increases 1.2- to 1.6-fold.

Waist

If you have a healthy appetite and drink above recommended