What Does A Few Drinks Do To You?  So for most of us one drink is very enjoyable, it’s refreshing and when it brings that first slight tingle in the face and that feeling of being more relaxed, it’s great. On the other hand, if it’s a quickly downed can of beer before you go into town, it can make you feel like you’re gonna chuck for the next hour and that’s not the greatest feeling.
 Drinking alcohol depends on so many things and if we all hold our hands up and be truthful, it’s not always that fantastic or enjoyable. So why do we do it? Well it often brings a great feeling especially when you are out and about with mates; it can bring you more to life by making you less shy and more talkative. It’s generally the pressure from friends and the need to fit in (see Peer Pressure article) that brings the drinks we don’t like, when we drink far too much, while drink in moderation is far better
So why is this? What causes us to act so differently? H ere comes the science bit…Alcohol is a central nervous system depressant…yes that’s right a depressant, it is a drug. This means it slows down the functioning of your central nervous system, changing your mood immediately, which is why the feelings of relaxation come over you, plus loss of inhibitions, and something called ‘biggobitis’ (only joking…but you do talk more). The part of the brain that controls your judgement is shut down by alcohol, which is why you change so quickly and drastically. It’s not just that though, every cell in the body, particularly in the heart, liver and brain, is affected.  This happens from just a few drinks or even just the one, it brings the initial euphoria and good feeling, however as the amount you drink increases it also affects your judgement and your reaction time. The central nervous system can’t carry the messages from you body to the brain as efficiently and it gets worse the more you drink.
As more alcohol enters your body the  more your reactions become sluggish and delayed as your physical co-ordination is affected, a common thing is delay in feeling pain, which is often a bit of a problem especially during drunken capers with shopping trolleys. As the amount you’re supping increases your speech, vision, balance and movement become drastically altered leading to slurring, blurring, falling and being incredibly slow. It also causes nutritional deficiencies as it destroys vitamins and minerals, which is probably why you’ll want to get a kebab or a burger afterwards.  Finally if you’ve had far too much, which is generally when you’ve been found by the police, after your mates have left you by the side of the road somewhere, the effects can be quite serious. All your bodily functions can be depressed, which can you lead to you passing out and even falling into a coma, in extreme circumstances, even death can occur. You should also watch out in these situations for people being sick, as someone in this state can choke on their own puke.
While the affects last a long time if you’ve drunken the bar literally dry, the other effects of drinking mentioned are not permanent and decrease as the body gets rid of the alcohol.  It is the liver, which has the job of breaking down and getting rid of the alcohol from the body. It is breaking it down while you’re drinking, hence the need for a piss every 5 minutes and also after you’ve stopped drinking. The liver gets rid of one unit of alcohol per hour, which is half a pint, half a glass of wine, half a bottle of Smirnoff Ice or half a shot of spirit. So if you’ve had a few the night before, you could still have alcohol in you the next morning, which could still affect you in the ways mentioned.
Then there are the hangovers, which come about because the liver is unable to detoxify all the alcohol in your system and produces a toxic substance, which give you headaches, feelings of nausea etc.  So there you have it, that’s what the scientists will say alcohol does to you and why. It’s important to remember the more you drink, the more you need to drink to get the same effect, so without being patronising…take it steady, it’s always more enjoyable, you know what you’re doing and you’re not going to make an ass of yourself.
If you or anybody you know are having problems with alcohol try the following places for help and support @ the Addictions Links Page. Read:
by ChrisM
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How Alcohol can affect the body in the long term