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Alcohol and health. Appearance. hide. Alcohol (also known as ethanol) has a number of effects on health. Short-term effects of alcohol consumption include intoxication and dehydration. Long-term effects of alcohol include changes in the metabolism of the liver and brain, with increased risk of several types of cancer and alcohol use disorder. [ 1 ]
The pharmacology of ethanol involves both pharmacodynamics (how it affects the body) and pharmacokinetics (how the body processes it). In the body, ethanol primarily affects the central nervous system, acting as a depressant and causing sedation, relaxation, and decreased anxiety. The complete list of mechanisms remains an area of research, but ...
The level of ethanol consumption that minimizes the risk of disease, injury, and death is subject to some controversy. [16] Several studies have found a J-shaped relationship between alcohol consumption and health, [17] [18] [2] [19] meaning that risk is minimized at a certain (non-zero) consumption level, and drinking below or above this level increases risk, with the risk level of drinking a ...
Additional symptoms may occur. The short-term effects of alcohol consumption range from a decrease in anxiety and motor skills and euphoria at lower doses to intoxication (drunkenness), to stupor, unconsciousness, anterograde amnesia (memory "blackouts"), and central nervous system depression at higher doses. Cell membranes are highly permeable ...
Specifically, alcohol activates the HPA axis, causing glucocorticoid secretion and thus elevating levels of stress hormones in the body. Chronic exposure to these hormones results in an acceleration of the aging process, which is associated with "gradual, but often dramatic, changes over time in almost every physiological system in the human body.
Direct alcohol tolerance is largely dependent on body size. Large-bodied people will require more alcohol to reach insobriety than lightly built people. [4] The alcohol tolerance is also connected with activity of alcohol dehydrogenases (a group of enzymes responsible for the breakdown of alcohol) in the liver, and in the bloodstream.
Approximately one-third of all countries advocate for complete alcohol abstinence, while all nations impose upper limits on alcohol consumption. Their daily limits range from 10-48 g per day for both men women, and weekly limits range from 27-196 g/week for men and 27-140 g/week for women. The weekly limits are lower than the daily limits ...
The use of alcohol to self-medicate stress or anxiety can turn into alcoholism. [23] Someone with a parent or sibling with an alcohol use disorder is three to four times more likely to develop an alcohol use disorder themselves, but only a minority of them do. [4] Environmental factors include social, cultural and behavioral influences. [24]