Many people all over the world enjoy drinking alcohol socially at parties, evening cocktails, with friends and sports events. While alcohol in moderation has several beneficial side effects, over-drinking can have some bad effects. We will be exploring the different effects and what they cause.
Alcohol, specifically ethyl alcohol (ethanol), is produced by fermenting the starch or sugar in various fruits and grains. Alcoholic beverages produced by fermentation and distillation includes beer (usually about 5% alcohol), wine (usually 12 to 15% alcohol), and hard liquor (which is about 45% alcohol). Alcohol passes quickly from your mouth into your stomach and small intestine, where it is absorbed into the bloodstream. It's then circulated through your liver and on to your heart, lungs and brain. .
The faster you absorb the alcohol, the higher your blood alcohol level will be, and the more alcohol in your blood, the greater its effect will be. Absorption is more rapid if you: drink quickly, add a fizzy mixer drink on an empty stomach, and are small, young or female. Your body is cleansed of all alcohol by your liver as the blood flows through. This is a slow process. Alcohol is eliminated from the body at about one unit (10ml) of alcohol per hour. So, the alcohol in one pint of ordinary strength lager will take two hours to pass out of your body. If you drink a lot in the evening you may still be over the limit in the morning. The effects of alcohol may appear within 10 minutes after consumption and peak at approximately 40 to 60 minutes.
Alcohol remains in the bloodstream until the liver breaks it down. If an individual consumes alcohol at a faster rate than the liver can break it down, the blood alcohol concentration level rises. When ingesting the same amount of alcohol as a man, a woman will have a higher blood alcohol concentration because of gender-related physiological differences.
As a central nervous system (CNS) depressant, alcohol depresses the respiratory (breathing) rate, heart rate, and the control mechanisms in the brain.