BAC is 15%. Eight to ten drinks, per hour, affects limbic system, heart and respiratory rate, and all of the above. BAC is 40%. More than twelve drinks, in an hour, it affects the central core of your brain, body, temperature, and all of the above. This many beers or liquor drinks can cause a serious coma or even death. BAC is at 50%. .
Drinking alcohol affects the brain, liver, heart, pancreas, sex hormones, kidneys, and lungs. As you can see, there is a lot alcohol can damage. Areas affected in the brain are memory, judgment, insight, behavior, problem, solving, coordination, and understanding pleasure or pain. Alcohol is a central nervous system depressant- it slows down the body's functions and its effects are similar to those of a general anesthetic. More technically, all brain functions are communications among nerve cells in the brain. The places where nerves cells join generally have microscopic gaps called synapses. Chemicals called neurotransmitters do communications between nerve cells across these gaps. After these chemicals cross the gaps they activate the receiving nerve cell at a site specific to the type of chemical that crossed the gap. Activation causes a change in the receiving nerve cell. This change may increase or decrease in the nerve cell's responsiveness to more activation. The process of converting messages from one nerve cell into changes within another nerve cell is called signal transduction. Alcohol may produce some of its effects by interfering with signal transduction. The brain's long-lasting adaptations to alcohol may be, in part, due to changes in gene function. Genes direct the making of proteins. By influencing gene function, alcohol may alter the structure and function of specific sites on the nerve cell that have roles in intoxication, reinforcement, and physical dependence. Alcohol's effects on genes may also alter proteins involved in signal transduction.
