Drinking alcohol affects your body both in the short and long term.
When most people think about the negative impact’s alcohol has on your health, they might think about a hangover.
However, drinking alcohol on a regular basis has a much more serious impact on your health than just a two-day hangover.
Excessive drinking includes drinking on a regular basis as well as binge drinking. Binge drinking is the most common form of excessive drinking.
It is defined as drinking 4 or more drinks on a single occasion for a woman, and 5 or more drinks on a single occasion for a man.
Whilst everyone’s intolerance to alcohol is different, most people will certainly be feeling the effects of their alcohol consumption after these many drinks.
Heavy drinking is defined as drinking 8 or more drinks each week if you are a female and 15 or more drinks each week if you are a male.
If you are classed as a heavy drinker, you might not be dependent on alcohol or classified as an alcoholic or as alcohol dependent [1].
However, drinking heavily or binge drinking will certainly have a negative impact on your health, both in the long and short term.
Below is a list of some of the short and long term health risks drinking alcohol on a regular basis, binge drinking and drinking heavily will have on your health.
Excessive alcohol use has a whole host of short-term health risks.
Usually, binge drinking leads to a range of different short term health issues and effects, some of which are listed below for you:
As you can see, there are a whole host of short term risks and health issues associated with drinking excessively or binge drinking, not to mention the hangover.
Below is more information on why we experience hangovers, and how they might be more of a health risk than you might initially think.
Most of us have experienced hangovers and never want to again. A hangover is a set of unpleasant symptoms that usually follow a heavy drinking session.
The more you drink, the more likely you are to experience a hangover.
Depending on your tolerance, you might be able to drink a considerable amount before you experience a hangover, whereas others only need to drink a unit or two before they wake up with a hangover.
How badly you experience hangovers depends on how quickly your body is able to metabolise alcohol.
Below are some of the symptoms associated to being hungover:
Most hangovers will only last for a day or so, depending on how fast your body is able to metabolise the alcohol you have confused. Typically, the older you are, then the longer your hangover will last.
Hangovers will ease over time, and there are a number of things that you can do to ease your symptoms such as drinking water slowly, eating small amounts of food and taking pain relievers, such as paracetamol to help with any pain or headaches.
In addition to a whole host of short term effects and risks on the body, there are a number of long term health risks associated with drinking alcohol.
Overtime, drinking alcohol on a regular basis can lead to chronic diseases and other very serious health issues. Some of which are discussed below:
It is important to understand that those who suffer from a dependence on alcohol will also suffer from withdrawal symptoms when they stop consuming alcohol.
The worse the addiction issues, the worse the withdrawal symptoms will be. These symptoms include tremors, depression, agitation, anxiety and flu-like symptoms.
With each withdrawal, the brain and nervous system becomes increasingly more sensitised, meaning that your symptoms will get worse.
This is called the Kindling Effect [2,8]. This is why it is important to manage your withdrawal symptoms properly.
A study carried out by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) [9] found that there is strong evidence linking excessive alcohol use and different types of cancer.
In fact, the study found that even those who drink no more than one drink per day have a higher risk of developing cancer than those who do not [8].
Below is a list of the different types of cancer associated with excessive alcohol consumption:
Binge drinking on a regular basis is also associated to the above different types of cancers, which is why it is important to limit not only the amount you drink per week, but also the number of times throughout the month or year that you might binge drink.
Likewise, drinking alcohol excessively also leads to an increased risk of brain damage.
If you binge drink enough, you will notice that your behaviour becomes more erratic, you start to struggle with your memory and that your judgement might become impaired.
Likewise, drinking heavily can also potentially lead to permanent brain damage and mental health issues, which can have long term and even sometimes permanent damage on the brain.
Binge drinking on a regular basis and suffering from an addiction to alcohol can also lead to a range of mental health issues.
This includes mental health issues including depression, anxiety, increased risk of suicidal ideation, personality disorders and schizophrenia.
Likewise, drinking too much alcohol on a regular basis can also lead to sleep issues, including suffering from insomnia. This will only make any pre-existing mental health issues worse.
Drinking alcohol on a regular basis and particularly binge drinking can also lead to alcohol poisoning.
Signs and symptoms of alcohol poisoning also include confusion, being sick, experiencing seizures or fits, cold or clammy skin and drinking so much that you become unconscious.
Suffering from alcohol poisoning is very dangerous. If you believe that someone is suffering from alcohol poisoning, then you need to seek help immediately.
If you believe that you or someone you are with is suffering from alcohol poisoning, then call 999 immediately.
It is important that if someone is suffering from alcohol poisoning that you do not try to make them be sick. By doing so, they could choke on their own sick, which could end in very serious consequences.
If you are worried about your alcohol consumption and want to limit or reduce the effects of alcohol on your body, then there are a number of things that you can do.
One of the best ways to avoid these negative side effects is to manage the amount of alcohol you consume in the first place.
You can limit the amount of alcohol you consume by removing alcohol from your fridge at home, going out less or potentially starting new hobbies that do not involve drinking.
You could also try to keep a tab or diary, which highlights how much you have drank that week or month.
If you are unable to limit how much alcohol you consume, then you should try to manage how much you consume and drink steadily.
Below are some tips on how to avoid the negative side effects of drinking alcohol, specifically how to avoid getting a hangover the next day.
Whilst these might help, they are not necessarily all scientifically proven:
If you would like to reduce the long term effects of an alcohol addiction, such as mental health issues, then you will need to seek therapy or attend a rehab facility.
You can opt to attend either inpatient or outpatient rehab, depending on the severity of your addiction.
If you are struggling from an alcohol addiction or are worried about the effect and impact excessive alcohol use is having on your body, then speak to a member of the team at Rehab 4 Addiction.
Our team is on hand to offer you advice and support and will be able to recommend the very best rehab facilities for your type of addiction in your area.
Whilst our team can never tell you what to do or force you to attend rehab, we are always acting in your best interest and want to get you the help that you deserve.
[1] Esser MB, Hedden SL, Kanny D, Brewer RD, Gfroerer JC, Naimi TS. Prevalence of Alcohol Dependence Among US Adult Drinkers, 2009–2011. Prev Chronic Dis 2014;11:140329.
[2] World Health Organization. Global status report on alcohol and health—2018 external icon. Geneva, Switzerland: World Health Organization; 2018.
[3] Kanny D, Brewer RD, Mesnick JB, Paulozzi LJ, Naimi TS, Lu H. Vital Signs: Alcohol Poisoning Deaths — United States, 2010–2012. MMWR 2015;63:1238-1242.
[4] U.S. Department of Agriculture and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. 2020 – 2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans. 9th Edition, Washington, DC; 2020.
[5] Esser MB, Hedden SL, Kanny D, Brewer RD, Gfroerer JC, Naimi TS. Prevalence of Alcohol Dependence Among US Adult Drinkers, 2009–2011. Prev Chronic Dis 2014;11:140329.
[6] Smith GS, Branas CC, Miller TR. Fatal nontraffic injuries involving alcohol: a metaanalysis Ann of Emer Med 1999;33(6):659–668.
[7] Booth BM, Feng W. The impact of drinking and drinking consequences on short-term employment outcomes in at-risk drinkers in six southern states. J Behavioral Health Services and Research 2002;29(2):157–166.
[8] National Cancer Institute. Alcohol and Cancer Risks. https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/causes-prevention/risk/alcohol/alcohol-fact-sheet
[9] Becker HC. Kindling in alcohol withdrawal. Alcohol Health Res World. 1998;22(1):25-33. PMID: 15706729; PMCID: PMC6761822. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6761822/
Boris is our editor-in-chief at Rehab 4 Addiction. Boris is an addiction expert with more than 20 years in the field. His expertise covers a broad of topics relating to addiction, rehab and recovery. Boris is an addiction therapist and assists in the alcohol detox and rehab process. Boris has been featured on a variety of websites, including the BBC, Verywell Mind and Healthline. You can connect with Boris online at LinkedIn or X.com.
