About Alcohol

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NIAA Back to College Fact Sheet

What is Alcohol

Although alcohol affects all body organs, it is most often associated with the effect on nerve cells.  Alcohol inhibits neurotransmitters causing excitation and increases neurotransmitters that depress nerve responses.  Some areas of the brain are more sensitive to the content/level of alcohol in the blood (BAC) than others.  Acute alcohol effects on the mind and body include:

• loss if inhibition, talkative, increased self confidence
• decrease in ability to problem solve or make decisions
• decrease in sensory input, including sensitivity to pain
• exaggerated emotions
• decreased coordination
• potential memory impairment
• impairment of fine motor skills - for example, being unable without shaking  or jerky movements to touch tip of the nose with a finger when  your eyes are closed
• interference with normal sleep patterns and subsequent input of information into long term memory
• dehydration
• decrease in body temperature, breathing and hearth rates
• increased blood to skin causing sweating/flushing
• increased blood to stomach and intestines
• decreased blood to muscles

To calculate your BAC click here!

Effects of Alcohol on Your Body

What is BAC?
BAC stands for Blood Alcohol Content, and is the number of milligrams of alcohol per milliliter in your bloodstream.  In Pennsylvania, the legal definition of drunkenness is a BAC of 0.08.

If you are a 120 lb woman who drinks four drinks in one hour, you BAC will be 0.17.  If you are a 160 lb man who consumes 5 drinks in one hour, your BAC will be 0.14.  Of 100 people with a BAC greater than 0.4, statistics show that one will die. 

How does alcohol enter the bloodstream?
Alcohol will immediately be absorbed through the lining of your stomach and small intestine into the bloodstream.  However, two factors affect the rate at which alcohol passes into your blood.  If your drink is carbonated, the increased pressure in your stomach will force alcohol into your bloodstream faster; conversely, food in the stomach slows the absorption of alcohol by preventing it from going directly to the small intestine, where it would absorbed much faster.  Depending on gender, your liver can process about one ounce of alcohol each hour.  Excess alcohol remains in the blood stream, resulting in an increased blood alcohol content (BAC).  Ninety percent of the alcohol you ingest is metabolized, while the other 10% is excreted through urine and breathing.  Vomiting directly after consumption may prevent some alcohol from entering the blood stream, but waiting too long will do little to reduce BAC.

How much alcohol is in one drink?
Because different drinks contain varying amounts of pure alcohol, you should be aware of the proportion of alcohol in everything you drink.  A 12-ounce beer (5% alcohol by volume) has the same amount of alcohol as a 1.5 ounce shot of liquor (40% alcohol) or a 5 ounce glass of wine (13% alcohol).

Is it okay to drink while on medication?
No, taken before or while drinking, many medications will multiply the effects of alcohol on your body.  Aspirin and other drugs prevent the enzyme alcohol dehydrogenase (found in the stomach and liver) from breaking down alcohol, thus slowing the liver's ability to decrease BAC.  In other words, alcohol will accumulate in your blood faster and have longer lasting effects.  Women on birth control pills will process alcohol slower than other women, because the hormones in the pill and alcohol both rely on the liver for processing.

Why can't women drink as much as men?
Women possess a smaller quantity of the enzyme needed to break down alcohol (alcohol dehydrogenase), which means they metabolize alcohol at a slower rate than men.  Additionally, women are generally smaller, so ingesting the same amount of alcohol as a larger man will produce a higher BAC.

What are the long term effects of heavy drinking?
There are many serious health complications that can arise from excessive drinking.  You may develop neurological problems, including impaired motor skills, deterioration of vision, seizures, and permanent brain damage.  Long-term heavy drinking will also affect the heart, causing shortness of breath, enlarged heart and abnormal heart rhythm.  You will be more likely to develop mouth and throat cancer and to have high blood pressure, putting you at greater risk for stroke and heart attack.  Since alcohol is metabolized by your liver, you put yourself at risk for alcoholic fatty liver and cirrhosis of the liver.

Can I increase my tolerance by drinking more frequently?
Higher tolerance means you can ingest more alcohol without showing signs of intoxication.  If you drink frequently, you body will become accustomed to the effects of alcohol and you will not feel as drunk, but your BAC is not affected by tolerance and the alcohol still does the same damage to your liver and other organs.  Increasing your tolerance will lead you to drink more to get the same effects, leading to greater liver damage and other health complications. 

How can I cure a hangover?
Waking up after a night of drinking is never fun.  As part of a hangover, you are likely to experience a headache, body aches, fatigue, heartburn, nausea, and dehydration.  Nothing can truly cure a hangover except time (which will vary according to gender, size, weight, tolerance, medications taken, food consumption, dehydration, and rate alcohol consumption).  However,  you can lessen the symptoms by drinking lots of water to combat the dehydration caused by alcohol.  Be careful taking pain relievers!  Like alcohol, aspirin can irritate the lining of the stomach, increasing your chances of developing stomach ulcers.  Acetaminophen (e.g., Tylenol) is metabolized by the liver, and when combined with alcohol, can cause liver damage.  Thus, to avoid further damage to your body, resist taking medication for a hangover. 

To avoid suffering a hangover you should consider modifying your drinking habits.  Not only should you drink less, eat while drinking, alternate alcoholic drinks with juice or water, and space your drinks to allow your liver to keep up, but you should also consider what you are drinking.  Certain alcoholic drinks contain more congeners than others.  Congeners are natural by-products of alcohol fermentation, and may cause hangovers. 

Alcohol Poisoning

Known as alcohol poisoning or alcohol overdose,  it can lead to death because too much alcohol is in the blood. Most often this is caused by rapid ingestion of alcohol from chugging, funneling, drinking games or doing shots OR consuming drinks with a high percentage of alcohol. Even if a person passes out, the blood alcohol content, known as the BAC, can continue to rise because alcohol continues to be absorbed from the intestinal tract.

Symptoms

Symptoms include uncontrollable vomiting, a weak or irregular pulse, difficulty in breathing, unconsciousness or lack of responsiveness.

How to Avoid Danger While Drinking

• Set limits.  One way to make sure you do not drink to excess is to decide how many drinks your body can safely handle and do not exceed this limit during the course of the night.  Unfortunately, it is not always easy to keep track, especially when playing drinking games.  Such games may provide entertainment and a chance to feel included in a social group, but they contribute to excessive drinking.  The atmosphere created by drinking games is dangerous because it causes you to drink more than you would usually through peer pressure and rapid rate of consumption.  Chugging alcohol will delay awareness of how much alcohol is in your body because of the time it takes to raise your BAC.
• Eat a meal before you drink.  Food in the stomach will slow the entrance of alcohol into your bloodstream by preventing it from entering your small intestine which absorbs alcohol faster than the stomach.  High protein foods, like cheese, are best at slowing down the effects of alcohol, and thus help prevent a hangover.
• Steer clear of carbonation and shots.  The carbon dioxide of carbonated drinks, like beer and soda, increases the pressure in your stomach, forcing alcohol out through the lining of your stomach into the bloodstream.  The high concentration of alcohol in shots also means that your BAC will increase rapidly. 
• Alternate with non-alcoholic beverages.  Not only will this slow your consumption of alcohol, but it will also counter the dehydrating effects of alcohol.
• Don't combine alcohol with other drugs.  Alcohol's effects are heightened by medicines that depress the central nervous system, such as antihistamines, antidepressants, anti-anxiety drugs, and some painkillers.  Other drugs have harmful interactions with alcohol as well, so it is best to consult a physician before drinking while on medication.  The combination of illegal drugs and alcohol can also have adverse effects.
• Don't drink if you're suffering fatigue.  Exhaustion magnifies the effect of alcohol on the body.

Helping a Drunk Friend

What you do to help depends on the state of your friend.  Your friend doesn't have to be passed out or throwing up to need your help.  Other signs for concern:

• inability to maintain balance or eye contact
• slurred speech
• shortness of breath
• abnormal body temperature (either too hot or too cold)

If you observe any of these symptoms in your friend, but you're not sure whether to get medical help, err on the side of caution and call VEMS (610)519-4444 or 911.  If you don't believe it's necessary to seek medical attention, here's what you should do:

• Stop the person from drinking alcohol
• Find a quite place for the person to sit and relax (walking around is not the best idea if the person has lost coordination)
• Offer water, but remember that nothing except time can help a person "sober up"
• If your friend wants to lie down, make sure they lie on their side and place something behind their back to prevent them from rolling over
• Monitor your friend's breathing while she sleeps to make sure it is not abnormally shallow or slow

3 General Rules:

1. Don't leave your friend alone, even if the person is conscious.  Watch for signs of alcohol poisoning.
2. Don't assume that they will make it home safely.  The full effect of the alcohol may not have hit yet.  If they start to vomit, has lost motor coordination, or is no longer coherent, it may be necessary

              to seek medical attention.
        3. Don't assume an unconscious person is sleeping.  The individual may be suffering from alcohol poisoning.

How can you tell the difference between being passed out and alcohol poisoning?

1. You can't wake your friend, and observe that they have cold, clammy, or unusually pale or bluish skin
2. Slow or irregular breathing (less than 8 times a minute or at least 10 seconds between breaths)
3. The individual does not wake up during or after vomiting

How can you help?

If you observe any of the above, call VEMS (610)519-4444 or 911 immediately.  Continue efforts to wake your friend, make sure they are lying on their side to prevent choking on vomit, and closely monitor breathing.

For more information, http://www.aa.org. http://www.collegedrinkingprevention.gov/facts/

Information compiled from: McCosh Health Center & Howstuffworks.com