What Are the Effects of Alcohol to Your Brain and Body? Here’s What the Experts Are Saying:
With the weather warming up, it typically calls for more social time with friends and family, more time soaking in the sun, and more traveling. Alongside these social events, alcohol tends to tag along. Being around alcohol and maybe feeling the effects of alcohol yourself, you may have wondered what is truly happening to your body as you sip on a margarita at the beach, a dirty martini at dinner, or a beer around the campfire.
There has been a lot of noise amongst experts and researchers on the effects of alcohol on health, longevity, and aging. In this blog, I’m going to cover some of what is being reviewed and covered in the case of alcohol’s effect on the brain, body, gut, mental health, and sleep.
Experts:
Andrew Huberman: Huberman Lab podcast
Episode title: What Alcohol Does to Your Body, Brain & Health
Rhonda Patrick: Found My Fitness podcast
Episode title: The Truth About Alcohol: Risks, Benefits, and Everything In-Between
Alcohol as a Toxin to the Body
There are three types of alcohol, with only one (ethanol) safe for human consumption. The chemical structure of ethanol allows it to be both fat and water-soluble, meaning it can pass through all the cells and tissues of the body.
In order for our bodies to process ethanol, it needs to be converted into something else. With the help of the molecule NAD, most prominently found in the liver, ethanol is converted to acetaldehyde and eventually into acetate.
As the body needs to undergo this conversion rapidly to prevent toxic buildup, this process and production cause cellular damage and high stress to all parts of the body, particularly the liver.
The liver gets its headline debut as being the most important organ for processing alcohol (for good reason), but below are the other vital systems and functions the liver performs:
Detoxification: Breaks down harmful and toxic substances (like alcohol)
Digestion: Metabolizes carbohydrates, fats, and proteins for fuel
Supports hormone health: Helps eliminate excess hormones, especially estrogen
Supports the immune system: Filters pathogens and stops them from entering our gut and from interfering with our gut microbiome
Supports stable blood sugar levels: When we undergo blood sugar spikes, excess glucose is stored in the liver in the form of glycogen. Our liver also releases stored glucose when blood sugar is too low.
To read more about the liver as a powerhouse organ, read my previous blog, “Here’s Why You Should Love Your Liver.”
How the Brain is Affected
As mentioned above, our bodies need to convert ethanol into acetaldehyde to acetate in order for our bodies to process the toxin. Remember, alcohol is fat and water soluble, so some of the acetaldehyde and acetate are crossing the prominent and monstrously important blood-brain barrier (BBB). Think of the blood-brain barrier as a border of specialized cells that block out toxins and pathogens to protect the brain.
Although alcohol does not discriminate against a particular area of the brain, it has been shown to favor certain regions of the brain, particularly areas involving behavior, thinking, and planning. It’s commonly known to suppress these regions, leading to impulsive behavior.
When these regions begin to shut down, GABA, an inhibitory neurotransmitter known to act as the brain’s natural “brake system,” is released. Naturally occurring in the body, GABA aids the central nervous system by calming brain activity and reducing anxiety. When GABA is released in the case of inebriation, it involves bodily swaying, slurred speech, and not thinking clearly.
Mental Health
As GABA stimulates overall feelings of calmness, many individuals turn to alcohol as a relief from anxiety and for a boost of serotonin. As alcohol wears off, however, anxiety and serotonin levels return to baseline, with the risk of greatly increasing anxiety. This has come to be named “hangxiety.”
In order to mitigate feelings of anxiety in the short term during a drinking occurrence, many choose to continue drinking. This has been found to be a myth among researchers studying alcohol’s effect on the brain, as serotonergic circuits involved in mood do not reach the same hyper active state as they do when you first start drinking.
A study found that individuals who struggle with social anxiety tend to experience more hangxiety after a night of drinking in comparison to individuals who report not feeling socially anxious.
Gut-Brain Axis
In continuing how the brain is impacted by alcohol, let’s involve the gut! Alcohol demonstrates its detriment to the gut microbiome by killing the “good” bacteria and strengthening the “bad” bacteria. This increase of “bad” bacteria and not enough of the “good” can lead to leaky gut, where gut bacteria and other toxins leave the gut and migrate to other organs in the body. This infiltration of bacteria is highly toxic to organs, tissues, and the bloodstream and has been linked to chronic diseases.
Our gut holds the power to influence our brain’s function and behavior! It has led researchers to speculate that the activity and health of the gut microbiome may be directly correlated to the likelihood of developing and upholding alcohol and substance abuse disorders.
Alcohol and Sleep
There’s no other way to say this: alcohol greatly impacts sleep. The extent to which your sleep would be affected can vary based on many factors, such as how much you drink, when your last drink was, if you ate anything before you started drinking, and if you are well-hydrated.
Across the board, drinking alcohol tends to demonstrate that it negatively impacts REM sleep and increases slow-wave sleep, which leads to affecting other stages of sleep.
To read more about the stages of sleep, read my previous article, “How Much Sleep Do You Actually Need?”
How to Support Your Overall Health if You Choose to Drink
Stay hydrated
It’s best if you drink electrolytes in order to replenish cells
Stop consuming alcohol 3-4 hours before bedtime
Eat before consuming alcohol
Eating a balanced plate of carbohydrates, proteins, and fats
Supplementing with magnesium glycinate as it is highly bioavailable and used to reduce anxiety and improve sleep quality.
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