What is alcohol?
Alcohol is a clear liquid made by fermenting or distilling grains, fruit or even some kinds of vegetables. The chemical name for the alcohol in beer, wine and liquor is ethyl alcohol or ethanol. In beverages, the pure alcohol is diluted with other ingredients.
What does alcohol do to the body?
Alcohol enters the bloodstream through the stomach and intestine. Once in the bloodstream, it is carried to other parts of the body quite quickly. In fact, it reaches the brain almost immediately. Alcohol stays in the body until it is broken down by the liver and eventually leaves the body through breath, sweat and urine.
How does what's happening inside the body show up on the outside?
The brain is the body's control centre, so alcohol has a big impact on the way we behave. The more alcohol in the blood, the greater the impact. Judgment, inhibitions, reaction time, co-ordination, vision, speech, balance, walking and standing are all affected by alcohol.
What does alcohol do to your mood?
Beer commercials always make it seem like drinking beer will make you feel great, but it’s hard to know how people will act after drinking alcohol. A lot depends on the person’s mood and where they are drinking. After a couple of drinks, one person might be more relaxed, another depressed, another more wild, another angry. In general, you'll feel more of what you were feeling before you started drinking. People who are depressed can feel even worse. Sometimes you will feel whatever you expect the alcohol to make you feel.
Is alcohol a drug?
Yes, and aside from the caffeine in coffee, it’s the most popular drug in your neighbourhood. About four out of five Albertans drink beer, wine or liquor. It is also the drug most commonly used by teens. According to a 2005 survey of Alberta students in grades 7 to 12, 63.4% of them had drunk alcohol at least once in the previous year.
So is alcohol an upper or a downer?
Definitely a downer. It might seem like alcohol makes people more relaxed, outgoing and active. But this is actually because alcohol is reducing the activity of the brain. Anything that lowers brain activity is a downer. This is why alcohol slows reaction time and leads to poor judgment when driving.
How much is one standard drink?
A drink is a drink is a drink. Brewing, fermenting or distilling grains and fruit produces alcohol, but no matter how it is produced, alcohol is alcohol is alcohol. It’s alcohol that makes people drunk and changes the way they act. Because of the different percentages of alcohol in beer, wine and distilled liquor, people commonly believe that some kinds of alcoholic beverages are safer, or don't get you drunk so fast.
In fact, there’s about the same amount of alcohol in a bottle of beer (341 ml/12 oz.) as there is in a glass of wine (142 ml/5 oz.) or a shot of whisky (43 ml/1.5 oz.).
Does switching your drinks—from beer to wine, for instance—make you drunker?
No. The thing that makes people drunk is alcohol. The type of drink makes no difference because whether it is in beer, wine or liquor, alcohol is alcohol is alcohol.
What is the fastest way to sober up?
There isn't one. Not cold showers, not black coffee, not any of the remedies people try. The only thing that will sober up a drinker is time, because the liver needs time to break down and eliminate the alcohol.
How long does it take to get rid of the effects of alcohol?
It can take up to two hours for the body to get rid of the effects of one drink (one beer, one glass of wine or a single shot of whisky). So even if you have one drink an hour, alcohol builds up in your blood because you’re drinking faster than your body is breaking down that alcohol.
Speaking of the effects of alcohol, just as there’s no remedy to sober up, there’s no cure for a hangover other than time. Think of it as your body's way of grounding you. And the more you drink, the longer you're going to be grounded.
What does blood alcohol concentration mean?
Blood alcohol concentration is a way of determining how drunk a person is by measuring how much alcohol is in their blood. Because people sometimes drink faster than their bodies can get rid of the alcohol, the alcohol builds up in their blood. The exact level of this buildup is known as the blood alcohol concentration or BAC.
Your first drink starts your BAC on its way up. By .12 BAC you may be nauseous and vomiting. At .15 you are walking and talking funny. At .30 you might pass out and at .40 you can even die. The legal limit for impaired driving is way back at .08.
Police use a Breathalyzer that measures the amount of alcohol in the breath and uses that information to produce a BAC reading. Breath mints might make your breath a little easier to stand, but they won't fool the Breathalyzer.
Is it dangerous to take other drugs with alcohol?
It is important to be very careful about mixing two kinds of drugs. Remember, alcohol is a drug, and some other drugs cause serious problems when used with alcohol. Don't mix alcohol with other drugs unless you know for sure what could happen. Street drugs (illegal drugs) are sometimes mixed with other substances, so you may not know what you are buying. If you don't know what you're buying, you can't be sure what will happen when you mix these street drugs with alcohol.
Sleeping pills and allergy medications are two types of legal drugs that can be dangerous—and in some cases fatal—when taken with alcohol.
What effect does eating food while drinking have on alcohol?
The first stop for both food and alcohol is the stomach. If you have food in your stomach, the alcohol won't get into your bloodstream as quickly as it would if you drank on an empty stomach. It’s always a good idea to serve snacks or meals at a party where people are drinking.
Does a person’s size matter to the effects of alcohol?
Yes. Our bodies are mostly water and the bigger the body, the more water it contains. Alcohol is diluted in water, and since big people's bodies have more water, these people tend to feel the effects of alcohol less.
Are there differences in how alcohol affects men and women?
Yes, but the differences are mostly in how much alcohol it takes to cause harmful effects, not in the effects themselves. Women tend to be smaller than men. A smaller body has less water to dilute alcohol, so even when a man and a woman drink the same amount, the alcohol will have more of an effect on the woman. This also means that women tend to suffer the long-term effects of heavy drinking (like liver, heart and brain damage) sooner than men.
What are some of the other long-term effects of heavy drinking?
Besides damaging the liver, heart and brain, heavy drinking can lead to loss of appetite, vitamin deficiencies, stomach trouble, skin problems, sexual problems and memory loss.
Can drinking alcohol be good for you?
Yes, but only if you’re an adult and only if you drink moderately. The benefits of moderate drinking may include a lower chance of developing some types of heart disease. But doctors normally don’t recommend drinking to get these benefits. Things like getting more exercise or quitting smoking will give the same benefits without the risks of drinking alcohol.
Is alcohol found in things other than beer, wine and liquor?
Yes, but this type of alcohol isn’t meant for drinking. Methyl alcohol is found in things like antifreeze, paint remover, lock de-icer and other household and industrial products. This type of alcohol is a poison and should never be drunk!
What are some of the differences between experienced and inexperienced drinkers?
Experienced drinkers are those who tend to drink more often and they generally develop a tolerance for alcohol. This means that the effects they once felt after, say, a drink or two, are not felt until they drink a larger amount of alcohol. Far from being a good thing, tolerance is a warning sign for addiction.
Inexperienced drinkers do not have this tolerance, so they get drunk quickly. They may also feel sick and throw up after drinking smaller amounts than regular drinkers.
What happens when pregnant women drink?
Alcohol can damage a developing baby's brain and body. This can result in a condition known as fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS). FAS is a disability that affects how a baby looks, thinks, acts and learns. FAS is a lifelong disability; its effects don’t go away as the baby grows into an adult.
Nobody knows how much alcohol is safe to drink during pregnancy, but we do know that the more alcohol consumed, the greater the risk of damage. No alcohol during pregnancy is best.
