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Topics: Health, Food and Drink, Alcohol
Bec Oakes
Topics: Health, Food and Drink, Alcohol
We all know that too much booze on a night out can leave you with a killer hangover, but experts warn that it can lead to far more serious issues than a headache and feeling sick.
Depending on how much you drink, alcohol can have some really pronounced effects, with too many drinks often leading to damage to a whole array of our organs and bodily functions.
And, while a glass of wine or pint of beer on a Friday night might seem harmless, it's important that we understand what any amount of alcohol can do to our bodies.
Here are five ways it may be messing with your health.
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Many of us will be familiar with the impact booze has on our mental capacity, impairing both our decision making and motor skills and leading to some pretty embarrassing consequences.
This is because alcohol affects the pathways and neurotransmitters in the brain, resulting in changes to our mood, behaviour, memory and coordination.
As for in the long term, Kim Goldin, senior GP and health assessment doctor at Nuffield Health, told the Independent: "It can result in a build-up of toxins in the brain and poor absorption of certain vitamins and minerals, such as magnesium and thiamine."
And the long-term effects of drinking on the liver can be pretty harrowing.
Your liver is a very resilient organ but every time you drink alcohol some of the cells inside it die and need to be replaced with newly regenerated ones.
According to the NHS, your liver will happily process about one unit of alcohol per hour, but drinking too much can cause some pretty serious damage.
This can lead to health issues such as cirrhosis, fibrosis, hepatitis and liver cancer.
Drinking can also cause a whole host of heart issues including increased blood pressure, an irregular heartbeat and weakened heart muscles.
This can lead to some pretty serious problems like high blood pressure, stroke, heart failure and cardiomyopathy - a group of diseases which affect the heart muscle and its ability to pump blood effectively, according to the British Heart Foundation.
And, because alcohol can also make you to put on weight, which puts more pressure on your heart, your risk of heart failure or a stroke becomes even higher.
Ever wondered why you need to keep running to the bathroom after a night of heavy drinking? This because alcohol can cause gastritis - an inflammation of the stomach lining that leads to symptoms such as abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting and loss of appetite.
GP, Dr Donald Grant notes: "Long-term drinking can lead to more serious issues such as pancreatitis or increase the risk of stomach and colon cancer."
And, having too much to drink can also weaken your immune system, putting you at risk of catching all sorts of diseases.
According to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, those who drink a lot are more likely to get sick while going on a binge can seriously hamper your immune system for up to 24 hours.