Alcohol, also known in the medical field as ethanol, is a significant influencing drug impacting human behavior and body functions in a variety of ways. Modern research has produced intriguing documentation stating that medicinal and low alcohol consumption may actually have a level of benefit to the body. In fact, many medications contain some degree of alcohol to calm the nerves and to preserve the integrity of the ingredients.

Interestingly, much research and effort has gone into understanding the relationship between the actual physical effects and the expected effects of alcohol consumption. For instance, it has been noted that people can feel euphoric and giddy just by thinking about going to the bar after work starting the chemical process in the brain to send out hormone messengers even before a drink is actually consumed. It causes a physical reaction to occur prior to the body being exposed to the brew. This is due, in part, to a memory of past episodes where drinking, excitement and a lowering of inhibitions are associated with a really good time. The anticipation of getting loaded is sometimes enough to make the body feel as though it truly is slightly tipsy. The physical effects of alcohol can also lead to severe cravings in chronic alcohol abusers, contributing to continued alcoholism.

Alcohol induced physical effects will vary from person to person depending on many factors such as body weight, age, gender, amount consumed, time frame in which alcohol was consumed and level of tolerance to the ethanol. Overall, alcohol acts as a depressant on the central nervous system causing a breakdown of message transmission between the brain and the body. Body functions and responses begin to slow down and reflexes become lax and awkward. With one drink there is a mild sense of relaxation, pleasure and sometimes elation with a decrease in judgment while heart and breathing patterns increase. A little bit more may result in body systems being sedated, impaired coordination, decrease in muscle strength, dulling of reactions and alertness, patience level declines and anxiety and depression increase. Up the intake even more and the body may begin to retaliate with vomiting in an attempt to eliminate the internal alcohol level before it becomes dangerous. At this point slurred speech, staggering and falling usually occur. As the body approaches the point of toxic blood alcohol levels the person is shut down as means of self-preservation. A non-responsive stupor with loss of consciousness can take place with an effect similar to that of anesthesia received for surgery. If the blood alcohol is too great, the individual may stop breathing and death is the end result. Alcohol rehab centers watch an individual very closely during the detoxification process.

Liver and kidney damage rank high amongst the detrimental side effects of alcohol abuse especially over long periods of time. Hypoglycemia is often associated with alcohol ingestion as the ethanol encourages the pancreas to produce more insulin while discouraging the liver to create glucose. This can be a serious conflict of chemical interests. Drinking increases internal body temperature loss while giving the impression that the person is feeling warmed. Thus, an individual could literally be feeling warmer yet freeze to death.

Of all the physical effects on the body produced by alcohol intake, none is a greater myth then in the area of sexual performance. Due to the reduction of self-consciousness, embarrassment and inhibitions, those who have been consuming tend to find themselves and others far more attractive than they would under normal circumstances. They are also more likely to participate in sexual activities that they would otherwise find unappealing leading to a variety of problems to follow. But the belief that getting buzzed will improve a person’s sexual function is anything but true. As all reflexes are reduced in the body, so is the ability to become erect and to remain that way for an extended period of time. William Shakespeare once said that drinking “provokes the desire, but it takes away the performance.”