Alcohol is a drug that slows down the brain and nervous system.

Drinking a small amount is not harmful for most people, but regular drinking of a lot of alcohol can cause health, personal and social problems.

What are the effects of alcohol?

The effects of alcohol differ from person to person, depending on:

• how much you drink
• how quickly you drink it
• your size and weight
• whether you are male or female
• how good your general health is
• how healthy your liver is
• where you drink
• whether you drink alone
• whether you use alcohol with other drugs

What are the immediate effects?

Alcohol slows down the messages sent between the brain and the rest of the body. This can make you:

• relax
• feel good
• do or say things you normally wouldn't
• feel dizzy
• have bad balance
• have trouble controlling how you move (bad coordination)
• react slowly
• have blurred vision (not see clearly)
• slur your words (not speak clearly)
• get angry
• vomit

Drinking a lot in a short time can cause:

• a hangover
• headaches
• nausea
• shakiness
• vomiting
• passing out
• stopping breathing (rare)

Because alcohol affects sight and co-ordination, drinking often causes accidents - especially car crashes and drownings.

What are the long-term effects?

Drinking a lot of alcohol regularly over time is likely to cause physical, emotional or social problems.

These can include:

• poor diet
• stomach problems
• frequent infections
• skin problems
• liver and brain damage
• damage to reproductive organs
• memory loss/confusion
• heart and blood disorder
• depression
• relationship problems
• work problems
• money or legal troubles

Damage to some body organs can be permanent.

Women and alcohol

Doctors suggest that women should drink less than men. This is because women's body tissue absorbs higher concentration of alcohol than men's.

Women often:

• get drunk more quickly than men;
• recover from drinking more slowly than men;
• go over the legal driving limit more quickly than men.

Tolerence and dependence

Anyone can develop a 'tolerance' to alcohol. Tolerance means that you must drink more to feel the same effects you used to have with lower amounts.

'Dependence' on alcohol means that it takes up much of your thoughts, emotions and activities. Not all people who drink are dependent.

Dependent people find it very difficult to stop or reduce drinking. This is because of withdrawal. Withdrawal symptoms include:

• anxiety
• sweating
• shaking
• vomiting
• fits
• hallucinations (seeing or hearing things)

Mixing alcohol with other drugs

Using alcohol at the same time as any other drug can be dangerous. This includes drinking alcohol while using medicines from the chemist or doctor. One drug can make the negative effects of the other even worse. Alcohol can also stop medicines from working properly.

Mixing alcohol with other drugs that slow down the body (e.g. sleeping pills, heroin, marijuana) can:

• make it harder think clearly
• make it harder to properly control how you move
• stop your breathing and cause death 

Alcohol and pregnancy

Regular drinking of any alcohol during pregnancy can cause problems for both the mother and the baby. Drinking a lot can lead to losing the baby before it is born or the baby being born with foetal alcohol syndrome (slow growth before and after birth, and mental disabilities). Doctors do not think that pregnant women or women trying to get pregnant should drink alcohol at all.

Source: Drug and Alcohol - NSW Department of Health