Alcohol can cause inflammation of your stomach liningĮver get diarrhoea with your hangover? Yep, you can blame alcohol for that one, too. It particularly affects your ability to make new long-term memories, which means you might “remember” what’s going on in the short-term while you’re drinking, like remembering that your friend has just arrived at the party, but those memories might not be there in the morning when they haven’t translated across to your long-term memory. If you’ve ever drunk so much that you’ve ‘blacked out’ and woken up the next day not knowing what you did the night before, you might think that the alcohol has made you forget what happened.īut alcohol doesn’t make your brain forget the memories it impedes its abilities to make new memories while you’re drunk. It stops you from creating memories (rather than making you forget) This is why it’s important to eat a meal before you start drinking, even though alcohol won’t be digested with your food. The rate at which your body absorbs alcohol depends on a number of factors, including your weight and body type and how much food is already in your stomach. Alcohol absorbs, but doesn’t digestĭid you know you don’t actually digest alcohol when you drink it? Instead, once hitting your stomach, it absorbs straight into your bloodstream. But it can also increase your chances of developing cancer of the mouth, throat, larynx or oesophagus.Įthanol, which is what alcohol is made of, isn’t carcinogenic in itself, but when your body metabolises it, it turns into acetaldehyde, which the International Agency for Research on Cancer lists as a Group 1 carcinogen to humans.įor further reading, Cancer Research UK has information about how alcohol can cause cancer. Many people know that drinking alcohol can raise your risk of cancers like liver, breast and bowel cancer. Drinking alcohol raises your risk of mouth, throat, larynx and oesophagus cancer
Lots of people drink to relax and rid themselves of worries or anxiety for a few hours, but if your hangover comes with a hefty dose of anxiousness, you might need to rethink this coping mechanism. This can lead to feelings of anxiousness and worry, and can be especially triggering if you have an anxiety disorder. Your hangover can trigger anxietyĪs your body gets alcohol out of your system, your blood sugar levels drop, which actually stresses your brain out. REM sleep is the sleep stage where you’ll often have vivid dreams or nightmares, which means when alcohol affects your REM it can bring on bad dreams.
You might think that alcohol makes you sleep better because it makes you drowsy, but it turns out alcohol actually lessens your sleep quality.Īlcohol disrupts your sleep cycle, and can interfere with your REM sleep. Alcohol makes you sleep badly and gives you nightmares If you’re feeling particularly sneezy, stuffy, wheezy or itchy after a night drinking, sulphites might be to blame.ģ. People with asthma can also find that foods and drinks with high sulphite levels can trigger the condition.Īlcoholic drinks like wine and cider, and drinks you might mix with alcohol like concentrated fruit drinks and bottled lemon or lime juices, can contain high levels sulphites. Some people are sensitive to sulphites, experiencing allergic reactions ranging from mild hay fever-like symptoms to serious anaphylactic reactions when they eat or drink them. Sulphites are a mineral which occur naturally in a lot of foods and drinks, and can also be added as a preservative to stop spoilage and preserve colour. Congeners irritate blood vessels and tissues in your brain, which can make your hangover worse. Scientific study of hangovers is still ongoing, but one thing we do know is that ‘congeners’ in alcohol can contribute to making your hangover worse.Ĭongeners are chemicals that occur naturally during the distilling and fermentation processes of alcohol creation and are found in greater amounts in darker coloured drinks, like red wine, bourbon and brandy. You know about alcohol poisoning, hangovers and brain damage, but did you know about the other ways alcoholic drinks can affect your body? 1. Drinking more than the recommended guidelines can put you at risk of developing serious diseases, affect your brain health and make you prone to alcohol-related accidents. We all know that drinking alcohol to excess isn’t really part of a healthy lifestyle.