How does alcohol affect the body?

You are in college, you are at a party, and you are drunk. You, and the people around
you, know you are drunk by your disorientated behavior but do they know what is causing you to
act in this manner? Most likely not. Most people do not think about what the alcohol inside them
is doing, the only thing they are worried about is the buzz that they get from it. Moderate
drinking is alright but drinking excessively can wear out the body.  Three important things to
know about alcohol are how it enters and leaves the body, the effects of alcohol, and how the
body responds to alcohol.
After the drink is consumed, the alcohol enters the blood stream. After it enters the blood
stream it dissolves in the water in the blood and gets carried throughout the body. The alcohol
then enters the tissues and dissolves in the water in the tissue; it does this for every tissue but fat
tissue. Alcohol is not able to dissolve in fat so it is incapable of dissolving in fat tissue. This
explains why women feel the effect, and get drunk quicker than men do. Women tend to have
more fat, whereas men tend to have more muscle. Because muscle has more water, the alcohol
becomes more diluted in a male.
Once the alcohol is absorbed into the body it leaves in three different ways: the kidney,
lungs and liver. The kidney removes 5 percent of the alcohol in the urine. One of the duties of
the kidney is to regulate the composition of blood in the body. Through this process the blood
level is maintained by the removal of unwanted substances from the blood and into the urine.
Another 5 percent of the alcohol is exhaled through the lungs. Ever wonder how a
breathalyzer works? When the blood enters the lungs some alcohol moves across the membranes
of the alveoli (air sacs) into the air. This air is alveolar air; the concentration of alcohol in this air
is relative to the amount of alcohol in the body. After the alcohol in the alveolar is exhaled, a
breathalyzer can detect the blood alcohol content of the individual. Lastly, the liver takes care of
whatever alcohol is left in the body. Alcohol in beverages is known as ethyl alcohol, more
commonly known as ethanol. This ethanol is chemically broken down in the liver. The enzyme,
alcohol dehydrogenase, strips electrons from the ethanol to form acetaldehyde. Another enzyme,
aldehyde dehydrogenase, with the help of oxygen, will convert the acetaldehyde into acetic acid.
The acetic acid can be used for to form fatty acids or if further broken down into carbon dioxide
and water.
The rate at which alcohol affects the body is determined by three things: the
concentration of the alcohol, the type of drink, and whether the stomach is full or empty. The
higher the concentration the faster the body absorbs it in the blood. When drinking carbonated
beverages it tends to speed up the rate for the body to absorb the alcohol. Lastly, the more food
in the stomach, the more time it takes for the alcohol to get absorbed. First off, the body
responds to alcohol in a series of stages which correspond to an increase in the blood alcohol
content (BAC). Blood alcohol content is the amount of alcohol that can be found in the
bloodstream. The first stage is euphoria, which has a BAC of .03 to .12 percent. In this stage the
person loses their judgment, they may look flushed and they have trouble with their motor skills,
such as writing their name. The person may also seem more confident or daring and appear to
have a shortened attention span.
The next stage is excitement and this is when the person's BAC rises to .09 to .25 percent.
During the excitement stage the person may have trouble with memory, lose their motor skills,
and their vision will become blurry. The person will also seem uncoordinated and have trouble
balancing. The third stage is confusion, once the person reaches a BAC of .18 to .30 percent
they will experience this stage. Slurred speech, confusion, dizziness and sleepiness are all signs
of this stage. The person may become overly emotional in both extremes: very aggressive or
extremely affectionate. Also during this stage a person may have a higher tolerance for pain than
they would if they were sober.
Once the person has had enough alcohol to reach a BAC of .25 to .40 they will begin to
enter the stupor stage. During this stage the person can not really do much but vomit. The person
will most likely be unable to stand, walk, or respond to environment. The person may also me
slip in and out of consciousness.
If the blood alcohol content continues to increase than the person may lapse into a coma.
This stage happens when the individual has a BAC of .35 to .50 percent. During the coma, the
person is unconscious, they breath slower, their heart will be slower, and the may feel cold to the
touch. In this stage there is a slight chance the individual may die.The last and final stage and
individual can reach is death. This is when an individual has a BAC of .50 percent or above. The
person in this stage will sadly stop breathing and death occurs.
Alcohol mainly affects the nerve cells in the brain, causing interference between
communication of these cells and other cells throughout the body. This interference restrains the
activities of the excitatory nerve pathways and increases the activities of inhibitory nerve
pathways. As the blood alcohol content increases, the number of centers of the brain which are
infected also increase. Alcohol affects five centers in the brain in order: cerebral cortex, limbic
system, cerebellum, hypothalamus and pituitary gland and the medulla.
The cerebral cortex processes information from your senses, does your "thought"
processing and consciousness. The person will become more confident, more talkative, and will
be less socially inhibited when alcohol depresses the behavioral inhibitory center. The alcohol
will also inhibit the person's thought process; this is when a person uses bad judgment or can not
think clearly. As the alcohol slows down processing information for the sense the person will
appear having trouble seeing, hearing, smelling, touching and tasting. This also results in a
higher tolerance for pain.The next center the alcohol effects is the center for memory and
emotions, the limbic system. Observably in this stage the individual experiences memory loss
and will also experience extreme emotions. These emotions can be strongly aggressive or even
overly affectionate. Once the alcohol affects the cerebellum it impairs the movements of the
body.  The cerebellum deals with fine movements, such as touching your finger to your nose.
When you are under the influence the finger is shaky or unstable, unlike when you are sober the
movement is much smoother. When the cerebellum is affected, movements become much more
uncoordinated. Balance is also impaired, resulting in the individual losing their balance and
falling down.
The hypothalamus and pituitary gland are the next center of the brain that becomes
infected. The hypothalamus controls the automatic functions of the brain and coordinates
endocrine functions through nerve impulse actions on the pituitary gland. The hypothalamus and
pituitary gland are affected in two noticeable ways increase in urine excretion and an increase in
sexual behavior. Now on the contrary, as an individual's sexual behavior increases their sexual
performance decreases, this is because of the depressed nerve centers in the hypothalamus.
Alcohol also inhibits the pituitary secretion of anti-diuretic hormone (ADH), which makes the
kidney reabsorb water. When the ADH levels decrease the kidney does not reabsorb the water
which results in the kidney producing more urine. This explains why there are more bathroom
breaks when someone is consuming alcohol. The medulla influences heart rate, breathing,
consciousness and temperature. The person will become drowsy or even unconscious after the
alcohol infects the reticular formation in the upper center of the medulla. A person may begin
breathing slower, or stop altogether, and their temperature may decrease if the BAC gets high
enough.
Alcohol is a drug and it is processed through the body as a drug. Alcohol affects almost
every part of your body since the alcohol is circulated throughout the bloodstream. The affects of
alcohol depend almost entirely on how high the person's blood alcohol content is. The most
significant thing a person can do to avoid harming themselves is to pay attention to how much
they drink, and how quick they consume the alcohol. The three important things to know about
alcohol are how the alcohol enters and leaves the body, how the body is affected and what the
body does in response to the alcohol. By knowing these three things a person can drink
responsibly through the knowledge of what is going on inside their body. The next time you are
out at a party pay attention to not only how much you drink but also keep and eye on your
friends. But remember, you do not need alcohol to have a good time and it is definitely not the
answer to your problems.