While the occasional alcoholic beverage is unlikely to be harmful to your health, excessive drinking can significantly affect your body and wellbeing.

You might be curious as to when drinking becomes unhealthy for you and how much is too much.

The effects of alcohol on your health are discussed in this article along with intake guidelines.

Defining moderate

Moderate alcohol use for healthy adults generally means up to one drink a day for women and up to two drinks a day for men.

Examples of one drink include:

Beer: 12 fluid ounces (355 milliliters)

Wine: 5 fluid ounces (148 milliliters)

Distilled spirits (80 proof): 1.5 fluid ounces (44 milliliters)

Risks of excessive drinking

Heavy drinking, especially binge drinking, provides no health benefits while moderate alcohol use may have some of those benefits.

For women and men over the age of 65, heavy or high-risk drinking is defined as having more than three drinks on any given day or more than seven drinks per week; for men 65 and younger, it is defined as having more than four drinks on any given day or more than 14 drinks per week.

For women, binge drinking is defined as four drinks or more within two hours, while for men, it’s five drinks or more.

Drinking too much can raise your risk of developing major health issues, such as:

• Several malignancies, including liver, mouth, throat, and oesophagus tumours as well as breast cancer
• Pancreatitis
• If you already have cardiovascular disease, you could die suddenly.
• Alcoholic cardiomyopathy, a heart muscle disorder, causes heart failure.
• Stroke
• uncontrolled high blood pressure
• liver infection
• Suicide
• accidental death or serious injury
• concerns with the unborn child’s brain and other issues
• symptoms of alcohol withdrawal

The physical issues of alcohol

Drinking too much has an impact on virtually every organ and system in your body. It can influence your emotions and conduct in addition to harming important organs.

Alcohol abuse can have a severe impact on your central nervous system.

How much and how often you drink, when you started drinking, your sex, and other factors influence how and to what extent it affects your brain.

Alcohol has a number of initial negative effects on the central nervous system, including speech slurring, memory loss, and impaired hand-eye coordination.

Another negative effect of chronic binge drinking is liver damage.

Your liver is where most of the alcohol you consume is processed. This generates potentially dangerous chemicals that can injure the cells in your liver. Your liver gets sicker if you keep drinking over time.

The earliest stage of alcohol-induced liver damage is known as alcoholic fatty liver disease. Over time, this condition can develop when drinking too much alcohol causes your body’s liver cells to accumulate fat, which can impair liver function.

when to avoid

The dangers of drinking may occasionally surpass any potential health advantages. For instance, see your doctor before drinking if

• You’re attempting to conceive or are pregnant
• You have a history of alcoholism in your family or have been diagnosed with alcoholism or alcohol addiction.
• Your stroke was hemorrhagic (when a blood vessel in your brain leaks or ruptures)
• You suffer from pancreatic or liver illness.
• You either have heart failure or have been told that your heart is weak.
• You take drugs that can interact with alcohol, either prescription or over-the-counter.

Dependency

Alcohol use can have physically and mentally addictive effects.

Common indications of alcohol dependence include having a compulsive drive to drink, worried about where or when you’ll get your next drink, and having trouble having fun without alcohol .

This dependency’s root causes can be intricate. Your environment can have a significant impact on it, even though genetics and family history may have some influence.

Choosing whether to drink

Because of the potential health advantages, don’t start drinking alcohol if you don’t already. However, if you consume light to moderate amounts of alcohol and are in good health, you can definitely keep doing so as long as you do so in moderation. Consult your doctor to determine what is best for your health and safety.