Most people can recognise the signs and treat the symptoms themselves. You’ve probably heard of, or perhaps experienced, a ‘hangover’ – a set of unpleasant symptoms that usually follows excessive alcohol intake.
The severity of the short-term effects of alcohol typically depends on how much a person drinks, but other factors such as hydration and food consumption also play a role. The short-term effects of a single occasion of drinking too much alcohol can include: Your body size and composition, age, drinking experience, genetics, nutritional status, metabolism, and social factors all play a part as well. How much harm alcohol causes your body depends on how much you drink, your pattern of drinking, and even the quality of the alcohol you drink. Some effects are immediate and last only a while others accumulate over time and may significantly affect your physical and mental health and quality of life. Even small amounts of alcohol are still linked to the development of certain diseases, including numerous cancers.Īlcohol affects your body in many ways. Like all drugs, alcohol can damage your body, especially if you drink heavily every day or in binges. In fact, alcohol is Australia’s most widely used social drug.
