Alcohol
What is it?
Alcohol (ethanol) is the active ingredient in drinks like beer, wine, and liquor. Alcohol acts as a central nervous system depressant, slowing down brain activity. Slowed brain activity can affect how you think, feel, and move.
Drinking alcohol is illegal for anyone under 21. The brain is still developing through adolescence and into the mid-20s. Because of this, alcohol can have stronger and longer-lasting effects on young people. Drinking during this time can disrupt normal brain development. It can impact memory, learning, and decision-making later on. Drinking during pregnancy can also harm a developing baby and lead to lifelong challenges.
How it works
When you drink, alcohol increases the effects of a neurotransmitter or chemical messenger called GABA. GABA creates feelings of relaxation and lowers anxiety. It also promotes the release of dopamine, which can make drinking feel enjoyable. These effects can cause euphoria, lowered inhibitions, and slower reaction times.
Alcohol also disrupts communication between brain cells, affecting balance, memory, speech, and judgment. This makes it easier to get hurt or make risky decisions while drinking. Over time, heavy drinking can damage the brain and impact learning, mood, and memory.
People who start drinking at a young age increase their brain's exposure to the harmful effects of alcohol and elevate the risk of developing an alcohol use disorder later in life.
Hangovers
A hangover is the body’s reaction to drinking too much alcohol. Symptoms often start when blood alcohol levels drop back to zero — usually the morning after drinking.
Common symptoms include:
- Headache, tiredness, and weakness
- Nausea or stomach pain
- Sensitivity to light or sound
- Dizziness or shakiness
- Mood changes like anxiety or irritability
Hangovers usually fade within 24 hours, but frequent heavy drinking can lead to more serious health problems.
Call 911 right away if someone shows signs of confusion, is vomiting, has slow or irregular breathing, has blue or clammy skin, or they can’t be woken up. These may be signs of alcohol poisoning, which is a medical emergency. Mixing alcohol with other drugs can increase risk for poisoning or overdose.
Blackouts
Drinking too much, too quickly, can block the brain’s ability to store new memories. This leads to blackouts, gaps in memory that occur while intoxicated.
Alcohol rebound and withdrawal
As alcohol leaves your system, the brain experiences a period of “rebound.” Someone who uses alcohol, even occasionally, can experience rebound symptoms like anxiety, depression, restlessness, or irritability.
When someone drinks heavily or regularly over long periods of time, they may experience more severe rebound symptoms known as withdrawal. With prolonged use, the symptoms of alcohol withdrawal can be severe and at times life threatening. Support is available, and getting medical help can make withdrawal safer and more manageable.
Alcohol use disorder
Long-term heavy drinking can change brain circuits related to judgment, reward, and self-control. This makes it much harder to cut back or stop because your body thinks it needs alcohol to survive. Some of these brain changes can be reversed over time with counseling, treatment, or culturally centered healing.
Fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASDs)
Drinking alcohol during pregnancy can harm a developing fetus at any stage. Alcohol crosses the placenta and can affect brain growth and organ development, leading to lifelong physical, learning, and behavioral challenges known as fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASDs). There is no known safe amount, safe time, or safe type of alcohol during pregnancy. Avoiding alcohol completely is the safest choice for a healthy pregnancy.
Short-term effects
- Feeling relaxed, talkative, or euphoric
- Slower reflexes and reduced judgment
- Risky sexual behavior
- Trouble concentrating or remembering things
- Nausea, dehydration, or hangover
- In higher doses: vomiting, blackouts, or loss of consciousness
Mixing alcohol with other depressants (like opioids, benzos, or sleep medications) can slow breathing or heart rate and increase overdose risk.
Long-term effects
- Even low levels of drinking can increase health risks. As drinking increases in amount or frequency, the risk of harm to the liver, heart, brain, and other organs rises.
Over time, it can lead to:
-
- tolerance (needing more to feel the same effect)
- dependence, and withdrawal symptoms when stopping
- Chronic use is also linked to an increased risk of:
- cancer
- liver disease
- fertility issues
- mental health challenges such as anxiety or depression
Impacts on mental health
Drinking might seem to ease stress or sadness in the moment, but over time, alcohol can make anxiety and low mood worse. It also affects sleep, which plays a big role in emotional balance.
Alcohol can make you feel tired at first, but it disrupts deep, restorative sleep (called REM sleep). This can leave you waking up often during the night and feeling foggy, irritable, or low the next day. Regular drinking can also worsen sleep issues like snoring, sleep apnea, or insomnia. Poor sleep can take a toll on mental health.
If you notice you’re drinking more when you feel anxious or down, consider reaching out. A trusted friend, counselor, or local support resource may be able to help.
FAQ's
Is alcohol a drug?
Is alcohol a drug?
Yes, alcohol is a drug. It alters brain function and can lead to physical dependence and withdrawal symptoms.
How much alcohol is in “one drink”?
How much alcohol is in “one drink”?
It depends on the alcohol content:
- 12 ounces of beer (5% alcohol content)
- 8 ounces of malt liquor (7% alcohol content)
- 5 ounces of wine (12% alcohol content)
- 1.5 ounces or a “shot” of 80-proof distilled liquor, such as gin, vodka, rum, tequila, whiskey, or brandy (40% alcohol content)
Being aware of alcohol content in specific drinks can keep you from having too much.
How much alcohol is safe to drink?
How much alcohol is safe to drink?
- Alcohol is never completely safe. It can cause harm to the person who drinks and sometimes to those around them.
- The brain is still developing through adolescence and into the mid-20s. Because of this, alcohol can have stronger and longer-lasting effects on young people. Drinking at an early age can affect brain development and may impact memory, learning, and decision-making later on.
- There is no safe level of alcohol while pregnant. Even if a person has already consumed alcohol while pregnant, stopping drinking at any point in a pregnancy is always helpful.
- Alcohol use is one of the top leading preventable causes of cancer, and risk begins even at low levels like one drink a day.
- Alcohol begins to impair motor skills and reaction time even before legal limits. Motor coordination, judgment, and driving-related skills deteriorate at blood alcohol concentrations (BAC) around 0.05% and can be affected at even lower levels, increasing crash risk and slowing reaction time while driving.
What is binge drinking?
What is binge drinking?
Binge drinking means drinking enough alcohol in a short period for your blood alcohol level to reach 0.08% or higher.
During a two-hour period, that’s about:
- 4 or more drinks for women
- 5 or more drinks for men
For teens and young adults, it can take fewer drinks to reach this level because of smaller body size and how the body processes alcohol.
Binge drinking increases the risk of blackouts, injuries, alcohol poisoning, and unsafe situations like driving or sex. Repeated binge drinking can also harm the liver, heart, and brain over time.
What are the alcohol laws in Alaska?
What are the alcohol laws in Alaska?
Alcohol is legal for adults ages 21 and older.
Driving with a Blood Alcohol Content above 0.08% is illegal and can lead to a charge of driving under the influence, commonly called a DUI. Driving after drinking puts yourself and others in danger.
How long does it take for alcohol to wear off?
How long does it take for alcohol to wear off?
- Time is the only thing that will make you less drunk.
- On average, it takes about one hour for the body to process one standard drink, but this can vary based on your size, sex, age, health, and how much alcohol you’ve had.
- Alcohol reaches its peak level in the blood about 60–90 minutes after drinking. From there, your liver breaks alcohol down slowly. It usually takes around 25 hours for your body to fully clear all the alcohol after drinking stops.
- There’s no way to “speed up” this process with food, water, or coffee. These might help you feel a little better but they won’t sober you up faster.
What are signs of drinking too much?
What are signs of drinking too much?
- Drinking more or longer than intended.
- Wanting to cut down or stop drinking and finding it hard to do so.
- Needing to drink more than you once did to get the same effect.
- Continuing to drink even though it causes or worsens problems, such as:
- feeling depressed or anxious,
- health concerns,
- relationship stress,
- work or school issues, or
- financial problems.
- Hearing loved ones or trusted friends make comments about your drinking.
- Spending a lot of time drinking or thinking about alcohol.
- Finding that drinking interferes with daily activities, family, friends, or work.
- Having legal problems due to drinking.
- Experiencing symptoms of withdrawal when you don’t drink, such as shakiness, sweating, tremors, headaches, anxiety, irritability, and/or insomnia.
What are medications for alcohol use disorder?
What are medications for alcohol use disorder?
Treating alcohol use disorder refers to the use of prescribed medications to reduce cravings, maintain abstinence, and reduce symptoms of withdrawal. Examples of medications include naltrexone, acamprosate, gabapentin, and others. These medications help make reducing use and recovery safer and more manageable.
Visit Medication for the Treatment of Alcohol Use Disorder: A Brief Guidefor more info.
Wondering about your own drinking? Check out Recover Alaska’s confidential screening tool