Drinking Facts
What is alcohol?
Alcohol is a depressant, which means it slows your central nervous system. However, it speeds up how fast you become That Guy. This makes women nervous and will leave you depressed and alone with a depressed central nervous system which is even more depressing.
What happens when I drink alcohol?
When you have a drink, alcohol is absorbed into your bloodstream from the stomach and enters tissues in the body. The effects of alcohol depend on a variety of things, such as:
- Your size, weight, body fat and sex
- Amount of alcohol consumed
- Amount of food in your stomach
- Use of medications, including non-prescription drugs
In general, it takes the average drinker about one hour to metabolize one drink. When you drink more than that, your blood alcohol concentration (BAC) rises, and you start to feel the effects of intoxication. You may start to think that women are only joking when they say, “Leave me alone, you drunk,” which will only make you seem more like That Guy when you continue to talk to them.
Short-Term Effects of Alcohol
Alcohol can have significant short-term effects. Many of these can seriously impair physical and mental abilities and cause other problems:
- Lowered inhibition; increase in risky behavior
- Dizziness
- Talkativeness
- Slowed reaction times and reflexes
- Poor motor coordination
- Altered perceptions and emotions
- Blurred vision
- Slurred speech
- Less ability to reason; impaired judgment
- Memory loss
- Confusion, anxiety, restlessness
- Slowed heart rate; reduced blood pressure
- Slowed breathing rate
- Heavy sweating
- Nausea and vomiting
- Dehydration
- Disturbed sleep
- Bad breath/hangovers
And…
- Drunk Dialing
- Stupid Tattoos
- Becoming That Guy
Alcohol and Sexual Performance
Drinking alcohol may lower inhibition and make sexual encounters more likely to occur, but it can place both men and women in unwanted or compromising situations such as the following:
- Heavy drinking dulls sensation and makes it more difficult for men to have and maintain an erection.
- Even if men can maintain an erection while intoxicated, they may be unable to have an orgasm or ejaculate.
- Drinking can make you unaware if you are performing poorly in bed.
- Long-term effects of alcohol can include impotency and decreased fertility.
- 60% of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) are transmitted under the influence of alcohol.1
- In 67 percent of unplanned pregnancies, at least one of the sexual partners was drunk.2
Dangers of Alcohol Poisoning
One of the most dangerous short-term consequences of binge drinking is alcohol poisoning, which can lead to irreversible brain damage or even death.
Excessive drinking depresses nerves that control things like breathing or the gag reflex. Drinking too much in too short a time can lead to slow or stopped breathing; irregular or stopped heart beat; choking on vomit; severe dehydration; low body temperature; or too little blood sugar.
Don’t ever let someone “sleep it off.” Blood alcohol levels continue to rise in the body even when someone is passed out and no longer drinking. Watch for these signs of alcohol poisoning and get help immediately:
- Mental confusion, stupor or coma
- Passed out and difficult to wake
- Cold, clammy, pale or bluish skin
- Vomiting
- Seizures
- Slow or irregular breathing
- Hypothermia (low body temperature)
Long-Term Effects of Alcohol
Over time, long-term alcohol use can cause permanent damage to the body and the brain, putting drinkers at serious risk of many health problems, including:
- Physical dependence on alcohol
- Liver disease, including alcoholic hepatitis (inflammation of the liver) and cirrhosis (scarring of the liver)
- Heart disease, high blood pressure and some forms of stroke
- Brain damage
- Cancer of the head and neck, the digestive tract and the breast
- Pancreatitis (inflammation of the pancreas)
- Mental disorders, including increased aggression, depression and anxiety
- Birth defects in children born to women who drink during pregnancy
- Sexual problems and decreased fertility
- Bone damage
- Immune deficiency, causing increased susceptibility to certain diseases
- Permanently becoming That Guy
- Having an entire Web site named after your negative behavior
Alcohol Poses Unique Health Risks for Women
- Research shows that women are more vulnerable to alcohol-related diseases because when men and women drink the same amount of alcohol, women develop higher blood alcohol levels than men do.3 In other words women get more intoxicated and get intoxicated faster than men do.
- Women have a higher propensity to develop liver disease than men do. The amount or alcohol necessary to produce cirrhosis in the liver in women is two to three times less than in men.4
- Drinking can affect your skin because dehydration deprives skin of vital nutrients.
- For many reasons including hormonal changes and social pressures women are 50% more likely to suffer from depression.5Depression and stress are leading factors for drinking in women.67 Additionally after drinking heavily, many women feel depressed.
Alcohol and Women’s Sexual Health
- Almost 50% of unplanned sex is under the influence of alcohol.8
- 60% of STDs were transmitted under the influence of alcohol.9
- In 67% of unplanned pregnancies, the woman reported being drunk.10
- Vomiting within two hours of taking the pill may make it less effective. This is also true of emergency contraceptives such as the “morning after” pill.11
- Increased alcohol use results in fewer orgasms or an ability to achieve orgasm.12
- Reduced awareness of personal emotional and physical comfort can result in sexual activities that you may regret when sober.
Sources:
National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. “Health Risks and Benefits of Alcohol Consumption,” Alcohol Research and Health, 24(1), 2000. Online at pubs.niaaa.nih.gov/publications/arh24-1/05-11.pdf
U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services, “10th Special Report to the U.S. Congress on Alcohol & Health,” June 2000. Online at pubs.niaaa.nih.gov/publications/10report/intro.pdf
1 University Health Service. “Alcohol and Sex;” University of Michigan, 2005.
2 Ibid.
3 Lieber, Charles S. “Gender Differences in Pharmacokenetics of Alcohol.” Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research: Vol. 25, No. 4; April 2001.<
4 Ibid.
5 The Commonwealth Fund survey of the health of adolescent girls, New York: The Commonwealth Fund, 1997.
6 National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse. Formative years: Pathways to substance abuse among girls and young women ages 8-22. Columbia University, New York NY, 2003.
7 The Commonwealth Fund survey of the health of adolescent girls, New York: The Commonwealth Fund, 1997.
8 University Health Service. “Alcohol and Sex;” University of Michigan, 2005.
9 Ibid.
10 Ibid.
11 Ibid.
12 Alcohol, Tobacco & Other Drug Prevention Programs. “Alcohol, Tobacco, and Other Drug Prevention: Safe Spring Break.” Vanderbilt University; 2006.
