A lot of people THINK they know how the occasional drink (or one after the other) affects their body, mind, and soul, but not a lot of people know WHY.
For example, a common understood factor of alcohol consumption is that men have a higher tolerance than women, which is true…sort of.
Alcohol is a poison and to fight back against this poison your body produces an enzyme called alcohol dehydrogenase. which means when you’re trying to get totally hammered, it is essentially a struggle within between how much alcohol you can drink versus how fast your enzymes can bust down your indulgences and their byproducts.
This hard-to-pronounce enzyme, alcohol dehydrogenase (we’ll call them AD’s), is more effective in men, especially young men, than in women. However, men’s AD effectiveness drops off with age at a faster rate than women, so the older a man gets, the lower his tolerance to alcohol will be.
Let’s move on to the idea that a full stomach “soaks up” all of the alcohol, increasing tolerance. While a full stomach helps breakdown alcohol, it’s not because the food absorbs the alcohol like a pack of Ramen Noodles.
When you eat a big meal, your stomach’s pyloric sphincter, a kind of release valve into the small intestine, closes tightly, forcing the alcohol to stay in the stomach longer allowing those AD’s to break down the alcohol. On an empty stomach, the liquid will flush right on through into the small intestine, where the body has 200 square meters of absorption surface!
Next, listen to the warning labels and DO NOT take aspirin before you start your saturday night binge drinking.
Studies showed people who took aspirin before ingesting alcohol had 26 percent higher BAC than those who were aspirin-free, suggesting aspirin affects your body’s ability to break down alcohol.
For those seeking immortality, you may have heard that alcohol may sort of, kind of, extend your life, but not necessarily for the any medical reasons you have in mind.
In fact, it seems that the life extending benefits of alcohol are more social than medical. We’re sure you’ve heard the theories about antioxidants found in wine or studies showing alcohol as increasing levels of good cholesterol, but what about preventing loneliness?
Sociology studies suggest loneliness is really dangerous and actually increases are likeliness of dying from just about anything, especially heart disease, but alcohol serves as a “social lubricant”.
Woah! We totally never thought of that, but it makes a lot of sense. After turning 21, most gatherings revolve around alcohol consumption (some heavier than others), which in turn helps develop and nurture relationships.
Finally, let’s get to the good stuff. Ever have any, uh, performance issues while intoxicated?
Interestingly enough, studies show that alcohol consumption DOES NOT kill any brain cells, but it DOES affect the way your neurons get their firing triggers from glutamate. It infiltrates the glutamate receptors in your synapses, hurting their ability to send off their normal “fire” messages. Alcohol has this impact all across your brain├óΓé¼ΓÇ¥the parts that control muscles, speech, coordination, judgement, and so on.
Just as you’re a little slow to react when turning the wheel, you’re little friend might be a little slow to react when someone is trying to turn him on.
There is so much information to explore and learn about on this topic than we have time to talk about here, so definitely check out more information on how alcohol can affect your body!
Take the time to educate yourself, if not to live a healthier lifestyle, than to impress your friends next time you hit up the bar scene.
[Image via AP Images.]
