Alcohol & Health
Treatment
Helping Alcoholics
Medically Reviewed by Annamarie Coy, BA, ICPR, MATS
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When you drink alcohol, it affects various systems throughout your body. You may develop a hangover the following day after drinking heavily.
Hangovers cause various physical and emotional symptoms. Their severity often correlates with the amount of alcohol consumed the night before.
The effects of hangovers can be serious and cause severe impairment. Long after alcohol leaves your system, your body continues to suffer and recover from an alcohol hangover.
Hangover symptoms peak when your blood alcohol content returns to about zero. This is usually around 12 hours after your last drink.
How long a hangover lasts depends on how much alcohol you drink and whether or not you take hangover cures. Hangover symptoms can last for up to 72 hours. However, most hangovers are shorter, lasting between 12 and 24 hours.
When you drink, alcohol affects your thinking and reaction times. These are the short-term effects of alcohol and why drinking and driving are illegal.
Alcohol can still affect your brain and cognitive abilities when blood alcohol levels drop. Moreover, the effects of alcohol will linger and become worse well after it leaves the bloodstream. This is especially true for people with alcohol use disorder.
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Alcohol affects everyone differently. Some people may experience severe hangovers after a single drink. Others can drink excessively and wake up the next morning without one.
The many factors that make you more susceptible to hangovers include:
When your stomach is empty, it releases alcohol into the bloodstream faster. This increases the debilitating effects on the body and increases your risk of a hangover.
Poor sleep habits before drinking, or the poor quality of sleep that occurs after drinking can contribute to increased hangover symptoms.
Research shows that alcoholism has some genetic components. Gene variants can also affect how your body metabolizes alcohol and increase your hangover risk.
Sulfites can make hangover symptoms worse. The compound is commonly added to wine as a preservative. People with sulfite sensitivities may experience a headache after drinking wine.
Alcohol is the main cause of a hangover. However, certain substances can further increase your hangover risk or worsen it. These include:
Smoking cigarettes while drinking alcohol increases your risk of a hangover and can intensify symptoms. Studies show that cigarette smoke contains acetaldehyde, the same chemical your liver releases to process alcohol.
Acetaldehyde is linked to hangover symptoms.
Dark alcoholic drinks, such as whiskey, contain higher concentrations of congeners than lighter-colored beverages like beer. Drinking clear liquors such as vodka and gin is less likely to result in an alcohol hangover.
Congeners contribute to dark alcoholic beverages' color, taste, and aroma. However, they also interfere with cell function, leading to more severe hangovers.
Drinking alcoholic beverages causes your blood alcohol concentration (BAC) to rise. This usually means a BAC of 0.11% or higher for excessive drinkers, which is beyond the intoxication level of 0.08%.
When these levels drop significantly or are nearing zero, hangover symptoms will start to show. The symptoms of a hangover can vary for each person, depending on the type of drink and how much they drank.
Here are the most common hangover symptoms:
An alcohol hangover is a consequence of drinking too many alcoholic beverages in a short period. Excessive drinking affects the body’s functions.
The effects of alcohol on the body include:
Alcohol prevents the release of vasopressin—a hormone that regulates kidney function and retains bodily fluids. Drinking alcohol causes the kidneys to release more of these fluids than they should.
It results in increased urination (diuresis) and an excessive loss of fluids. Dehydration causes other hangover symptoms such as:
Alcohol causes an inflammatory reaction in the body, affecting organs like the liver and brain. Regular excessive alcohol use and the resulting inflammation can damage these organs.
During hangovers, inflammation contributes to muscle pain and general malaise.
Alcohol is acidic and irritates the stomach lining, causing it to produce more gastric acids. This contributes to stomach upset, nausea, and vomiting associated with hangovers.
The body needs sugar to function, and alcohol causes its levels to fall. This drop can result in unpleasant experiences like:
After a night of drinking, you may feel ready to jump into bed and will likely fall asleep quickly. Unfortunately, that doesn’t mean you will get the rest you need.
Alcohol leads to disrupted and fragmented sleep. It leaves you feeling fatigued and without rest, a common hangover symptom. The lack of quality sleep may also contribute to memory loss, confusion, and trouble thinking.
When your liver processes alcohol, it releases the chemical acetaldehyde. This toxic by-product of alcohol contributes to increased inflammation in various body parts.
These body parts include:
When you consume alcoholic drinks, the chemical production in your brain changes. It triggers the release of dopamine, a well-known happy hormone.
While dopamine can make you feel more relaxed, it also gets your brain “hooked” to the feeling. When you stop drinking, the brain will seek the euphoric and relaxing effects of alcohol. It will also cause restlessness and anxiety.
While these are common symptoms when alcoholics undergo withdrawal, similar mini-withdrawal symptoms can occur with an alcohol hangover. Alcohol causes damage to the brain, which can result in:
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A hangover will go away over time. However, if symptoms are severe, a person may be experiencing alcohol poisoning.
Alcohol poisoning occurs when you ingest too much alcohol on a single occasion. This can happen after exceeding 6 drinks and reaching a blood alcohol level of 0.31% or higher.
The symptoms of alcohol poisoning are:
If you experience any of these symptoms, seek immediate medical help. A person who is unconscious or doesn’t respond or wake up to stimuli is at risk of death.
Withdrawal and frequent hangovers are signs of an alcohol use disorder (AUD). They can affect your relationship, career, and finances, reducing your overall quality of life. AUD requires treatment.
You may have an alcohol problem if you're:
Hangovers are common, even among people who don't have alcohol misuse problems. However, if you experience frequent hangovers, it could be a sign that an addiction is forming.
According to The DSM-5, common symptoms of alcoholism or AUD include:
Alcohol abuse and heavy drinking can be debilitating and take a toll on the body. If you or someone you know has a drinking problem, seek medical help immediately.
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Hangover cures often only mean reducing the symptoms of a hangover to make them less unbearable. They don't remove the hangover completely.
The only two ways to avoid a hangover are not drinking or limiting alcohol intake to a minimum. If you already have a hangover, you must wait for the symptoms to subside.
To ease your hangover symptoms, you can do the following:
There are many treatment options available for alcohol abuse and addiction, including:
Alcohol consumption can have short-term and long-term effects on the body. Short-term effects include hangovers, which in severe cases may need medical attention.
Hangover cures such as cold showers, coffee, sleep, and healthy food can help reduce hangover symptoms. Frequent hangovers may be a sign of an alcohol use disorder or addiction.
For those with AUD, treatments include inpatient, partial hospitalization, outpatient, medication-assisted therapy, and support groups. If you have an alcohol problem or are concerned about someone else's drinking habits, seek professional help from a healthcare provider immediately.
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