ALCOHOL AND SUBSTANCE ABUSE EDUCATION PROGRAM STUDY MATERIAL
SECTION 6
THE PHYSIOLOGICAL EFFECTS OF ALCOHOL
INSTRUCTIONS
This is the sixth lesson in a series of 14 lessons covering study material on alcohol abuse, alcoholism and substance (drug) abuse. This Section covers some of the Physiological or physical effects of Alcohol on the body. You will find this Section's study material divided into many "subsections" for easy understanding.
After you study the material in the first subsection you may answer that subsection's study questions. As you master each study section you should then go on to the next.
Before you attempt to answer any study questions you should understand these guidelines. They will help you to answer the questions:
1. Some questions need a complete sentence for the answer.
2. Other questions need a True or False or a Yes or No answer.
3. When answering any "fill-in" questions, remember that a blank may stand for just one (1) word, for a few words (2 or 3), or for even part of a sentence (4 or more words).
4. When any study questions offer you from 2 to 6 possible answers (these are called
"multiple choice"), only one of the answers given will be correct.
5. There are no "trick" questions. All answers will be found easily in the study material.
Do not write in, fold or otherwise mutilate this booklet. Other people are going to be using it after you. You must return it in good condition before you will be given a test. Since the test questions will come from the study material and study questions found in this booklet, learning the study material will help you do well on the test.
PHYSIOLOGICAL EFFECTS OF ALCOHOL
Many changes occur in a person's body when he begins to drink alcohol. Some of these changes are:
Alcohol causes water or fluids to be held in parts of the body where it usually doesn't belong. This causes bloating (or swelling up) of the body. Also, alcohol causes dehydration (loss of water) from other parts of the body. The increase in the number of times a person will
urinate (pass water) after drinking alcohol is a direct result of the body drying out due to drinking alcohol. Blood is one fluid in the body which dries up. Alcohol causes the blood to be thicker. Thicker blood is harder for the heart to pump (Encyclopedia Britannica, page 438, para 1-2-3).
Alcohol also causes the blood vessels (arteries and veins) in the body to temporarily shrink and become smaller. At the same time, the blood gets thicker as water from the bloodstream is used to thin the alcohol evenly throughout the body. The heart has to pump this thicker blood under higher pressure. As blood pressure and strain on the heart increases, the chance of a heart attack also rises. It has been shown that an alcoholic has three times the risk of a heart attack compared to someone who does not drink. When blood vessels get smaller and the blood gets thicker, the cells and consequently the organs in the body like the brain, liver etc. get less blood. As a result, cells and organs are not getting as much food and oxygen as they need and they die (Kinney, J., & Leaton, G., 1987, Loosening the Grip, page 107, para 1).
Another thing that happens in the blood is that alcohol "oxidizes" (uses up oxygen), or slowly burns, in your bloodstream. By burning we mean a very slow burning, like rust on metal. This burning uses up even more oxygen from the blood. As a result, many organs in the drinkers body do not get their fair share of oxygen. This causes those organs to work poorly. One result of the brain not getting enough oxygen is blackouts. Blackouts occur when the alcoholic does not remember anything during a period of time when he was drinking. Many cells in the brain, the liver and all over the body die of oxygen starvation. This has been known to cause health problems.
STUDY QUESTIONS
1. Do changes occur in a person's body if he begins to drink alcohol? (Yes or No).
2. Retention (the keeping) of fluids that alcohol causes in the body results in: (a) bloating
or swelling of the body, (b) dehydration of parts of the body, (c) an increased urge and need to urinate, (d) all of the above, or (e) none of the above.
5. Blood vessels include: (What are the names of the two kinds of vessels that carry blood?.
6. What happens to the blood vessels in the body of someone drinking alcohol?
7. If your heart has to pump blood under (lower, higher) pressure as caused by alcohol,
you are (2, 3, 4 or 5) times more likely to have a heart (throb, murmur, attack).
8. A long term alcoholic is how many more times as likely to have heart attacks as other
people?
9. What happens when alcohol oxidizes the oxygen in the bloodstream?
10. When the cells and organs in the body get less blood and consequently less oxygen,
what happens to them?
When parts of the liver starve from lack of blood and oxygen they die. This means that
alcohol causes the death of many cells in both the brain and the liver. When parts of the liver die, this causes scar tissue to form out of the dead tissue in the liver (Kinney, J., & Leaton, G., 1987, Loosening the Grip, page 99, para #3). This scar tissue slows the breakdown of alcohol even more.
Because the liver is not working as well, alcohol stays in the body longer. The longer it stays in the body, the more damage it does. The death of cells in the liver and the
replacement by dead cells or scar tissue is called "cirrhosis" (Kinney, J., & Leaton, G., 1987, Loosening the Grip, pages 99/100 ).
Besides breaking down alcohol in the body, the liver also filters wastes and poisons out of the blood and breaks down fats in the bloodstream. When more alcohol and fat enter the body than the liver can break down, a build-up of alcohol and fat occurs in the blood. This fat plugs up small blood vessels throughout the body. When this happens in the liver, parts of the liver begin to die and scar up. The more of the liver that is killed by heavy drinking, the poorer job it does at cleaning the blood, breaking down alcohol and breaking down fat. Heavy
drinking causes the performance of the liver to decrease greatly. This hurts the whole body (Kinney, J., & Leaton, G., 1987, Loosening the Grip, pages 37/38),& (98/100).
A healthy person's liver will break down alcohol at the rate of about one half ounce an
hour (Enc. Britannica page 438, para #7). There is nothing you can do to increase this rate. Drinking coffee to try and sober up will make you a wide-awake, nervous drunk. Taking a cold shower will make you a cold, wet drunk. Exercising to try and sober up will make you a
pooped drunk, and may increase your blood pressure so much that you might blow a blood vessel (Young, L., Klein, D., & Beyer, D., 1977, Recreational Drugs, page 5, para 7).
STUDY QUESTIONS
1. Many cells in the brain may die from _______________.
2. ____________________ is a process of scar tissue developing in the body`s
_______________________.
3. What does it mean when we say that someone has Cirrhosis of the liver?
4. Which organ in the body is mainly responsible for breaking down the Alcohol that is
taken into the body?
5. Fat build-up in small blood vessels can (a) increase blood flow through the veins, (b)
heal scarring, (c) increase the effectiveness of the liver, or (d) none of these.
6. The liver breaks down both alcohol and _____________.
7. When sections of the liver don't get enough oxygen (a) vessels unplug (free up), (b)
sections of the liver multiply, (c) fat builds up in the bloodstream, or (d) all of these.
8. When parts of the liver starve from lack of blood and oxygen, what happens to them?
STUDY QUESTIONS
9. At what rate will a healthy persons liver break down the alcohol that comes into the
body?
10. A healthy liver can handle (1, 2, 3 or 4) ounces of alcohol an hour.
11. Can an alcoholic put more alcohol in his body than his liver can process? (Yes or No).
12. When the alcoholics body starts shaking during withdrawal after drinking heavily, this is
due to:
Alcohol causes swelling of organs throughout the body. For the most part, there is room for these organs to expand. As long as there is room for the organs to expand, this swelling will not cause direct problems to the body. There is however one organ in the body that does not have much room to expand. That organ is the brain. The brain is trapped inside the skull. When it swells-due to the effect of alcohol-it pushes against the bone in the head (the skull). Although the brain itself has no sensory nerves (for feeling), the lining of the inside of the skull does. As the brain expands against the inside of the skull, it causes the
is sometimes due to the blood pulsing through the swollen brain. Each time the heart pumps, it feels like someone is beating on the inside of your skull with a hammer. This pounding often will not go down until the effect of the alcohol wears off and your brain shrinks down to normal size.
Alcohol causes many other changes in the body. In men, it causes the male sex
organs, the testes to shrink. Alcohol also causes the skin in both men and women to dry out.
This makes for many wrinkles in the skin (Kinney, J., & Leaton, G., 1987, Loosening the Grip, page 110, para 1).
Alcohol is also a solvent. This means that it dissolves things. It is an even more effective solvent under pressure. There is a great deal of pressure on the hip joints of your body (ENC. PAGE 513) (Kinney, J., & Leaton, G., 1987, Loosening the Grip, pages 117/118, para 1-2-3).
This pressure - in combination with the solvent effects of alcohol - causes the hip joint to begin to dissolve. In people who drink a lot, the ball and joint of the hip begin to decay and become lose and unstable. Long term drinking will eventually cause a crippling of the hip joint. Many alcoholics sooner or later end up walking with a cane or crutch. This damage to the hip joint lasts for life (Kinney, J., & Leaton, G., 1987, Loosening the Grip, pages 117-118, whole page).
STUDY QUESTIONS
1. Which organ swells as a reaction to alcohol, but has no room to expand. Because there
is nowhere for this organ to expand, pain is often the result.
2. Alcohol causes the organs of the body to expand. Which organ has very little room to
expand, and what problems does this cause?
3. Fortunately, the brain has the ability to feel and stops the effects of the alcohol from
pushing against the skull. (True or False).
4. Pounding felt in the head of a person with a hangover may be due to
_____________________________________.
5. Alcohol can cause shrinking of the testes in men. (True or False).
6. Alcohol dries out the skin causing what kind of damage?
7. What does it mean when we say that alcohol is a solvent?
8. As a solvent, alcohol dissolves which bone in your body and eventually causes the
9. Which joint in the body is destroyed by prolonged alcohol use?
The same kinds of things that happen to the liver also happen to the cells in the brain. Fat plugs up blood vessels that feed the brain. The brain does not get enough food or oxygen. Also, one of the chemicals that the liver breaks alcohol down into is poisonous to the brain. There is much damage to the brain of long-term, heavy drinkers (Kinney, J., & Leaton, G., 1987, Loosening the Grip, pages 121-122).
Once brain cells die, they never grow back or heal themselves (Kinney, J., & Leaton, G., 1987, Loosening the Grip, page 123, para 2).
You are minus the number of cells you kill - through heavy drinking - for the rest of your life.
Long-term, heavy drinking results in the loss of millions of brain cells. Of course, this has an
effect on the way a person functions. A condition known as Organic Brain Syndrome (OBS)
(Wernicke-Korsakoff) may result. The result is that the alcohol abuser loses his short-term memory and his ability to concentrate. The person with OBS also loses interest in things. He may also lose the ability to follow through on jobs he starts (Kinney, J., & Leaton, G., 1987, Loosening the Grip, pages 121-122).
He has a very hard time finishing what he started. His interest span is very short. This condition occurs to different degrees depending on how long and how much alcohol has been abused. The loss of mental functioning due to long- term drinking can be small, or it can be so great that the person does not even remember his own name (Kinney, J., & Leaton, G., 1987, Loosening the Grip, pages 121/122).
STUDY QUESTIONS
1. What happens when fat plugs up the tiny blood vessels that feed the brain?
2. Excessive drinking of alcohol can destroy brain cells. (True or False).
3. Dead brain cells can be brought back to life (a) never, (b) with special medicines, (c) if
you take it easy with alcohol, (d) with enough time (e) all of these.
4. What is O.B.S.?
5. Organic Brain Syndrome (OBS) (a) is caused by long-term, heavy drinking, (b) affects
memory, (c) reduces interest, (d) can make you forget your own name, (e) none of the above, or (f) it does all of this and more.
Alcohol is a drug. Every time anyone drinks alcohol, his body will go through
withdrawal. For most people, withdrawal usually consists of feeling bad or getting irritable for several hours after the "high" wears off. Sometimes the nervousness results in loss of sleep. Part of these symptoms is that Alcohol causes inflammation of the nerves. Withdrawal may also cause the body to feel stiff and sluggish. As the amount of alcohol taken increases, the strength and the length of the withdrawal also increase. If the alcoholic has taken for a very long period of time, the withdrawal is so painful that the alcoholic will do practically anything to avoid it. What he usually does is drink more to stay drunk.
This makes things much worse in the long run (Kinney, J., & Leaton, G., 1987, Loosening the Grip, pages 141-142 bottom and top of page).
It takes about 2 hours for the body of a normal person to withdraw from the effects of a one-ounce drink of alcohol (one beer or a shot of liquor) (Enc. Britannica page 438, graph).
A heavy drinker or an alcoholic is subject to very-long-term, painful withdrawal. This is due to the large amounts of alcohol he has used. After drinking alcohol for long periods of time, the cells of the body become dependent on alcohol as a food source. In a sense, the body would rather have alcohol than regular food. This means that every cell in the alcoholic's body craves or demands alcohol. The strength of this craving and withdrawal are dependent on how long the person has been drinking and how much he has been drinking (Kinney, J., & Leaton, G., 1987, Loosening the Grip, pages 142/144).
STUDY QUESTIONS
1. Drinking alcohol can (a) result in you having to go through withdrawal, (b) cause you to
be irritable & edgy, (c) cause lost sleep, (d) make you sluggish, or (e) all of these.
2. It takes one hour for a normal person to get over the effects of ten drinks. (True or
False).
3. If a person has been drinking a lot of alcohol for a long time, his body and cells may
depend on alcohol as a food source. (True or False).
Delirium Tremens ("D.T.'s). When the alcoholic or problem drinker has been drinking large amounts of alcohol for a long period of time there is a well defined withdrawal process that takes place. This withdrawal takes place in three stages. The first stage consists of the body
shaking wildly. This is due to the effect that alcohol has on the nerves and is very harsh on the drinker. At worse, the body can go into seizures, convulsions, or fits during withdrawal (Kinney, J., & Leaton, G., 1987, Loosening the Grip, page 145-146).
In the second stage, the alcoholic begins to hear things that are not there, i.e., voices, sounds or other irritating noises (Kinney, J., & Leaton, G., 1987, Loosening the page 143).
The third stage is when the alcoholic begins to see things that are not there. These things might include such things as snakes, elephants, spiders or other creepy things. In this stage the alcoholic may hallucinate thousands of ants or worms crawling all over his body (Kinney, J., & Leaton, G., 1987, Loosening the Grip, page 143).
When all of these stages of withdrawal are present, the alcoholic is suffering from something called Delirium Tremens (or DT's). The person has basically gone crazy from drinking too much alcohol (Kinney, J., & Leaton, G., 1987, Loosening the Grip, page 143).
Another result of long-term drinking or alcohol abuse is known as Korsakoff's
Syndrome (Permanent brain damage). The symptoms are: confusion (being mixed up), telling stories about things that did not really happen, and losing sense of time, (day, week, month and or year). There is also a disorientation as to place. The person does not know where he is. He does not know the name of the building, town or state he is in (Kinney, J., & Leaton, G., 1987, Loosening the Grip, page 121-122 bottom and top para).
STUDY QUESTIONS
1. Delirium Tremens are also known as (a) Korsakoff's Revenge, (b) snakes, elephants
and spiders, (c) a & b, or (d) D.T.'s.
2. Some of the withdrawal symptoms of D.T.'s are (a) uncontrollable shaking, (b) seizures
and fits, (c) hearing and seeing "things," or (d) all of these.
3. If you are confused, if you tell weird stories, and if you lose sense of time or place, you
may be suffering from _____________.
References:
Kinney, J., & Leaton, G., 1987, Loosening the Grip: A handbook containing the basic information an alcohol counselor confronted with alcohol problems. Mosby Company, St. Louis, Missouri, 63146.
Encyclopedia Britannica.
Young, L., Klein, M., & Beyer, D., 1977, Recreational Drugs: This book is meant to provide nontechnical, understandable information needed by users, abusers experimenters, and non users alike. Macmillan Publishing Co., Collier Macmillan Canada, Ltd.
