Drinking alcohol affects your body. The higher your blood alcohol level, the greater the impairment. Alcohol affects men and women differently. Women have less water in their bodies than men, so the same amount of alcohol will affect a woman more quickly and more severely.
Alcohol slows down your brain’s ability to think clearly and impairs decision-making, coordination and reaction time which can be unsafe to yourself and others. Since alcohol makes you less inhibited, intoxication can lead to violence, unplanned and unprotected sex, illicit drug use, impaired driving and other risky behaviours.
Click on the topics below to learn more about the risks of drinking alcohol:
Binge drinking is defined as drinking four or more drinks in one session for women, and five or more drinks in one session for men, usually with the intention of getting drunk. For someone that binge drinks, their patterns of drinking may be harmful to themselves and others even though they may not have a dependence on alcohol. Most people think of alcoholism or addiction as the most serious harm related to alcohol use. In fact, heavy, single-occasion and episodic drinking has a much wider negative impact.
Statistics Canada shows that binge drinking is more common than smoking among teenagers and young adults (ages 12-24), and that this level of high risk drinking jumps sharply at ages 18-24.
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Alcohol poisoning from drinking too much at one time can be fatal. Since alcohol is a central nervous system depressant, normal functions like breathing and the gag reflex can be impaired. This is why someone who “passes out” can easily choke on vomit if a friend doesn’t recognize the situation and help them. Severe alcohol poisoning can lead to coma and death.
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Alcohol can be addictive. No one chooses to become addicted, but because alcohol is so commonplace, it is sometimes difficult to recognize when a person’s alcohol use is becoming a problem. Psychological and physical dependence can develop slowly and the user finds it increasingly hard to change even if he or she wants to. The exact meaning of addiction is open to debate, but most health providers agree that an addiction is a substance use problem where:
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the person cannot stop the substance use even though they try;
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the person becomes preoccupied by their substance use;
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the person continues using the substance even though there are serious negative consequences (e.g. damage to relationships with friends and family, conflicts with the law, health problems, job loss, etc.).
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Serious health problems can be caused by long-term problem drinking, including brain damage, ulcers, liver disease, malnutrition, heart disease, various cancers and family and social problems. In Canada, alcohol use is one of the top three risk factors contributing to disease, disability and death.