Don\'t Let This Happen To You
Photo from Frog Man

Last week, we discussed how to incorporate a bit of the drink into your healthful diet. One of the key takeaways from that discussion was “moderation.” That is to say, a little bit of alcohol isn’t harmful and is possibly even beneficial, but once you cross a threshold of 1 drink per day for women and 2 drinks per day for men, the benefits give way to detriments. Today, we discuss those detriments.

So what areas of the body are affected by too much happy juice?

The Liver
I’ll go ahead and knock out the obvious, the liver. This wonderful little organ, for those that don’t know, is not only your largest organ, but also your body’s waste treatment plant (along with serving a few other roles). A few weeks of heavy drinking can produce a fatty liver, which will heal itself if allowed to rest. But if you continue drinking over the long haul, the fat proliferates in the liver and eventually you end up with cirrhosis and liver scarring. The liver is a big organ and can take a bit of a beating due to its extra capacity. That doesn’t mean you actually want to give it said beating.

Blood Pressure and Heart Rate
As an article in Science Daily points out, a moderate intake of alcohol can actually have beneficial effects on blood pressure. But beyond “moderate,” the positive effects disappear and even reverse beyond two drinks.

One drink of either red wine or alcohol:
- Has no effect on heart rate, blood pressure or sympathetic nerve activity, which activates the “fight or flight” reaction and generally modulates heart rate and sets the diameter of blood vessels in order to redistribute blood;
- Dilates the brachial artery.

Two drinks of either alcohol or red wine:
- Increase sympathetic nerve activity, heart rate, and the amount of blood the heart pumps out, and also blunt the ability of the brachial artery to expand further in response to blood flow.
- Increases in heart rate and sympathetic nerve activity are recognized markers for hypertension (high blood pressure), heart failure and sudden death.

If you’ve ever drank more than a few drinks (i.e., if you ever went to college), you’ve experienced this. Your heart races, you sweat, and your breathing rate goes up. That’s all a good thing when it’s exercise-induced. Not so much when it’s induced by a toxic substance.

The Nervous System
Alcohol is also a depressant, which is why a little bit is relaxing. The Central Nervous System slows, blocking some messages on their way to the brain. As intake increases, mood, emotions, and perceptions change. That’s why you might think everyone a) loves you, b) thinks you’re funny/stunningly sexy, or c) is talking about you. Your movements slow, your reaction time is off, and you’re probably not talking quite as clearly as you think you are. Another shot or two and you’ll look like this guy, unable to keep your eyes open…blackout!

Hormones
Alcohol lowers testosterone production - up to 25% at the most intoxicated state - and increases estrogen production, an unfortunate situation for a male. But at least one recent study has shown that, at least for some people and at certain doses, alcohol can increase testosterone production. This acute increase in testosterone may be an explanation for the increased aggression and libido that comes with imbibing a bit too much. It looks like in the short term, there can be an acute increase in testosterone with a falloff afterwards.

Nutrient Absorption
Alcohol wreaks havoc on nutrient absorption in multiple ways. First, it is a gut irritant, producing inflammation and ulceration of the gut lining. An irritated gut lining is unable to absorb nutrients as efficiently as it should. Second, alcohol inhibits the absorption of fat, which impairs the absorption of the fat-soluble vitamins. Minerals like calcium, magnesium, iron, and zinc, while not directly impaired by alcohol, can also be deficient due to increased urinary excretion. Third, alcohol increases the need for b-vitamins, necessary for processing the alcohol.

Judgment
It doesn’t take too many drinks before you start getting a bit loose. There’s a reason that alcohol is used as a social lubricant. After a few too many drinks, things that would typically seem like a bad idea, suddenly don’t seem so bad. This can range from something as minor as having another drink to getting behind the wheel of a car. Grabbing ten burgers from White Castle also suddenly sounds good at 3am. Or perhaps you’ll end up as an infamous “Hey y’all, watch this!” moment. Drink enough and you could be lucky enough to be immortalized on YouTube as a case study of what not to do.

The Morning After
Have you ever woken up with that perfect combination of nausea, fatigue, headache, and lack of coordination (among other effects) and pleaded to your deity of choice, “Please, just let me live and I promise I’ll never drink again”? I’m sure most of us here have experienced the Hangover From Hell. If you’ve been lucky enough to escape it to this point in life, go smack yourself in the head with a sledgehammer a few times and drink a bit of Ipecac, after getting only three hours of sleep; that should help approximate the situation.

So what causes this unfortunate situation? Well, that’s one dilemma that science hasn’t completely figured out. Theories run the gamut from hypoglycemia and dehydration to acetaldehyde intoxication and vitamin B12 deficiency. Acetaldehyde is a mildly toxic byproduct of ethanol breakdown and is the main cause of harm from drinking. Conversion of ethanol to acetaldehyde requires vitamin B12 as a coenzyme and produces 2 molecules of NADH per molecule of ethanol. This causes a buildup of NADH, which slows the process of gluconeogensis, reducing the supply of glucose to the body. Couple that with dehydration from the diuretic effects of the ethanol and you have a recipe for a splitting headache and a desire to bury your head in the pillow.

Putting It All Together
What does all this say about a night out on the town downing shots and beers with your buddies? Well, the human body has an amazing capacity for tissue repair and regeneration. Some of the effects above are really only going to happen in habitual drinkers. For instance, it’s unlikely you’re going to destroy your liver in a single night or even a single week, unless you have some underlying issue. Other than feeling like death warmed over for a day, a binge (like at your company Christmas party…bad idea!) is unlikely to do any drastic harm that the body won’t repair over the next few days.

Of course, if your goal is to maintain a high level of fitness, a single night of going overboard can certainly derail training. While you might be hungover the day after, the effects and sluggishness can actually linger for a few days. You’ll have to rebuild your vitamin and mineral stores. Your hormones won’t immediately return to baseline levels. And if you make a habit of getting sloshed, even if it’s only every Saturday out with the guys or gals, your health and fitness will suffer. The reduction in testosterone in habitual bingers will have an effect on muscle growth. Malabsorption of vitamins will have an effect on both your health and your fitness levels.

If you know you’ve overdone it, there’s no way to go back and undrink those last three bourbons and the two shots of Jagermeister. All you can do now is a bit of preventative maintenance to try to stave off the hangover in the morning. No, not coffee. That just makes you wide awake…and still drunk. Drink a huge glass of water and try to sober up a bit before getting some sleep. At this point, your liver is busy processing alcohol, so adding aspirin or other NSAIDs is a bad idea; they can increase the risk of bleeding in the GI system.

When you wake up in the morning, have some tea or water and then do the one thing that’s last on your mind: get some exercise. Just something to get the blood moving like a light jog or a trip around the block with the dog. Get blood pumping and oxygen moving about. My college hangover remedy was two hours of basketball with the guys I was out with the night before. The first game or two was really ugly, but after that we all felt better. Finally, get back to eating right. You’ve depleted your body of crucial vitamins. Now is the time to start eating meat, eggs, and vegetables to give your body something with which to work. Eggs contain cysteine, which has been shown to directly counteract the effects of acetaldehyde.

And For The Oblivious
None of this is free license to go out and get drunk. Just because your body can overcome the damage doesn’t mean that it’s a good idea to do the damage in the first place. That said, most of us probably overdo it at least once a year with old friends or family we haven’t seen in ages. When that happens, pick yourself up, nurse the hangover, and get back on track. Make sure it’s a rare, if ever, occurrence. And for Pete’s sake, don’t drive!


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