Is a High Alcohol Tolerance a Sign of Addiction?

You may have noticed that some people can seem tipsy and intoxicated after just a few drinks. Meanwhile, others can seem to drink all night without showing signs of being drunk.

How does this happen? And what controls how someone thinks, acts, and feels while drinking? 

Keep reading to learn more about alcohol tolerance, how it develops, and what it means for you.

What is alcohol tolerance?

Tolerance is a state where a substance doesn’t affect you as strongly as it did at first. For example, let’s say you used to feel the effects of alcohol after 2 drinks. But now you need more to experience the same feelings. If so, you’ve developed a tolerance to alcohol. 

Tolerance happens because alcohol use changes the chemistry in your brain. When you drink alcohol or use any other drugs, your brain releases certain chemicals, like dopamine. This causes feelings of pleasure.

Over time, your brain adapts to alcohol by releasing less of these brain chemicals. As this happens, you may be tempted to drink more to experience the same effects as before.

What does high alcohol tolerance look and feel like?

Having high tolerance means that your body is minimizing its usual response to alcohol. So you may not notice the effects of alcohol like you used to. But that doesn’t mean that the alcohol isn’t harming your body. It only means that your body has gotten used to these high levels of alcohol. 

When you have a high tolerance and drink alcohol, you’re:

• Less likely to experience nausea and vomiting

• Less likely to pass out or slur your words while speaking

• Better able to stand and walk without showing signs of intoxication

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Tolerance will change some effects from drinking. But it doesn’t change others. For example, the following will still happen when you drink alcohol:

• Your reaction times will be slow.

• You won’t be able to see what’s on your sides or around you (poor peripheral vision) as well as usual.

• Your blood alcohol concentration (BAC) will be high. This is the amount of alcohol in your bloodstream.

Having a high tolerance can make it feel like you’re coordinated enough to drive after drinking. But you’ll still have slowed reflexes and poor vision. And if your BAC is tested, the results will still be high. 

Having a high tolerance doesn’t speed up the body’s ability to process or metabolize alcohol. No matter your tolerance, there’s no quick way to sober up from alcohol.

Is having high alcohol tolerance a good thing?

No, having a high tolerance to alcohol isn’t a good sign. It means your body is responding to your drinking and taking action to limit the influence of alcohol in your body. So people with a higher tolerance tend to drink more to continue feeling the effects. And that can raise your risk for a range of health problems. 

Problems linked to higher tolerance and heavy drinking include:

• Alcohol poisoning

• Reduced performance at physical and mental tasks, like driving

• Increased risks of accidents and conflicts with others

• Dangerous interactions with medications or other drugs

• Long-term organ damage, such as liver disease, pancreatitis, and cardiomyopathy (heart diseases)

• Increased risk of cancer, including breast cancer, liver cancer, colon and rectal cancer, and oropharyngeal (middle of the throat) cancer

High tolerance also overwhelms your body’s natural defenses to alcohol. When the body detects too much alcohol, it’ll encourage vomiting or passing out to stop you from drinking more. Higher tolerance prevents this, leading to more dangerous BAC levels.

Is high alcohol tolerance a sign of addiction?

High tolerance can be a sign of alcohol addiction, now called alcohol use disorder. Signs of alcohol use disorder include:

• Drinking in larger amounts or more regularly than planned

• Spending a lot of time being drunk or hungover

• Not following through on responsibilities

• Continuing to drink despite the damage it’s causing

• Having cravings for alcohol and feeling poorly when none is available

Should you try to increase your alcohol tolerance?

No, you shouldn’t try to increase your tolerance. You may feel it’s helpful in social situations to be able to drink more. But having a high tolerance raises your risk for a range of health problems.

What affects your alcohol tolerance? 

Tolerance is more about how much you drink than what you drink or how often. You could have 2 drinks every day without raising your tolerance. But if you have 10 drinks once per week, your tolerance will build.

Does weight affect your alcohol tolerance?

Your body weight may not affect alcohol tolerance in a direct way. But your body weight affects your BAC. 

If you have a lower weight, you have less water in your body to absorb the alcohol. So your BAC will go up faster. After 3 drinks, a person who weighs 150 lbs will have a higher BAC than someone who is 200 lbs.

If you drink less, does your alcohol tolerance decrease?

Drinking less will bring down your tolerance. But this can take time. If you regularly drink lots of alcohol, even a period of 2 weeks without alcohol could noticeably lower your tolerance. 

Keep in mind that detoxing from alcohol can be dangerous. If you’re thinking about stopping drinking, reach out to a healthcare professional for tips to succeed and do it safely. 

Are there different types of alcohol tolerance?

How much alcohol you drink has a big effect on your tolerance. But there are other factors that play a role. And there are different types of tolerance:

• Environmental tolerance occurs when you develop a tolerance to alcohol in a setting or situation where you frequently drink. If you normally drink at bonfires, the smell of smoke will trigger your body to begin adjusting to alcohol, even before your first drink. But you may feel the effects quicker in a new setting.

• Metabolic tolerance is when certain enzymes in your liver adapt to more efficiently metabolize alcohol, which means you don’t feel alcohol’s effects as quickly. 

• Genetic tolerance refers to how your genes influence tolerance. Having a parent with a high tolerance may mean you’ll also have a higher tolerance. Studies show that children of people with alcohol use disorders develop tolerance at a different rate than other people. 

Why trust our experts?

Written by:

Eric Patterson, LPC

Eric Patterson, LPC, has been a professional counselor in school and outpatient settings — working with clients of all ages to achieve happiness, good mental health, and better lives — for over 15 years. Since 2010, he has provided clinical supervision to other therapists hoping to refine their skills and become licensed professionals.

Edited by:

Alex Eastman, PhD, RN

Alex Eastman, PhD, RN, is a California-based registered nurse and staff medical editor at GoodRx, where he focuses on clinical updates and Latino health.

Reviewed by:

Farzon A. Nahvi, MD

Dr. Nahvi is an emergency medicine physician and author of “Code Gray: Death, Life, and Uncertainty in the ER.” He works clinically at Concord Hospital in Concord, New Hampshire, and is a clinical assistant professor of emergency medicine at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth. Prior to this, he worked as an ER physician and clinical assistant professor of emergency medicine at the Mount Sinai Health System, NYU Langone Health, NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue, and the Manhattan VA. He is a graduate of Cornell University and NYU School of Medicine.

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