What does alcohol poisoning look like?

Alcohol poisoning, or alcohol overdose, happens when someone drinks too much alcohol too quickly. During an alcohol overdose, the level of alcohol in the bloodstream is so high that the brain no longer can support basic actions like breathing, heart rate, or temperature. Here’s what this may look like: Loss of consciousness Vomiting, even while unconscious Cool, clammy skin and bluish fingernails, lips, or gums Not breathing well, or breathing very slowly Seizure Alcohol overdose is a medical emergency that can lead to brain damage or death. Call 911 or go to the emergency room if you notice these signs.

What Does Alcohol Do to the Body?

Reviewed by Mera Goodman, MD, FAAP | December 22, 2023

Key takeaways:

Alcohol is a commonly used substance that affects multiple systems in your body.
Drinking too much can cause many short- and long-term health effects.
If you have problems with alcohol, there are options for getting help and treatment.

Reviewed by Mera Goodman, MD, FAAP | December 22, 2023

Many people in the U.S. and all over the world drink alcohol. Though alcohol use is common and often associated with a good time, it presents both short- and long-term health risks. There has been debate over how much alcohol is safe to drink. However, there’s strong evidence that long-term, heavy alcohol use affects multiple systems in your body.

Let’s take a look at how alcohol affects some of the organs in your body after you drink.

1. Brain (neurological system)

When you drink alcohol, it quickly begins to affect your brain’s communication pathways. Having just 1 drink can affect your mood and how your brain works. You may experience issues with:

Balance
Speech
Judgment
Memory

If you drink a lot of alcohol in a short period of time, you’re also at risk of experiencing a blackout, or a gap in memory.

Alcohol can also affect the areas in the brain that control breathing.

2. Heart and circulation

Alcohol stays in the bloodstream until it’s broken down. This causes changes in your blood vessels — and, as a result, your blood pressure. It depends on how much you drink and how long the alcohol stays in your system:

At first, alcohol can make your blood vessels relax (causing your blood pressure to drop). A few drinks can also cause a fast or irregular heartbeat.
But, with regular drinking over time, alcohol can make your blood vessels tighten (causing your blood pressure to rise).

Alcohol has blood-thinning properties, which can put you at risk for bleeding. But having a drink from time to time won’t have much effect on your blood’s ability to clot. Your body will clear the alcohol before it has much chance to affect blood clotting. If you take a blood thinner, though, it’s best to limit or avoid alcohol. That’s because alcohol can interact with blood-thinning medications and increase the risk of bleeding.

And even though alcohol is a blood thinner, heavy alcohol use can actually have the opposite effect. Studies have shown that heavy drinking can increase your risk of blood clots.

3. Stomach and intestines

Your stomach and intestines absorb the alcohol that you drink. Drinking too much alcohol can do the following:

Change the normal balance of bacteria in your gut
Decrease gut absorption
Increase how much bile your liver makes

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All of these changes can lead to bloating and diarrhea.

You may also experience acid reflux or heartburn while drinking alcohol, or shortly after. This happens because alcohol relaxes the sphincter in your esophagus. Normally, this sphincter works as a valve to prevent stomach acid from going back up into your esophagus. But alcohol can relax it to the point where it doesn’t work as it should.

4. Liver

The liver is the main organ that processes alcohol. Even when you drink a small amount, your liver has to work to filter that alcohol. And some liver cells die every time you drink.

5. Kidneys

Like the liver, the kidneys also play a role in filtering harmful substances from your blood. The kidneys also help regulate how much water is in your body. And drinking a lot of alcohol makes this job more difficult. You’ll likely notice that when you drink, the alcohol causes the kidneys to make more urine.

6. Skin

Drinking alcohol causes blood vessels in the skin to relax. You may notice that your skin looks more flushed. You may also sweat more.

In an alcohol overdose, the opposite happens:

The skin becomes cool and clammy.
And the fingernails, lips, or gums can take on a bluish color.

These are signs of a medical emergency and need immediate medical attention.

7. Immune system

Even a single episode of binge drinking can lower your ability to fight infections for the next 24 hours.

Research shows that long-term and heavy drinking can weaken your immune system and make it harder to fight off infections. This type of drinking affects how well your immune cells work, making it harder to “remember” past infections. Similarly, heavy drinking can also lower your response to vaccinations.

How much alcohol is safe to drink?

Experts agree that there’s no amount of alcohol that’s absolutely safe to drink. If you choose to drink, moderate drinking may limit your risks of developing alcohol-related diseases. That’s 1 standard drink in a day for women and up to 2 for men.

What happens if you drink too much alcohol?

If you drink too much alcohol, you may experience a hangover the next day. A hangover can be quite uncomfortable, leading to a range of symptoms, such as:

Nausea
Dizziness
Headache
Irritability
Increased thirst
Muscle pain

Drinking too much alcohol or binge drinking also puts you at greater risk of accidents, injuries, and alcohol overdose. Alcohol can cause problems controlling basic life functions such as your heart rate, blood pressure, and breathing. A blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of 0.4 or more is a medical emergency. And it brings serious risk of life-threatening complications.

What are the long-term effects of alcohol on the body?

Heavy alcohol use over the long term is linked to a number of health conditions that affect different bodily systems and organs, including the:

Heart: Drinking can increase your risk of heart-related problems, like high blood pressure, stroke, heart disease, and heart failure.
Liver: Alcohol can have serious effects on your liver. Heavy alcohol use can cause alcoholic hepatitis, cirrhosis, and metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD), formerly called fatty liver disease.
Pancreas: Heavy alcohol use can lead to pancreatitis, an inflammation of the pancreas that affects digestion.
Skin: Heavy alcohol use is linked to skin conditions like psoriasis, rosacea, dandruff, hives, and inflammation.
Gut health: Alcohol can cause inflammation and bleeding in your gastrointestinal (GI) system. It’s also linked to GERD (gastroesophageal reflux disease).
Immune system: Alcohol can interfere with your immune system, making it harder for you to recover from injuries and infections.
Lungs: Alcohol can damage the cells in your lungs, putting you more at risk for severe lung problems.

Is alcohol addictive?

Yes, alcohol is a commonly misused substance, and it can be addictive. A 2023 national survey found that more than 28 million people in the U.S. ages 12 and over had alcohol use disorder within the past year. People with alcohol use disorder have trouble controlling their alcohol use. And they may drink even though it negatively impacts their life, health, and relationships.

Both genetic and environmental factors play a role in your risk for alcohol use disorder.

Frequently asked questions

Most people can process 1 standard drink per hour. But how long alcohol stays in your body and breaks down in your system is different for everyone. Part of it depends on how much and how fast you drink. Plus, some people have different versions of the enzymes that break down alcohol in their stomach and liver. This can make the process faster or slower.

Men break down alcohol faster than women. And those with medical conditions such as liver disease break down alcohol slower.

Alcohol poisoning, or alcohol overdose, happens when someone drinks too much alcohol too quickly. During an alcohol overdose, the level of alcohol in the bloodstream is so high that the brain no longer can support basic actions like breathing, heart rate, or temperature. Here’s what this may look like:

Loss of consciousness
Vomiting, even while unconscious
Cool, clammy skin and bluish fingernails, lips, or gums
Not breathing well, or breathing very slowly
Seizure

Alcohol overdose is a medical emergency that can lead to brain damage or death. Call 911 or go to the emergency room if you notice these signs.

Alcohol and depression share a complex relationship. Alcohol can contribute to depression, and depression can contribute to alcohol use. In other words, someone experiencing depression is more likely to drink alcohol. And someone who drinks heavily is more likely to experience depression.

The bottom line

Alcohol affects the entire body. It’s commonly misused, can be addictive, and can cause serious short- and long-term health consequences. The way the body responds to and processes alcohol is based on a number of factors and varies from person to person.

There’s no safe amount to drink. If you choose to drink, aim to limit how much you drink.

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Why trust our experts?

Written 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

Farzon Nahvi, MD, is an emergency medicine physician and author of “Code Gray: Death, Life, and Uncertainty in the ER.” He works at Concord Hospital in Concord, New Hampshire, and teaches at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth.

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