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“You are a different person when you’re drunk.” This is perhaps the most common afterthought expressed both by onlookers, and by the person staring back at you from the mirror, after a night of drinking. And its true! You really are a different person when you’re drunk. This is one of the reasons that alcohol abuse is so prevalent, and so dangerous. People often make assumptions about their own judgment, rationality and behavior when they are sober. As intoxication sets in, those attributes are wiped away. The drunk person thinks and does things that the sober person never would.

Alcohol produces physical, neurological and psychological changes that literally alter the way that we connect with the world. As mentioned on the “What Alcohol Feels Like” page, the human body has a natural tolerance for alcohol. Mature adult bodies are capable of safely ingesting and metabolizing about 1 oz. of alcohol per hour -thats approximately one drink. Any more than that, and the liver falls behind. Unfiltered alcohol then floods directly into the bloodstream through the stomach and small intestine. It is circulated throughout our body, where it reaches every nook and cranny. Alcohol is one of the few drugs that actually effects every organ it touches.

Once it reaches the brain, alcohol inhibits the activity of essential neurotransmitters (specifically gamma amino butyric acid). This prevents the brain from communicating -thinking- the way it normally does. The function of the central nervous system is depressed. As a result, we literally think, act, and perceive the world differently than we do when sober. Higher-order thinking skills diminish, and can disappear. Rationality and judgment are taken away from us, which is why the commitments we make when sober, have little relevance to our actions when drunk.

The progression of intoxication follows a sliding scale which corresponds with the gradual loss of brain function. Disorientation, detachment, confusion and physical impairment can feel pleasurable. The removal of higher-order concerns, like consequence, can feel liberating. This is evident even in the early stages of intoxication, where people talk more, speak louder and say things they ordinarily wouldn’t, because they have lost the ability to attach consequence to their actions.

A depressed central nervous system has trouble sending and interpreting messages to the different parts of the body. Small muscles are affected first, followed by the larger. Balance and coordination become impaired. In high doses, a potentially fatal loss of consciousness can occur as the brain begins to shut down altogether. After a drinker loses consciousness, there can be a decline of autonomic nervous system function, such as reflexes and respiration. Those who experience acute alcohol poisoning actually die because their respiratory system stops functioning. Most drinking fatalities, however, are due to the change in judgment and coordination that onset with far lower levels of drinking.

The amount of alcohol required to produce these effects varies from person to person. The onset and severity of effects is influenced by age, gender, body mass, stomach content, physical tolerance and the presence of other drugs.
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Alcohol Tutorial: Page 9 of 23