How alcohol can affect you

Have you ever tasted or drunk alcohol? Six out of 10 young people (aged 11-16) in Northern Ireland have had an alcoholic drink. Most young people experiment with alcohol in their teens with few problems. However, many young people drink in unsafe ways. At the time it might seem like fun but what you don’t see is the damage that alcohol can do to your body.

When you drink alcohol it isn’t digested like food. It enters the bloodstream quickly, within a few minutes. How quickly this happen, depends on a number of things including the type of alcoholic drink (fizzy drinks are absorbed faster), how much you drink, and if you have eaten (if alcohol is consumed with food it is absorbed more slowly).

What’s the big deal, you say? So what if you get dizzy, feel a bit sick or end up with a hangover? Wrong! The alcohol travels to every part of your body, and as it’s a drug, affects everything it comes into contact with, changing how it works.

Young people are even more at risk because their bodies are still developing. Their bodies are generally smaller and they may not be able to control their drinking. For example, areas of your brain called the hippocampus and frontal lobe change a lot when you’re a teenager. Alcohol can damage these parts of the brain making you less able to learn and remember things or change your behaviour. Drinking too much can cause permanent damage to your brain. In addition, alcohol contains lots of sugar. Too much sugar in your diet can lead to obesity and diabetes.

It’s your body, your life and your choice, but you might be surprised at the number of ways drinking alcohol can affect your health.


>>Click here to launch the alcohol x-ray machine.