Alcohol

1. How does alcohol affect your health?

1.1. Alcohol can be part of a healthy lifestyle if you drink in moderation and also exercise and have a good diet. But drinking too much can affect your physical and mental health.

2. Why is alcohol a health issue?

2.1. Many Australians drink alcohol in amounts that are harmful to their health. This kind of drinking can cause death, disease and injury and is a major factor in ill health and social harm in Australia.

2.2. No level of alcohol consumption can be considered safe for everyone. To minimise your risk of accident, disease or death, the Australian Guidelines recommend healthy adults should drink no more than 2 standard drinks on any day, and no more than 4 standard drinks on a single occasion. A standard drink is a can or stubbie of mid-strength beer, 100ml of wine, or a 30ml shot of spirits.

3. What are the Short-term health effects of alcohol?

3.1. Nearly a third of Australians drink more than they should on a single occasion (known as binge drinking). In the short term, drinking too much alcohol can lead to: • dizziness • lack of judgement • loss of coordination • memory loss • vomiting • headaches and hangovers • accidental injury (to yourself or others) • being in a road accident • deliberately harming yourself or others • alcohol poisoning (which can be fatal)

4. What Is Alcohol?

4.1. Alcohol is a depressant. It slows down your brain and this affects the way you think, feel and behave.

4.1.1. Alcohol is a drug and can be toxic.

4.1.2. Beer, wine, spirits or hard liquor, liqueurs, ports, sherries and homebrew all contain different amounts of alcohol.

4.1.3. The more alcohol a drink contains the stronger it will be.

4.1.4. Large quantities of alcohol are poisonous.

5. What does it do?

5.1. When you drink alcohol it gets into your bloodstream, it circulates around your body including your brain.

5.2. Alcohol slows down your brain and affects the way it carries messages. It also affects how your brain talks to other parts of your body.

5.3. At first you might feel relaxed and happy. At the same time your liver is working really hard to break down the alcohol and clear any toxins out of your body. A healthy liver can break down about one standard drink per hour.

5.4. If you are drinking faster than your body can get rid of the alcohol you will get increasingly drunk, and the alcohol may begin to cause some damage.