Beyond the Buzz

We’ve all heard people say that drinking a glass of red wine a day can be good for your health, but what if the reality is more complex? While there may have previously been an argument that moderate alcohol consumption may have some limited health benefits, recent research paints a different picture. There are surprising downsides to having even small amounts of alcohol –and these revealing truths might have you rethinking your evening glass.

Alcohol is a toxin; it quite literally destroys cells, even in small and moderate amounts. There is no way to sugar-coat it, it is bad for us and the impact will last even when we are not drinking. The World Health Organization states:

“Alcohol is a toxic, psychoactive, and dependence-producing substance and has been classified as a Group 1 carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer decades ago – this is the highest risk group, which also includes asbestos, radiation and tobacco.”

The science of a neurotoxin

Alcohol has a reputation as a stress reliever – but what is relaxing about a shrinking brain volume that impacts memory, learning, and decision-making? Not much.

Once ingested and filtered through the liver, alcohol gets turned into acetaldehyde (a known carcinogen) in the brain, and it becomes a toxin. Once in our brain and through the hypothalamus, it influences the pituitary gland, which in turn influences your adrenal glands and cortisol is released. Meaning: you become more stressed.

Alcohol messes with your gut microbiome, the ecosystem of bacteria crucial for brain health and neurotransmitter production. This can lead to anxiety, depression, and even impulsive behavior, impacts that you can see even when you’re not drinking. If you’ve ever had “hangxiety”, this is why.

Shrinking away

Even if you just drink once a week and just one glass, there’s still a significant thinning of the neocortex and other areas of the brain. The neocortex is where our rational thinking takes place and when this is thinned, our capacity for forward planning and critical thinking diminishes. Your brain will shrink due to alcohol consumption, and the more you consume, the greater this impact is.

Impacting impulsivity

The prefrontal cortex, your brain’s control center for planning, judgment, and self-control, also takes a hit from alcohol. This can lead to poor decision-making, both while drinking and in everyday life. Think of it as rewiring your brain for impulsivity, even when you’re sober. The prefrontal cortex is not fully formed until about the age of 25 – so excessive drinking as a young adult or adolescent can have lifelong effects on our critical thinking and inhibitions, leading to destructive consequences. You very well may do or say things you regret. Combine that with the fact that alcohol suppresses memory formation and storage, and you can clearly see why it is not recommended from a brain-health perspective.

A punch to the gut

Drinking alcohol increases our overall inflammation and decreases our immune system. One way it does it is by weakening the intestinal lining, causing “leaky gut” syndrome. This allows toxins and harmful bacteria to escape your GI tract and get back into your bloodstream, triggering systemic inflammation and weakening your immune system. It’s a one-two punch for your overall health. Increased inflammation is the reason why people who are frequent drinkers will have rounder, “puffier” faces, and often have red noses with visible blood vessels.

Stressed and depressed

Alcohol disrupts the delicate dance of our neurotransmitters like GABA and serotonin, key players in mood regulation and relaxation. It has an evocative impact on your intestinal microbiome and interferes with the mechanism of producing serotonin and dopamine.

Alcohol is turned into energy when it is first metabolized in the body, so you will immediately feel energized and get a boost to your mood due to the vasodilation it causes. At first, you feel really relaxed, but the initial buzz masks this underlying imbalance, and it leads to a rebound effect of stress, anxiety, and low mood later. It’s a vicious cycle that keeps you chasing that fleeting feeling of calm through another drink. This is also one of the causes for people to develop an unhealthy relationship with or addiction to alcohol: having a drink may calm their nerves, but have too many and the next day it is worse – so they have another drink to “take the edge off”. It’s easy to see where a destructive cycle could start to form.

Contrary to popular belief (and what the aforementioned people may be trying to achieve), alcohol actually amps up your stress response. It disrupts the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, leading to higher cortisol levels and making you feel more stressed overall. That glass of wine might seem soothing in the moment, but it’s setting you up for a longer-term stress burden.

When our baseline cortisol levels increase, it is detrimental to almost all of our body’s systems and can lead to the development of: clinical anxiety and depression, weight gain, cardiac diseases, memory problems, sleep issues, digestion issues, headaches, and more.

Another sleepless night

Alcohol might lull you to sleep initially, but it fragments your sleep cycle, leading to poor sleep quality. As the alcohol metabolizes in your system throughout the night, the effects that it has on you and your ability to sleep and rest change. You will spend less time in REM sleep, and therefore not get the restoration benefits that sleep provides us with. You will wake up tired, and possibly hungover and with a headache. This is due to the other effect that alcohol has on us while we sleep: it is a diuretic. Frequently waking from sleep to use the toilet is common, and this impacts sleep patterns and can lead to dehydration overnight. The dysregulation in your sleep will further disrupt your hormones, mood, and cognitive function, creating a domino effect of negative consequences.

Make smart choices

From a neuroscience standpoint, alcohol should always be avoided. There is not a “safe” amount that can be had, and even one glass of wine has a measurable thinning effect on the neocortex. But, from a harm-reduction viewpoint, here are some ways that you could help lessen the negative effects of alcohol if you choose to indulge:

Eat a good meal with healthy proteins, carbs, and fats before you drink, versus doing so on an empty stomach. It will slow down the time the alcohol takes to get into your system.
If on a regular basis you eat fermented foods and probiotics and prebiotics, that may help counterbalance some of the negative influence on your gut microbiome that drinking alcohol can have.
There’s some evidence that ice baths can help as well because of the norepinephrine that you release when you take one. So that it is possible that could help lessen or shorten hangover.
Drink as infrequently as possible. It takes 2–6 months of abstaining from alcohol to see its negative effects reversed, and the more you drink – the longer it will take.

Changing for the better

Thankfully, the effects of drinking on the brain can be mitigated, and even reversed in some cases. If you abstain from alcohol all together for two to six months, you will see recovery and positive rebound in your intestinal microbiome, your hypothalamus-adrenal-stress axis, and your serotonin and GABA levels. It is also likely that you will regain normal functions in the inhibitory regions of your prefrontal cortex. The unfortunate situation is for people who may have been heavy drinkers for quite some time – there are effects that alcohol has caused to their bodies which may never be reversed. However, this is not a reason to not make a positive change – as decreasing (or stopping altogether) their alcohol consumption will put a stop to any further negative damage or impacts that it would have had.

Beyond moderation

The science screams loud and clear: even small amounts of alcohol can have these detrimental effects. Studies show these downsides hold true even for low-level consumption, like one glass per week. This isn’t about judgment or demonizing the occasional drink. It’s about empowering you with informed choices. By understanding the hidden impacts of even moderate alcohol consumption, you can make conscious decisions about your relationship with alcohol and prioritize your overall well-being. Remember, you have the power to choose a path to a healthier, happier you, one mindful sip at a time.

Please note: This blog post should not be taken as medical advice. Consult a healthcare professional for personalized guidance on alcohol consumption and its impact on your health.

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The Unexpected Downsides of Moderate Drinking