• posted: Jun. 09, 2021
  • Dale Gribow

Did you know that 30 seconds after your first sip, the alcohol goes to your brain? Alcohol slows down the chemical and pathways used by your brain cells to send messages. This alters your mood, slows your reflexes, and gets one off balance. Do you think this could hurt you during a DUI stop and Field Sobriety Tests?

In addition, the alcohol affects your ability to think straight, which we may not recall later. Thus one struggles to store things in long-term memory. This is usually the reason one uses poor judgement and drives after drinking and of course gets a DUI. We all need to remember it is not the number of drinks, but rather the amount of alcohol in the drinks…coupled with our weight and what and when we ate.

Drinking for a long time can affect how your brain looks and works. It even causes the brain to diminish in size. It goes without saying that a smaller brain can affect your ability to think, learn and remember things.

Alcohol makes you tired so you may doze off, but it won’t allow you to sleep well. As your body processes the alcohol you toss and turn and don’t get the REM sleep needed.

Alcohol can cause Diarrhea and Heartburn too. This happens because your small intestine and colon get irritated and this affects the speed at which food moves through them.

When alcohol irritates the lining of the stomach it makes the digestive juices flow… and may cause ulcers. The build up of alcohol and acid makes one nauseous and may cause regurgitation.

When you drink, your brain slows the hormones that keep your kidney from making to much urine. Thus, you may have to go more often.

We all learned in Junior High science, that the Liver breaks down the alcohol and deals with the toxins. Long term drinking makes the Liver fatty and allows fibrous tissue to build up. That limits blood flow and the Liver cells die off and get scars. This can lead to Cirrhosis of the Liver.

The alcohol also affects the blood flow to your skin as it widens the blood vessels. This can cause one to blush and feel warm and toasty. However, that doesn’t last long as the heat flows out of our body causing our body temp to drop. Do you think this could affect the officers opinion of you at a DUI checkpoint?

The immune system is also affected by the alcohol as it slows it down. Thus, the body can’t make the number of white blood cells needed to fight germs. This is the reason, that  for a short time after drinking, you could get sick.

Anyone that has consumed alcohol, has at one time had too much and developed a hangover. This is because the alcohol dehydrates you and make the blood vessels in the body and brain expand. Thus producing a headache. 

Our stomachs want to get rid of the toxins and the acid created by the alcohol. Thus we may become nauseas and vomit. Because of all this, our Liver was busy processing the alcohol and didn’t release enough sugar. This brings on shakes and weakness.

Alcohol Myths:

  1. Red wine is the best choice. However, for me and many others, the tannins trigger a headache.
  2. Coffee will cure your hangover. The truth is that it is best to drink water and sports drinks to counter the dehydration and replace the electrolytes...especially after you threw up.;
  3. You should eat pasta before bed! Eating at bedtime, especially if you are drunk, is a bad idea. Any food can slow down the speed at which your body absorbs alcohol. Instead, consider something with fat like a steak or pizza BEFORE your first drink.