Fete Lifestyle Magazine October 2015 | Page 35

Your Field Guide To Drinking Alcohol

“Alcohol may be man's worst enemy, but the bible says love your enemy.” ~Frank Sinatra

So why do people react so differently to drinking if we process alcohol the same way? Primarily because the enzyme that processes drinks, alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH), is different in each of us. For example, the average woman – regardless of race or ethnicity – produces less ADH than the average man. Further, ethnicities such as Native Americans and Asians generally produce less ADH than Caucasians, and therefore get drunk faster on less. This means that their bloodstreams get more unmetabolized alcohol than the average Caucasians does.

Here is your quick 10-Step Guide to how alcohol travels through your body:

1. Once you start to swallow your delicious cocktail, your body begins to act immediately to get your stomach and small intestine working.

2. Unmetabolized alcohol flows into the stomach, through the stomach walls and then into your bloodstream. What reaches the brain acts as a sedative, meaning it slows transmission of impulses between your nerve cells.

3. Upon entering the bloodstream, alcohol quickly gets distributed to organs throughout the entire body.

4. Blood vessels widen, resulting in short-lived feelings of warmth (flushing and pinkness occur in some), decrease in pulse rate and decrease in blood pressure. Blood also becomes less likely to clot for a short period of time, temporarily reducing your risk of heart attack and stroke.

5. Alcohol from the small intestine flows into your liver, where an enzyme similar to ADH metabolizes your drink(s). This enzyme, nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD), usually turns the glucose you get from carbohydrates into energy. But when processing alcohol, this comes to a stop so all attention can be paid to the beverage in hand.

6. Your liver can process about ½ an ounce of pure alcohol in an hour. That equates to about 6-12 ounces of beer, 5 ounces of wine, or 1 ounce of spirits.

7. Anything not processed – meaning there was more than listed above – flows to your heart. This causes your heart muscles to contract with reduced force for a brief time, then return to normal, pumping more drinks to your various organs.

8. Within 20 minutes of consumption, alcohol can affect the kidneys, acting as a diuretic and increasing urination. This can also lead to dehydration.

9. Alcohol flowing in your bloodstream reaches your lungs, where with each breath a little bit of your liquor comes out, accounting for that alcohol smell.

10. As drinking continues, blood alcohol concentration (BAC) goes up, causing greater loss of bodily control by the brain. As BAC gets higher we experience changes to perception, balance, mood and speech. In cases of high BAC, motor control can be compromised and loss of consciousness is possible.

While each of us has a different level of tolerance for alcohol consumption, there are common responses our body has to drinking. Further, the ability to process alcohol has a similar timeframe for everyone. Be sure to keep track of the amount you’ve had, and pay particular attention to the physical reactions your body is having. And if you fail, be sure to drink as much water as possible before you pass out… It’s the only proven way to lessen the pain of a hangover.