YOUR BODY ON drinking

A summer BBQ and a glass of wine often go hand in hand and why not enjoy it? Doesn’t hurt, though, to know what alcohol does to you physically.

Within 5-10 minutes of your first sip, alcohol goes to work on neurotransmitters (chemical messengers that influence our behaviour and emotions): it triggers the endorphin GABA, which acts like a calming sedative, and dopamine, which creates a feeling of pleasure.

You may think alcohol is warming you up as the increased blood flow in the vessels close to your skin cause us to feel warmer, but that rush of blood to the surface area cools your core temperature.

Recent studies show alcohol fires up the same neurons active when the body is starving. No wonder those chips looks so appealing!

It takes about an hour for the average body to process a standard drink. About 90-98 per cent is broken down in the liver, the other 2-10 per cent is flushed out in your urine, breathed out or sweated out.

Short term use of alcohol can decrease your inhibitions and so increase your desire for sex.

But at the same time it diminishes performance, delaying orgasm.

A couple of drinks may put you to sleep, but you’re more likely to get up for a middle-of-the-night loo visit, and the restorative REM stage of deep sleep we all depend on is disrupted, leaving you feeling washed out in the morning.

YOUR BRAIN

YOUR SKIN

YOUR APPETITE

YOUR DIGESTION

YOUR DESIRE

ENERGY