Short-Term Effects of Drinking
Brain
1. When does alcohol reach the brain?
As soon as it is consumed
2. Name two thought processes that are dulled?
Memory & Concentration
Liver
3. What is oxidation?
The process by which the liver metabolizes alcohol
4. The liver can oxidize how much alcohol in one hour?
1/3-1/2 ounce per hour
5. Until alcohol is oxidized, where does the alcohol circulate?
In the bloodstream
6.
7.
8.
9.
Blood Vessels
What carries alcohol to all body parts?
Blood
Alcohol causes the blood vessels to do what?
Dilate, or widen
What escapes the body due to the blood vessels dilating?
Heat
People who drink and then go out into the cold weather are at an increased risk for
what?
Hypothermia
Heart
10. Alcohol increases what two aspects of the heart?
Heart Rate and Blood Pressure
11. What builds up in the muscle fibers of the heart?
Scar Tissue
Kidneys
12. Alcohol produces increase production of?
Urine
13. Common problem associated with the day after drinking is?
Dehydration
Stomach
14. Alcohol produces the increase production of this in the stomach?
Gastric Juices
15. How does alcohol get into the blood stream from the stomach?
Stomach absorbs some alcohol into the bloodstream through small blood vessels
in the stomach lining.
16. What does food do in the stomach if one drinks alcohol? Can this stop
drunkenness?
Food slows down the absorption of alcohol into the bloodstream but it does not
stop drunkenness, it only slows it.
17. Repeated irritation can lead to what?
Ulcers and bleeding in the stomach
Driving under the influence
18. The amount of alcohol in a person’s blood expressed in a percentage?
BAC, or Blood Alcohol Content
19. Signs of intoxication begin as low as what percentage?
.02-.03%
20. What effects does alcohol have on an individual’s ability to operate a car or other
heavy machinery?
Limits ability to judge distances, speed, turns and one’s own abilities and
limitations.
21. Three tests used to measure alcohol in the blood stream?
Blood Test, Breath Test, Urinalysis
Long-Term Effects of Drinking
Brain Damage
22. Brain damage can result from what?
Excessive, long term alcohol use
23. Heavy or moderate use of alcohol can destroy what? Which leads to what?
Kills brain cells; leads to decrease in intellectual abilities – memory loss and
problem solving
Chronic Liver Problems
24. Alcohol interferes with the liver’s ability to break down what?
Fats
25. A condition which fats build up in the liver and cannot be broken down.
Fatty Liver
26. Alcohol slows down the growth of what?
New liver cells
27. What levels are reduced in the liver?
oxygen
28. Prolonged heavy use of alcohol results in this disease, a condition in which liver
tissue is destroyed and then replaced with useless scar tissue or “scarring of
tissue”?
Cirrhosis
29. How does alcohol use result in hepatitis?
Due to alcohol’s Toxic effects
Tolerance and Dependence
30. Necessary to drink more in order to produce the same effects?
Tolerance
31. Symptoms such as jumpiness, sleeplessness, sweating, and poor appetite to severe
tremors, convulsions, and hallucinogens all types of what?
Withdrawal symptoms
32. Difference between physiological and psychological dependence?
Psychological dependence means the brain needs alcohol and leads to mental
withdrawal symptoms. Physiological dependence means the body needs alcohol
and leads to physical withdrawal symptoms.
Multiplier Effect
33. Combining alcohol with one or more drugs or medicines to increase the effects?
Multiplier Effect
Alcohol and Pregnancy
34. A condition in which a fetus has been adversely affected mentally and physically
by its mother’s heavy alcohol use during pregnancy?
Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, or FAS
35. Name some problems that occur to infants with FAS?
Low birth weight, Impaired speech, Cleft palate, General weakness, Slow body
growth, Facial abnormalities, Poor coordination, Heart defects, Poor attention
span, Hyperactivity
36. How does alcohol go from mother to child?
Through the Umbilical Cord
37. How many times per week can lead to the fetus never ridding alcohol from its
body?
3 times per week
38. FAS is 100% preventable, however there are how many cases of FAS every year?
5,000
Intoxication Levels
39. Name the problems at each of the alcohol percentages?
.04% - .05% : You’re warm and relaxed; you’re behavior may become
exaggerated.
.08%-.10% : You are legally drunk; you may start to slur your speech, your sense
of balance is probably off, and your motor skills are becoming impaired.
.2% : You feel confused, dazed, or otherwise disoriented ; at this point you may
experience nausea and/or start vomiting; blackouts are likely.
.3% : You have little comprehension of where you are; you may suddenly pass out
--with an alarming BAC like .30%, your body will decide to pass out for you.
.4% - .5% : You are probably in a coma. The nerve centers controlling your
heartbeat and respiration are slowing down.
40. What is acute alcohol intoxication?
Acute alcohol intoxication, or alcohol poisoning, can occur after the ingestion of
a large amount of alcohol.
41. The pyloric valve at the end of the stomach closes with heavy alcohol use.
Because this happens, the stomach becomes irritated causing the drinker to vomit
also known as?
Involuntary regurgitation