The Aftermath of Alcohol Consumption in this Yuletide Season

It is that time of the year again, when most people get to be more indulgent with alcohol. It is important that you consider more reasons to quit or, at the very least, check your alcohol consumption.

Ultimately, drinking too much can cause dehydration. When you become dehydrated, your skin might become baggy and loose, including the skin under your eyes. This can make dark circles appear more prominent. Baggy eyelids can cast shadows that increase the impression of dark circles. Chronic alcohol use can increase dark circles under your eyes. Skin thins in alcoholics, making blood vessels beneath the surface more visible.

Research shows that, if you drink alcohol in excess, you can throw your electrolytes out of balance, including your sodium level. Also, while, dehydration can cause low sodium levels too; eating very little food and drinking beer, which is low in sodium, can also cause hypernatremia, the medical term for low sodium.

Remember, your body doesn’t break alcohol down into glucose. Instead, the liver breaks alcohol down into acetate first, and then into carbon dioxide and water. So, if you drink a mixed drink containing juice, soda or other foods containing carbohydrate, those elements will break down into glucose, but the alcohol itself will not.

Experts assert that, some drinks do appear to cause more severe hangover than others, so, the type of alcohol rather than whether or not the drink contains sugar might make the difference.

Studies show that, the drinks most likely to cause hangovers are dark-coloured drinks high in congeners, substances used to colour and flavour drinks. Brandy topped the list of drinks likely to cause hangovers, followed by red wine, rum, whiskey, white wine, gin, vodka, beer and, last, pure alcohol mixed with orange juice, which negated the presence of congeners.

However, light-to-moderate alcohol intakes are not known to have adverse effects on your body’s ability to absorb and store vitamin B-12. However, chronic alcohol consumption damages the delicate villi in your intestines. The villi are crucial to B-12 absorption, as well as other B vitamins such as folate and thiamine. Therefore, long-term, chronic alcohol consumption puts you at risk for B-12 deficiency.

Written by Tunde Oguntola

Photo Credit: 9gag.com