Can alcohol be bad for your health?

Alcohol is a type of drug known as a depressant that slows down the body’s central nervous system. After a person has had a few drinks, it immediately affects the way they think or act. Alcohol can make a person feel sleepy, less coordinated, and slow to react. And it can cause your brain to feel foggy as well as make you think and see differently. After years of drinking, alcohol use can cause stomach and intestinal problems, liver damage, nerve and muscle damage, heart problems, and brain damage. Alcohol can cause everything from blackouts to permanent loss of brain function and memory. Researchers have also linked long-term drinking to cancer of the throat, mouth, liver, esophagus, and larynx. Drinking alcohol can also lead to emotional and psychological problems such as sadness and depression. If a pregnant woman drinks too much alcohol, it can seriously injure her unborn baby and result in birth defects.