Author: Gary Jackson

Does Alcohol Age Us? Big Study Links Excessive Drinking and Aging

Over time, heavy alcohol use can result in changes to the skin. This is because of the damage that alcohol can do to the body’s organs as well as chemicals in the body. Let’s take a look at some of the ways that alcohol affects the aging process. Let’s also take a look at why, as you get older, drinking alcohol may affect you differently.

Therefore, drinking alcohol can compound the natural effects of aging. Research examining the impact of alcohol consumption over a long period of time, as well as binge drinking, on biological aging has been limited. Alcohol can affect the way your body fights off life-threatening illnesses like tuberculosis or pneumonia. Researchers are also studying the possibility that alcoholic liver disease might be caused, at least in part, by your immune system attacking healthy body tissues. Previous studies have also concluded that alcohol only begins to significantly damage health after a threshold is surpassed, rather than increasing uniformly with every drink consumed. After the 17-unit threshold is met, however, DNA starts to degrade quickly with each extra alcoholic beverage.

Conditions

Alcohol’s all-around negative effect on nutrition means that heavy drinkers often become malnourished. This limits the body’s ability to maintain itself, resulting in faster aging. There are just as many negative invisible body changes that can occur due to heavy drinking as there are visible body changes. Perhaps the biggest sign of aging that you can’t physically see is the effect that drinking has on your brain.

What Are the Harmful Effects of Excessive Alcohol?

Acetaldehyde damages DNA and reduces the levels of antioxidant compounds that protect against oxidative stress. People who drink may notice that they’re “feeling no pain” sooner as they get older. That’s mainly because our bodies gain fat and lose muscle in our senior years and it takes longer for us to break down alcohol and get it out of our system. Certain medications and excessive alcohol can work in tandem to suppress or amplify the effects of the other. Alcohol can diminish the effectiveness of medications, and medications can amplify the effect of alcohol on the body.

Alcohol and Aging

Studies have shown that alcohol can age the brain so much that young people who drink regularly have been found to share similar brain activity to those of elderly adults. For example, young people who drink regularly have been shown to perform poorly in tests of executive function. Though the study did not compare the impact of binge drinking with spreading out alcohol consumption over the week, Topiwala expects the latter causes more aging as alcohol addicts were the most affected. Studies of the brain structure of alcoholics have also found similar results. If you’re someone that is a heavy drinker, chances are you have begun noticing changes to your body over time. For example, you may notice unexplained weight gain or changes in your skin.

Therefore, you’re at a greater risk of developing a wide range of health problems, including the neurodegenerative conditions that affect your cognition and memory. Broken capillaries, the tiny blood vessels near the surface of the skin, tend to crop up as you get older. If you drink too much, the blood vessels can burst, causing red spots and spidery splotches. Older drinkers are maybe even more likely to experience this.

Alcohol and Aging: Does Drinking Make You Look Older?

According to a Northwestern Medicine study published in the journal Aging, scientists found that consuming certain types of alcohol over long periods of time as well as binge drinking both speed up biological aging. They studied beer, wine, liquor and “total alcohol” (sum of the three alcoholic beverages consumed by an individual). What’s not so well known is the effect of alcohol consumption on biological aging, specifically binge drinking, long-term drinking and type of drinks — such as beer, wine or liquor. Alcohol can affect the way some vital organs work and make them age faster.

Many addiction treatment programs, support groups, and 12 step programs provide the tools needed in order to be successful after detox. That way people with alcohol use problems can receive the help and support that they need while they continue to live their lives. Heavy alcohol use can even prevent the male body from being able to make testosterone properly. This combination of hormonal issues can lead to the development of breasts in men. It can also lead to men carrying their weight around their hips and thighs instead of their bellies.

1. That’s where alcohol comes in — it dehydrates you and dries out your skin.
2. It can also age you prematurely, making you look, feel, and act older than you actually are.
3. No causal link was established between alcohol consumption and telomere shortening, but the study makes strong observational suggestions.
4. Over time, continual bloodshot eyes due to excessive alcohol use can lead to the depletion of nutrients.

When combined with counseling, this approach is proven highly effective. Your trusted resource for health and wellness information and the latest medical advances to help you and your family live better. Get in contact with us today, or learn more about how our program works. Soon, you can be on the road to a more youthful self—inside and out. At Ria, we offer weekly meetings with certified counselors to help members stay on track and build skills for long-term change.

Heavy drinking can cause irritation to the blood vessels in your eyes. This is why oftentimes when someone is drunk they get bloodshot eyes. Over time, continual bloodshot eyes due to excessive alcohol use can lead to the depletion of nutrients. This can also lead to impaired eyesight and the need for glasses, contacts, or surgery to correct your vision.