The truth about alcohol and its impact on your health
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Five ways drinking alcohol can affect your overall health
- Regular alcohol consumption, even in moderate amounts, can negatively impact various aspects of health.
- There are five ways alcohol can affect your well-being, including impacts on your brain (altered mood, impaired coordination, and reduced alertness), your stomach and digestive system (gastritis) and your immune system.
- Long term, it can also impact your heart (heart failure, high blood pressure, stroke, and cardiomyopathy) and liver (hepatitis, fibrosis, or liver cancer).
- It’s important to understand alcohol's effects and seek help or cut back if health is being impacted.
- Recommendations for reducing alcohol-related harm include staying below the recommended weekly limit, spreading consumption across the week, incorporating alcohol-free weeks, choosing lower-strength alternatives, and tracking intake.