How Does Alcohol Work?🍻

Morning Drunkards!

Have you ever wondered why alcohol turns you from this:

To this:

In just a couple drinks…

How does it do that??

Well, say you take big gulp of alcohol, and it flows down into the stomach…

See all those little particles?

They’re called Ethanol.

And they are responsible for drunkenness…

How?

Well all those little ethanol particles start being absorbed into the blood through the stomach lining.

But the stomach is kinda slow at this.

The small intestine on the other hand is MUCH faster.

Which is why, after you’ve eaten, and this little pipe between the stomach and small intestine closes:

It takes MORE alcohol to get drunk!

Ok, what happens to the ethanol now that it’s been absorbed into the blood?

It gets pumped around the body of course!

But it pools in 2 main places.

This causes a little cycle to begin…

Blood pumps the ethanol around the body but it all eventually passes through the liver.

And in the liver, the ethanol gets broken down into a smaller molecule that doesn't cause any ill effects.

Trouble is… this takes some time.

Meanwhile, ethanol is being absorbed by the brain.

Which can start having some interesting effects…

Basically the Ethanol hits the brain’s breaks hard!

Making the neurons in the brain less talkative with each other and kinda sleepy…

This causes relaxation at small doses, sleep at higher doses and can actually cause death at very high doses!

But that's not ALL the ethanol does…

It also affects a region of the brain responsible for motivation and causes a release of the chemical dopamine… aka the pleasure chemical.

Now look at you, you're drunk!

But remember how the liver is constantly breaking down the ethanol?

Well eventually it starts to outpace the brain’s absorption…

So the drunkenness… fades away.

Stay Cute,
Reece, Henry & Dylan 🌈

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