Does It Feel Like You’re Drunk on Alcohol? Know the Stages
Everyone probably already knows that too much alcohol is not good for your health. However, there are still many people who are willing to get drunk on alcohol just to get the sensation, even if only for a few moments. In fact, over time this bad habit can eat away at the body and trigger various diseases. Starting from hypertension, liver function disorders, brain damage, cancer, to death.
What Does It Feel Like to Be Drunk on Alcohol?
The habit of drinking alcohol is one of the factors causing health problems. Based on data from RISKESDAS in 2007, as many as 5.5 percent of the Indonesian population aged 15-24 years like to drink alcohol. This figure continues to increase to 6.7 percent of the population aged 25 to 34 years.
At first, people who are starting to get drunk on alcohol will experience a tippy sensation or a headache. You are so dizzy that you can’t stand up website and want to continue sitting to reduce the spinning sensation in your head.
The toxins in alcohol will continue to enter the blood vessels and poison the body. These initial signs of alcoholism usually appear after men consume 2 to 3 glasses of alcohol, while women experience them after drinking 1 to 2 glasses of alcohol in one hour.
Stages of Changes in the Body When Drunk with Alcohol
How quickly or slowly a person experiences alcohol intoxication can vary. This depends on age, gender, body posture and alcohol tolerance.
Alcohol tolerance is the body’s resistance to alcohol which increases over time. People who are used to drinking alcohol usually have a low alcohol tolerance so they will drink more alcohol to achieve the desired intoxicating effect.
There are seven stages that will occur when you are drunk with alcohol, including:
1. Relax
People who have just drunk one glass of alcohol in an hour will usually feel a sensation of calm or relaxation. This is influenced by the blood alcohol level (BAC) which is still low, namely around 0.01 to 0.05 percent.
At this stage, alcohol drinkers still look normal and can carry out their activities as usual. Often this sensation of relaxation and ease is what triggers us to drink more alcohol. This of course aims to get a more intense sensation, as expected.
2. Euphoria
You will start to feel a sensation of euphoria, flying, or excessive happiness after drinking 2 to 3 glasses for men or 1 to 2 glasses for women in one hour. Usually, the BAC level starts to increase, namely around 0.03 to 0.12 percent.
People who experience mild alcohol intoxication tend to talk a lot and become more confident in front of people. They even dare to take risks and are not embarrassed when they act out of bounds even when they are conscious.
3. Severely drunk
A person can be said to be drunk after drinking 3 to 5 glasses of alcohol for men and 2 to 4 glasses of alcohol for women in one hour. This happens because the liver can no longer produce the alcohol dehydrogenase enzyme to convert alcohol into acetaldehyde.
If you drink more alcohol than your liver can neutralize, you will begin to experience an alcohol hangover. This is usually characterized by unstable emotional changes, whether it’s being easily happy or sad.
Slowly, you will also start to lose concentration and find it difficult to remember everything that happened before. Your vision looks blurry, you feel tired easily, you feel sleepy. This is influenced by BAC levels in the blood which reach 0.09 to 0.25 percent.
4. Loss of balance
Over time, alcohol will enter the blood vessels and affect various body functions. When you drink more alcohol, namely 5 glasses of alcohol in men and 4 glasses of alcohol in women, body and brain function will slowly decline.
This often makes it difficult for a person to stand and walk. Your vision will become increasingly blurry, black and unclear. This condition occurs as a result of increasing BAC levels, namely 0.18 to 0.30 percent.
5. Fainting
The more alcohol you drink, the stronger the effect of alcohol on the body. Drinking alcohol causes the body to become dehydrated more quickly, vomiting, convulsions, and even fainting.
In this phase, you can no longer respond to everything that happens around you. Your body will be difficult to move so you won’t be able to stand or walk, your face will be pale, your skin will turn blue and you will experience seizures.
Alcohol will suppress the arginine vasopressin hormone in the body, whose job is to maintain water levels in the body. Without this hormone, water in the body will quickly drain and make all organs dehydrated, including the brain. As a result, you will feel a sensation of severe pain in your head.