• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

FHE Health - Addiction & Mental Health Care Homepage

Drug, Alcohol and Mental Health Treatment

ContactCareers

Call for Immediate Help (833) 596-3502

MENUMENU
  • About
        • About FHE Rehab
          • About FHE Health
          • Our Staff
          • Locations We Serve
          • Testimonials
        • Our Campus
          • Gallery
          • Our Videos
          • The Health and Wellness Center at FHE Health
        • Our Locations
          • Alcohol Rehab
          • Detox Center
          • Drug Rehab
          • Mental Health Center
          • Outpatient Rehab
        • Careers at FHE Health
          • Employment Opportunities
        • Our Expertise
          • Accreditations
          • Educational Opportunities
          • Community Impact Award
          • First Responder Families Podcast
          • First Responder Paws
          • Education Scholarship
  • Addiction
        • Treatment Programs
          • Treatment Program Overview
          • Alcohol Addiction
          • Drug Addiction Treatment
          • Behavioral Addiction
        • Levels of Care
          • Continuum of Care
          • Addiction Detox
          • Inpatient Addiction Treatment
          • Outpatient Addiction Treatment
        • What We Treat
          • Alcoholism
          • Amphetamines
          • Benzodiazepines
          • Cocaine
          • Heroin
          • Opioids
          • Sedative
  • Mental Health
        • Mental Health Rehab
          • Mental Health Rehab
          • Onsite Psychiatric Care
          • Dual Diagnosis
        • Levels of Care
          • Residential Mental Health Care
          • Outpatient Mental Health Care
        • What We Treat
          • ADD & ADHD
          • Anxiety Disorders
          • Bipolar Disorder
          • Depression
          • Eating Disorders
          • Personality Disorders
          • PTSD
          • Schizophrenia
          • Substance Use Disorder
          • Trauma
  • Programs
        • FHE Programs
          • Specialty Program Overview
          • Restore (Mental Health)
          • Empower! (Women's Program)
          • Shatterproof FHE Health(First Responders)
          • Compass Program
        • Support Programs
          • Alumni
          • Family Support
        • Therapies
          • Acupuncture
          • Breathwork Therapy
          • CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy)
          • DBT (Dialectical Behavioral Therapy)
          • EMDR Therapy
          • Expressive Arts Therapy
          • Individual Therapy
          • Group Therapy
          • Gambling Therapy
          • Massage
        • Medical Care
          • Medical Integration
          • Ketamine Infusion
          • IV Vitamin
          • Fitness & Nutrition
          • Medication-Assisted Treatment
          • Medication Management
        • NeuroRehab Services
          • Neuro Rehabilitation
          • Neurofeedback Training
          • Neurostimulation Therapy
          • EEG Brain Mapping
          • Insomnia Treatment for PTSD
  • Resources
        • FHE Guides
          • Understanding Drug Abuse
          • Signs of Addiction
          • The Disease of Addiction
          • Confronting Addiction
          • Staging an Intervention
          • Rehab Success Rate – Does It Really Work?
          • Withdrawal Timelines
          • Life After Rehab
          • LGBTQ+ Community Resources
          • Veteran Resources
          • FHE Podcasts
          • Remote Resources Toolkit
        • Learning Center
          • Help for You
          • Help For Loved Ones
          • Help For Alcoholism
          • Help With Substance Abuse
          • Behavioral & Mental Health
          • Life in Recovery
          • Rehab Explained
          • Addiction Statistics
          • Our Research Articles
          • View All Articles
        • The Experience Blog
          • Addiction News
          • Alumni
          • Community Events
          • Expert Opinions
          • FHE Commentary
          • FHE News
          • Treatment Legislation
          • View All Articles
  • Admissions
        • Insurance
          • Blue Cross Insurance
          • Beacon Health / Value Options Insurance
          • Cigna Insurance
          • Humana Insurance
          • TRICARE Insurance
        • Admissions
          • Steps to Addiction Help
          • Will Insurance Cover Behavioral Treatment?
          • Self-Pay Rehab
        • FAQ
          • Keeping Your Job in Rehab
          • Example Day in Rehab
        • Contact Admissions
          • Contact Us
          • Secure Payment Form
  • Contact
  •  
Home > Featured Alcohol > Alcohol’s Short- and Long-Term Effects on the Brain

March 25, 2020 By Kristina Robb-Dover

Alcohol’s Short- and Long-Term Effects on the Brain

Alcohol's Short and Long term effects

Our knowledge about alcohol and its effects has changed a lot over time. Drinking alcohol has been legal in the United States for those who are over the legal age since the end of Prohibition in the 1930s, and since then, alcohol has been regarded, generally, as safe.

Yes, drinking has been considered a vice for centuries, but this applies more to alcoholism than the substance itself. Consumption of alcohol has been looked at as a practice with little-to-no long-term side effects on the brain.

Recently, however, this thinking has changed. In this piece, we’ll look at some of the long-term consequences of alcohol consumption and why they should reframe discussions about alcohol and the brain.

Short-Term Effects of Alcohol on the Brain

Short-term effects includeAlcohol’s effects on the brain in the short term take place during consumption, as well as after a period of drinking. As you consume more alcohol, the way the alcohol is processed by the body affects your brain.

In the early stages, alcohol molecules bind to receptors in the brain, stimulating the release of dopamine, a neurotransmitter that makes you feel pleasure. This is why drinking is seen as an enjoyable activity — a way to “take the edge off.” It dulls the brain’s pain receptors and relieves stress.

As drinking continues, alcohol has negative effects on the function of the brain’s major sectors. The frontal lobe, parietal lobe, temporal lobe and occipital lobe start to lose functionality, leading to impaired speech, motor and decision-making ability. As consumption increases, it affects the hippocampus, the part of the brain that controls memory creation and storage, resulting in a phenomenon commonly known as a blackout.

Immediately after a period of heavy drinking, you can notice the effects on the brain. Some people experience residual dizziness, confusion, headache and other clearly neurological side effects of alcohol.

How Alcohol Affects the Body in the Long Term

Long-term Effects of alcoholPreviously, it was thought that despite many people engaging in the kind of short-term drinking that seriously impacts the brain, the damage was only temporary. The only real dangers of long-term drinking were thought to be on the liver, the organ that filters and processes the alcohol during consumption, and with the onset of dependence and addiction.

More recent evidence suggests that the risks are more extensive than just these. Here are a few of the worrying long-term effects of alcohol on the brain.

Increased Risk of Stroke From Drinking

A stroke is when brain cells die due to a sudden lack of oxygen. It can involve permanent brain damage. Because of several physical effects that alcohol consumption has on the body — including blood pressure increase and diabetes — long-term drinking can increase a person’s risk of experiencing at least one stroke by an estimated 50%, according to the British Stroke Association.

Alcohol and Memory Loss

Short-term drinking isn’t the only behavior that negatively impacts the hippocampus. Studies show that long-term consumption may cause tissue loss in this part of the brain, which can lead to long-term memory dysfunction.

Alcohol and Dementia

More than simply memory loss, there’s a correlation between developing dementia — including Alzheimer’s disease — and long-term drinking. Studies showed a link between binge-drinking sessions and the eventuality that a person will suffer from dementia later in life.

Loss of Motor Skills From Drinking

The part of the brain that controls fine motor function can be damaged by long-term heavy consumption of alcohol. Many alcoholics suffer from what’s called an “essential tremor” due to this side effect.

Nervous System Deficiencies

Because it’s the pilot of the central nervous system, any long-term damage to the brain can have far-reaching effects in the body. Loss of feeling in the extremities and nerve damage impacting sexual and emotional wellness are thought to be common in people who engage in heavy drinking over prolonged periods of time.

Long-term sustained periods of drinking can also increase the risk of physical diseases that affect the brain, such as cancer, and co-occurring disorders that affect the brain even more. Some of these include comorbidity with other substance abuse issues and mental health issues like depression, anxiety, phobias and eating disorders.

Different Effects for Different People

Are Effects of Alcoholism Permanent?Of course, this doesn’t mean that if you have one drink, you’ll suddenly be at risk for these sources of damage. Different people are affected in different ways, and much of this is guided by preexisting conditions or risk. For example, if you’re genetically predisposed to high blood pressure and you drink heavily, your likelihood of having a stroke is higher than someone who drinks the same amount without the same preexisting risk.

These examples are just to give you an idea of the lasting damage of heavy drinking, even when drinking only happens over the course of a few years. In the United States, drinking is a big part of college culture, but even a few years of heavy drinking can greatly increase a person’s risk of long-term effects on the brain.

Can You Recover from Alcohol-Induced Brain Damage?

In large part, damage done to the brain by alcohol is permanent, a discovery that has more and more people experimenting with their sobriety. However, improvement in these conditions can be achieved the longer sobriety continues. The problem is that many people who drink for extended periods of time find it difficult to quit.

After addiction sets in, quitting alcohol comes with the extremely uncomfortable symptoms of physical withdrawal as well as an unbearable urge to continue drinking. This means that those for whom drinking has become a normal, routine part of life will never see these effects on the brain improve.

Alcohol Treatment at FHE Health

Learning about the long-term effects of alcohol on the brain can be surprising to anyone who has previously thought of alcohol consumption as a relatively safe way to cope with stress. If you or a loved one is having trouble abstaining from alcohol, FHE Health can offer help. Contact us today and learn about your options.

Filed Under: Featured Alcohol, Alcoholism

About Kristina Robb-Dover

Kristina Robb-Dover is a content manager and writer with extensive editing and writing experience... read more

Primary Sidebar

Learning Center

  • Help for You
  • Help For Loved Ones
  • Help For Alcoholism
  • Help With Substance Abuse
  • Behavioral & Mental Health
  • Life in Recovery
  • Rehab Explained
  • All Articles

Sign up for the Blog

Our Facilities

Take a look at our state of the art treatment center.

View Our Gallery

The Experience Blog

  • Addiction News
  • Alumni
  • Community Events
  • Expert Columns
  • FHE Commentary
  • FHE News
  • Treatment Legislation
  • All Articles

Footer

FHE Health

© 2025 FHE Health

505 S Federal Hwy #2,
Deerfield Beach, Florida 33441
1-833-596-3502
youtube facebook instagram linkedin twitter
  • Contact
  • Careers at FHE Health
  • Privacy Policy
  • Sitemap
A+ BBB and Top Places to Work - Sun Sentinel

Copyright © 2025 · FHE Theme On Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

Manage Consent
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Manage options Manage services Manage {vendor_count} vendors Read more about these purposes
View preferences
{title} {title} {title}

The FHE Health team is committed to providing accurate information that adheres to the highest standards of writing. If one of our articles is marked with a ‘reviewed for accuracy and expertise’ badge, it indicates that one or more members of our team of doctors and clinicians have reviewed the article further to ensure accuracy. This is part of our ongoing commitment to ensure FHE Health is trusted as a leader in mental health and addiction care.

If there are any concerns about content we have published, please reach out to us at marketing@fhehealth.com.

833-596-3502

Text/Call Me