How Does Alcohol Affect Stress

Drinking alcohol is often seen as a way to reduce stress by many people. It is seen as a socially acceptable drug to take in many countries but does it reduce stress or increase it ? Despite what people may think stress is actually increased when too much alcohol is consumed. This might seem to be at odds with the common idea that alcohol can help people be themselves and act in an uninhibited way and thus reduce the stress that they may be feeling. This article will show how the body deals with stress and why too much alcohol is bad for stress levels but a bit may be good for it.

The nervous system responds to all sorts of stimuli. Often these stimuli are ones that cause the nervous system to feel stressed. When the nervous system senses a stressful situation it causes a series of changes in the body to react and get over the situation. Notably, the nervous system will control the releasing of stress hormones into the body. These hormones are adrenaline and cortisol. They give the body a boost of energy and mobilize the body's nervous, cardiovascular and immune systems for increased activity. This increase in energy is aimed at getting the body to adapt to the potentially stressful situation. This situation could be a physical event like a sky dive or a mental event like depression or anxiety.

Once this stressor has been dealt with, like completing the the sky dive, the hormone levels will go back to normal. This is called homeostasis and is the aim of the nervous system. In order for all the constituent parts of the body to function normally the body has to be in this state of homeostasis.

However in the case of depression the nervous system will often not know when the stressor has been dealt with and continue to secrete the stress hormones. If this continues for any length of time, the metabolism can be altered, the cardiovascular system can be forced to work harder and prone to illness and the immune system can become confused and start acting abnormally or sluggishly. This is not good for the person involved and can lead to illnesses such as heart disease, a weakened immune system and other ailments.

Many tests have been performed on animals and humans with regard to stress and alcohol. It has been seen in mice and humans that small doses of alcohol can reduce the secretion of the stress hormones. In the tests on humans it was found that the subjects had improved ability to solve complex mental problems. It was concluded that a small dose is actually good for the body in terms of the physiological changes that occur in the body.

However too much alcohol is shown to increase the body's stress response. This is especially the case with the hormone adrenaline. Too much alcohol will increase the amount of adrenaline secreted into the body. Over time this will be bad for the body and too much alcohol may diminish a persons ability to function normally and in control.

Alcohol in moderation seems to be fine and even good for the body. A glass of wine with an evening meal for example. But excessive consumption of alcohol will increase the levels of stress hormones and ultimately lead to health complications for the body.

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