Drinking increases the risk of injury. Car crashes, falls, burns, drowning, and suicide are all linked to alcohol and other drug use. Alcohol can make you break out, give you bad breath, and make you gain weight. Alcohol can make you clumsy and slur your speech, make you feel sick, and make you throw up. Too much alcohol can overload the system and can lead to death.
Alcohol goes directly into the bloodstream, which is why it affects every system in the body.
Heavy drinking can cause cirrhosis and cancer of the liver. Children in families with alcoholic members are at a higher risk for alcoholism. Excessive drinking can decrease the amount of testosterone in a man's body, cause impotence, and lead to difficulty having children. Alcohol abuse can lead to both homicides and suicides. Long-term effects of heavy alcohol use include loss of appetite, vitamin deficiencies, stomach problems, sexual impotence, liver damage, heart and central nervous system damage, and memory loss.