• Home
• Our publications
• Other websites
• Concerned about alcohol
  • How much is too much?
  • Alcohol harm
  • Alcohol services
• About us
• Contact us
• Donate
• RSS Feeds
• Contact Us: Message Sent
• Terms & conditions
• Accessibility
• Alcohol Concern in action
• Tackling alcohol issues
• News centre
• Sitemap
• Keeping yourself safe
• Testing area

Alcohol harm

Alcohol can cause a wide range of physical damage and can cause psychological harm.

The health risks of excess alcohol include:

• Weight problems
• Stomach upsets
• Headaches
• Anxiety, stress, depression
• Poor concentration
• Difficulty in sleeping
• Raised blood pressure

More serious effects include:

• Accidents and injuries
• Liver disease
• Cancers
• Strokes
• Memory loss
• Sexual difficulties

Regular over-drinking can significantly increase the risk of alcohol-related harm - and the more you drink the greater the risk.  In terms of risk, people who drink alcohol are often broken down into three categories (lower risk, increasing risk and higher risk drinkers). 

Lower risk drinkers (who are at a low risk of alcohol-related illness) are defined as:

• Men who regularly drink no more than 3 to 4 units a day
• Women who regularly drink no more than 2 to 3 units a day

Increasing risk drinkers (who are at an increasing risk of damaging their health) are defined as:

• Men who regularly drink more than 3 to 4 units a day (but drink less than the higher risk levels)
• Women who regularly drink more than 2 to 3 units a day (but drink less than the higher risk levels)

Higher risk drinkers (who have a high risk of alcohol-related illness and of damaging their health) are defined as:

• Men who regularly drink more than 8 units a day or more than 50 units of alcohol per week
• Women who regularly drink more than 6 units a day or more than 35 units of alcohol per week

The impact of alcohol on health:

Alcohol harms health through three mechanisms:

1. acute intoxicating effects, occurring after a binge
2. chronic toxic effects, following prolonged periods of drinking at harmful levels
3. propensity for addiction leading to physical and psychological dependency.

The immediate intoxicating effects of alcohol - reduced inhibitions, impaired judgement, slurred speech, and nausea/vomiting, for example - are often easily identifiable; however the longer-term health consequences of excessive drinking, despite their serious and potentially deadly nature, may remain undetected. Studies have shown that alcohol is linked to more than 60 different medical conditions including: 

• Cancer - alcohol is  one of the most well-established causes of cancer. particularly breast and colon cancer and cancers of the mouth and throat. A recent Europe-wide study of over 350,000 people found that one in 10 of all cancers in men and one in 33 in women were caused by past or current alcohol intake.  Further information about alcohol and cancer can be found on the Cancer Research UK website.
• Liver cirrhosis - the final stage of alcoholic liver disease.  Find out more from the British Liver Trust.
• High blood pressure and increased risk of stroke and heart disease - see the Blood Pressure Association for further details.
• Mental health issues - there is a link between drinking too much alcohol and a number of mental health problems. Persistent heavy drinking can also be associated with memory loss difficulties.  See the Mental Health Foundation's booklet on alcohol and mental health for further information.
• Pancreatitis and stomach problems
• Drinking too much, too often, can also lead to social and relationship problems.

Further information:

Alcohol Concern produces a range of factsheets on alcohol - see, for example, our factsheet on the impact of alcohol on health.

For help and advice, call the national drink helpline - DRINKLINE - on 0800 917 8282, or speak to your GP.