Alcohol. It can be just the buzz we need on a night out or a cozy evening in. But how does alcohol get you drunk? Why do our bodies and brains react in the way they do when alcohol enters our systems? We sip from the cup of truth, with a chaser of science.
In your mouth, alcohol mixes with saliva and enters your bloodstream through tiny blood vessels. Your stomach and small intestine absorb more alcohol into your bloodstream once it reaches them. Alcohol dilates your blood vessels. This causes that feeling of warmth. Your brain releases serotonin and dopamine to make you feel good. Your kidneys make and release a whole bunch of pee. This brings down the water levels in your body, increasing alcohol concentration. Alcohol vapor diffuses from your blood into your lungs. Your liver breaks alcohol down into water and carbon dioxide, making you feel less drunk. Factors like age, sex, and body weight can also affect how drunk you feel after consuming booze.
Ethanol is the key ingredient in alcohol and the active component that gets you drunk. Ethanol forms when yeast ferments the sugars in plants. The sugar in barley makes beer, the sugar in grapes makes wine, and the sugar in potatoes makes vodka (go on, admit you didn’t know that last one). It moves from the brewery to the bottle/can/tap to your mouth. From there, it causes effects through your body, gets you buzzed, and often kicks you right into a hangover the next day.