Exactly what does alcohol do to your nervous system (and probably other systems) that produces the sensations and symptoms of drunkeness?
This is touched on in this thread.
Well, alcohol is a drug; going by the loose definition of anything that is ingested, other than food or water, that has the ability to alter one’s physiology, mental state, and/or behavior.
There are, of course, different kinds of alcohol. The one that is most commonly used is ethyl alcohol – used in beer, wine, champagne, various hard liquors, and some medicines like cough syrup.
There’s also isopropyl alcohol, which is used in rubbing alcohol. And there’s also combinations like ethylene glycol, which is used in anti-freeze. But, I’ll assume you’re refering to ethyl alcohol (also called ethanol).
Ethanol mainly affects the central nervous system (as a result of the CNS being affected, the respiratory becomes affected also). The effects being slurred speech, impaired cognitive functions, release of inhibitions, etc. These are the outward visibile effects.
Inside the body, the liver chemically disintegrates the alcohol, which, after repeated use, can harm the liver. Gastric and pancreatic secretions increase greatly to achieve the chemical disintegration (or metabolization), which can lead to gastritis, acute gastro-intestinal bleeding, and/or pancreatitis.
Since metabolization occurs, alcohol comes into direct contact with the bloodstream, thus effecting the cells it comes into contact with. That is how the CNS is effected, since brain cells use that same bloodstream.
There’s a lot of other things that go on too, but in a nutshell, that’s how it gets you drunk.
Vandal says that the CNS is affected but he doesnt say why.
The CNS is made up of nerve cells, hundreds of which make up each single nerve. (A nerve is a bundle of these fibres) these are not single fibres, but several cells joined together. Each cell is very thin. Electrical impulses travel along the ‘nerve’, but when they reach the end of the cell, they trigger the release of transmitters that travel across the gap between the two cells (the synapse) this triggers another electrical impulse in the next cell. Alcohol interferes with the production of these transmitters.
There are also enzymes that break down the transmitters after they have carried the impulse across the synaptic gap. Without these, the impulse would continue to be transmitted and the muscle (or whatever) would continue to be stimulated. (this is how nerve gases work as they interfere with these enzymes causing muscle spasms) I think that alcohol interferes with this as well (im not sure)
The same nerve cells are used in the brain, so this would affect brain functions such as memory as well