‘Drink Driving and How Alcohol Actually Affects Your Body’
Just ‘one’ more mate!
Getting behind the wheel of a vehicle already demands a vast amount of energy and concentration from the driver. Most of us have probably enjoyed a drink or two and have noticed that were a little gigglier or a little less on edgy; and some of us show no warning signs at all that we may be over the legal limit. But even a small amount of alcohol could potentially lead to a dangerous situation.
Your body is made up of 70% water. To purge your cells of alcohol, this needs to be broken down. This process of absorption and elimination will take a different amount of time for each individual person. This is because the decomposition of alcohol is dependent on numerous factors such as your weight, height, amount of alcohol and food consumed and when along with your gender to name a few.
Your blood alcohol concentration (BAC) will rise depending how many drinks you have and this would give you the feeling of being ‘drunk’. With an elevated BAC in your blood, you are at risk of being over the limit and depending on all of the factors above, may still be over the limit the morning after the night before!
What happens to your brain functions when you drink alcohol?
Stage 1 – Decision Making Capabilities
When alcohol reaches the brain, that is when we experience the feeling of being drunk.
Physiological changes in your brain take effect from the front part of your brain, to the back. In the front lobe of your brain, there is the cerebral cortex.
The cerebral cortex regulates our behaviours. It controls our mannerisms and daily habits. Therefore, once a state of drunkenness takes hold of us, it is usually affects our speech first. The noticeable changes that we would experience could therefore be slurred speech, shouting or generally, more unrepressed behaviours. This can lead to the feelings of overconfidence as well. Most of our cognitive abilities here will be affected too, therefore our instant decision making abilities would be affected.
As you may have guessed, this impairment of cognitive ability behind the wheel can be the difference between a life or death situation. After having a few drinks, your reaction times are considered to be impaired and it is this that can lead to fatal consequences.
Stage 2 – Memory and Emotional Stability
The hippocampus is the next section of the brain to be affected.
The hippocampus works to regulate memory and our emotions that we experience. The impairment effect of alcohol results in us having memory ‘gaps’ or simply not remembering a certain event, conversation or experience we had whilst boozing.
The lack of memory is a result of the alcohol not allowing the brain to fully form the memory in the first place. This is contrary to popular belief that alcohol ‘makes you forget’ – but you can’t forget something that you never knew in the first place!
In cases of drink driving, your alertness in this instance will be impaired.
Stage 3 – Body Balance and Physical ‘Knee-Jerk’ Reactions
In the penultimate stage of alcohol impairment on your brain, the cerebellum is affected.
The cerebellum plays a crucial part in day-to-day life as it regulates your balance, attention and physical reactions. Thus, if you put your hand over an open flame – your nerve endings would send a message to your brain and the physical ‘jerk’ reaction would be a result of your cerebellum working. If you have consumed a large amount of alcohol by this stage, your ability to respond to dangers on the road significantly reduces; and you yourself may become a danger also if you are unable to properly control your vehicle.
Stage 4 – Autonomous Bodily Functions
The autonomous bodily functions are the final stages to be affected by the drink.
The medulla is what controls this very vital bodily function. The autonomous functions (ones that we do not need to consciously think about doing) such as breathing and muscle control will be impaired around this time. In examples where individuals pass out from excessive consumption of alcohol, a major concern is that their tongues may obstruct vital airways. Breathing functions are also affected. This is usually regulated by the medulla and explains why it is important that immediate medical attention be sought if someone does pass out.
Obviously, if you pass out behind the wheel, this could result in a very dangerous situation for other road users and yourself.
Drink driving carries a minimum disqualification of twelve months and an unlimited fine. The fine is usually calculated based on your income (one and a half weeks’ net earnings). For more serious instances or higher alcohol readings you could be given a Community Order instead of a fine, which could be anything up to 100-300hrs of unpaid work. The worst case scenario for the offence of drink driving being prison!
The most important thing is to know your limits before you start drinking. As mentioned above, sometimes this is difficult to keep track of, but ensuring that you have alternative means of transport after a night out are one of the things you can do that could make all the difference.
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