2008 Woodie Awards
Alcohol tolerance doesn't prevent damage to body
Cristina Birdsall '09
Issue date: 11/10/06 Section: Features
You're at a party, and you have just finished going shot for shot with your best friend. As you both breathe a sigh of relief at having finished, your friend says that he has to go to the bathroom.
As he wanders aimlessly across the room, you see him stumble into people and make lewd comments to every girl he comes in contact with.
During short walk to relieve himself, he has made an utter fool of himself, which he will not realize until tomorrow. Luckily for you, you can hardly feel the alcohol you consumed and you continue your party experience, all the while thinking, "How lucky am I that I didn't even feel it. Good thing my tolerance is so high!"
Most people consider high tolerance to be a good thing, especially when they see their friends vomiting and acting ridiculous after they have consumed alcohol. This is a common misconception, however, because little do these people know that their high tolerance level is a sign that their body has begun to adapt to this harmful drug. Alcohol tolerance increases over time and refers to the body's progressive need to consume more alcohol to achieve a state of inebriation.
A person with elevated tolerance has less sensitivity to the effects that large quantities of alcohol have on a normal person because the body does not respond as strongly to the ethanol in the beverage. As a result, that person's body is able to mask the usual feelings that accompany heavy drinking.
The liver begins to produce more enzymes whose sole purpose is to metabolize the alcohol that has been consumed. The extra enzymes show signs of great strain that will be put on the liver and increase the probability of alcohol dependency.
So, in a situation where two people drink the same amount of alcohol, the person with the higher tolerance will have the same Blood Alcohol Content, BAC, as the person with the lower tolerance.
It is vital to understand the dangers of alcohol tolerance, because if these hazards are ignored, then a person with high tolerance will be encouraged and more inclined to ingest greater quantities of alcohol more frequently.
As he wanders aimlessly across the room, you see him stumble into people and make lewd comments to every girl he comes in contact with.
During short walk to relieve himself, he has made an utter fool of himself, which he will not realize until tomorrow. Luckily for you, you can hardly feel the alcohol you consumed and you continue your party experience, all the while thinking, "How lucky am I that I didn't even feel it. Good thing my tolerance is so high!"
Most people consider high tolerance to be a good thing, especially when they see their friends vomiting and acting ridiculous after they have consumed alcohol. This is a common misconception, however, because little do these people know that their high tolerance level is a sign that their body has begun to adapt to this harmful drug. Alcohol tolerance increases over time and refers to the body's progressive need to consume more alcohol to achieve a state of inebriation.
A person with elevated tolerance has less sensitivity to the effects that large quantities of alcohol have on a normal person because the body does not respond as strongly to the ethanol in the beverage. As a result, that person's body is able to mask the usual feelings that accompany heavy drinking.
The liver begins to produce more enzymes whose sole purpose is to metabolize the alcohol that has been consumed. The extra enzymes show signs of great strain that will be put on the liver and increase the probability of alcohol dependency.
So, in a situation where two people drink the same amount of alcohol, the person with the higher tolerance will have the same Blood Alcohol Content, BAC, as the person with the lower tolerance.
It is vital to understand the dangers of alcohol tolerance, because if these hazards are ignored, then a person with high tolerance will be encouraged and more inclined to ingest greater quantities of alcohol more frequently.
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