What happens if you drink every day?

Some of the ways alcohol affects our health when drinking every day are well known, such as harming your liver. But there are others that may surprise you. 

Drinking every day can affect your immune system:

If you drink every day, you might find you catch common colds, flu and other illnesses more frequently than those who don’t drink. This is because alcohol can weaken the immune system and make the body more susceptible to infections.

Heart problems:

Daily drinking can have several negative impacts on your heart, including the risk of developing cardiomyopathy (a weaker heart) or arrhythmias (irregular heartbeat). It can put you at a greater risk of developing high blood pressure.

Bacteria growth in your gut:

Abusing alcohol daily can cause harmful bacteria to grow in your gut. These bacteria can eventually make their into your liver through the intestinal wall and cause some serious damage to your liver.

Pancreatitis:

Alcohol abuse every day can lead you to develop pancreatitis, an inflammation of the pancreas that can show itself in swelling, intense abdominal pain and nausea.

Gets in the way of other bodily processes:

Once you take a drink, your body makes metabolising it a priority above anything else. Unlike proteins, carbohydrates and fats, your body doesn’t have a way to store alcohol, so it has to move to the front of the metabolising line. This is why heavy drinking affects your liver; your liver’s job to detoxify and remove alcohol from your blood.

Cancer risks:

Drinking too much every day can also put you at a greater risk of developing different forms of cancers, including cancer of the throat, liver, breast, mouth and esophagus.

Take your next step to LiveWell

Drinking every day puts your body at risk of developing multiple health problems. For more advice on drinking, register with us today to see how we can support you. For a general look into your overall health, you can take the Are you Living Well? quiz to see how you compare to national guidelines.

Register

How does this work?

The tailored approach LiveWell Dorset uses to come up with solutions to the things that are stopping us achieving our goals, is based upon work done by University College London developing the COM-B model of behaviour change. In this model, all behaviour is influenced by understanding a person’s capability to change, their opportunity to change and their motivation to change. By understanding which of these is the biggest barrier to change, we can tailor support accordingly. This model of behaviour change is at the centre of the support we offer, online and in person.

Your Favourites?

or register, to favourite activities that you want to try.

Welcome!

Is this the first time that you've used our services, or have you already registered with us? To allow us to best serve you, please confirm whether you're new to LiveWell Dorset, or if you've spoken to us before and may have an existing account.

Welcome back, it's good to hear from you again!

To speak to one of our dedicated team and get the help you require please request a call back. All call backs from this service are free of charge to both landlines and mobile.

Request a Call Back

Do you provide your consent to share your information with the LiveWell Dorset team – part of Public Health Dorset ?

When you register with LiveWell Dorset, we ask you some questions about you and your health (how much you smoke, how active you are, how much you drink and how much you weigh). We store that information and use it to shape our service offer to you – such as the advice we give or the extra services we connect you to. The only people who will see this information will be those involved in the delivery of the service and management of the data. If you would like to use extra services (such as slimming clubs and pharmacies) we have to share this information with them. For us to be able to put you in touch with these services, we must have your consent to share that information with the service (we’ll ask for that later, when if you sign up for extra services).

Before we can sign you up any further, we need to know:

  • You're happy for your personal information to be shared with LiveWell Dorset.
  • You understand what information may be shared and why, and that at times, our contact to you may be supported by technology partners, who have the same data protection standards and safeguards as we do
  • You acknowledge that you can withdraw your consent at any time by informing LiveWell Dorset.
  • You understand that if you do not give consent or withdraw consent then it could be difficult for us to connect you some of the services we offer.

If you require any more information to help you make your choice then please contact the LiveWell Dorset team on 0800 840 1628. All telephone conversations at LiveWell Dorset are recorded for quality and training purposes, and stored whilst you are registered as active within the service.

Yes I consent

Sorry we can't continue at the moment

Unfortunately we need your permission to store your personal information to help us to assess the best support we could provide or signpost you to. If at any stage you change your mind and are happy to provide your personal information please come back and visit us again.