Alcohol can attack almost every organ system in the body and if you drink heavily over the years this can potentially cause irreversible damage. Not only does it affect the body, but it could affect your appearance, lifestyle, relationships and mental health.

Here are the common organs affected by alcohol in the body:

This video shows some of the longer term effects of alcohol on the body:

There are a number of factsheets available on the Drinkaware's website on the health effects of alcohol.

Alongside the impact alcohol can have on the body, it can also pose problems to the lifestyle people lead as summarised below. Further information is available on Alcohol Changes’ website:

• Sport performance – alcohol can reduce your performance and leave you feeling dehydrated, making your kidneys work harder to produce more urine. If you plan to exercise after drinking, this can also make your dehydration worse because you will sweat more as your body temperature rises.  Click here to read more
• Stress – this can lead to people reaching for the bottle to de-stress but fact is, alcohol is a depressant and can only add to the stress that’s already there. For tips on helping you to deal with stress, please click here
• Medication – some medication will interact with alcohol. It may not be as effective which could make conditions worse. To read up on the types of medication alcohol affects, please click here to read further.