Redefining Your Relationship with Alcohol and Its Impact on Your Health
January 27, 2026 | Tags:
Americans today are drinking less alcohol than they have in almost 90 years. Whether it's due to new goals and challenges, like Dry January, or becoming sober curious, people are taking a closer look at how alcohol affects their lives and, especially, their health. Like with any other activity or habit, your relationship with alcohol can be reevaluated, ultimately benefiting your physical and mental health.
Alcohol and your mental health
Alcohol is a depressant, meaning it slows down your body and brain function. While this can have a calming effect on your muscles and mood, prolonged use can lead to anxiety and depression. Chronic use can cause paranoia and even hallucinations. Even one night of excessive drinking can cause temporary effects on your brain, including trouble concentrating, sensitivity to lights and sound and slow reflexes. Prolonged alcohol use can cause nerve damage in your brain, leading to memory problems and even dementia.
Drinking alcohol also lowers your inhibitions, leading you to make poor decisions with lasting repercussions, like saying something hurtful to a loved one. The consequences from these actions can negatively affect your mental and emotional health long-term.
How alcohol affects your body
Your body has reactions to alcohol just like it does with other foods or drinks you ingest. However, excessive use can negatively affect key areas of your body:
- Liver: Your liver helps clear alcohol from your blood. When you drink too much, your liver can’t keep up. This causes harmful substances to build up, which causes damage to your cells and organs.
- Heart: Excessive alcohol can cause damage to your heart, including increased heart rate, blood pressure spikes, irregular heartbeats (aka arrhythmia) and a weakening in your heart (aka cardiomyopathy).
- Immune system: Even periodic drinking can weaken your immune system as it damages white blood cells over time. This makes you more vulnerable to becoming sick more often, infections and slow healing.
Short- and long-term effects of alcohol
A slight headache or hangover from drinking might seem insignificant. But you’re putting pressure on your body and mental health every time you consume alcohol. There are risks of both short-term and long-term drinking. Short-term drinking is defined by drinking excessively on occasions. It can lead to an increase in:
- Alcohol poisoning
- Hangovers
- Overdose when combined with other drugs
- Injuries from motor vehicle accidents, falls, burns
- Violence
- STDs or unplanned pregnancy
- Miscarriage, stillbirth or fetal alcohol spectrum disorder
Heavy, long-term drinking has been found to increase your risk in serious and chronic health conditions, including:
- Heart disease
- Liver disease
- Stroke
Alcohol also increases your risk of related cancers, accounting for more than 20,000 deaths a year. These cancers include:
- Mouth
- Esophagus
- Throat
- Liver
- Breast
- Colon and rectum
Recognizing how alcohol affects your life
Your relationship with alcohol is different from other people's. The same goes for your sobriety journey. Look at your life and see how alcohol is affecting it: your relationships, health, job, etc. In the past year have you:
- Had to increase the amount of alcohol you drink to get the desired effect?
- Wanted a drink so badly you couldn’t focus on anything else?
- Struggled or tried to cut down on your drinking but couldn’t?
- Found that drinking interfered with your daily life, family and friends, school, work, etc.?
- Continued drinking despite worsening feelings of depression or anxiety or other health problems?
- Continued drinking despite it causing trouble with loved ones?
If you answered yes to two or more of these questions, talking with a healthcare provider can help you better understand your drinking habits and whether support is available, including information about Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD). Knowing these signs and accepting you have a problem is the first step to making more positive changes.
Support and help are available. Find a mental health provider in your area that can help you identify and make changes to your drinking behavior. Support and mutual help groups in your area can also offer encouragement and guidance. Remember, you’re not alone.
Starting the conversation around alcohol
Approaching someone to express your concerns about their relationship with alcohol takes courage. It’s challenging to have these kinds of hard conversations, but it can be the first step toward treatment or to prevent their drinking from worsening. Here are some tips on how you can approach this sensitive and important conversation:
- Practice what you want to say so you can be prepared.
- Avoid judgment.
- Find a private place where the person feels safe and comfortable.
- Reassure that you’re there for support.
- Encourage them to seek help with other resources, like support groups.
- Offer to accompany them to healthcare appointments, group meetings or counseling sessions.
Don’t expect this person to overcome their drinking problem alone as they may need medical and professional supervision. Showing up and offering your support can still make a huge difference. You may not be able to directly help this person but even having a conversation with them can encourage them to get the help they need.
Help and resources are available
You’re in control of deciding how alcohol impacts your life and when to consider making changes. Developing a routine during sobriety and recovery can help build healthier habits.
Talk to your primary care provider (PCP) about alcohol and the effects it can have on your health or if you have symptoms of AUD. Need help finding a PCP or mental health provider? Medical Mutual can help. Use our Find a Provider tool or call the Customer Care number listed on your member ID card.
If you need help and guidance to stop drinking, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) can offer support and resources for individuals and family members facing substance abuse disorders. Call their free, 24/7 confidential helpline at 1-800-SAMHSA-7 (726-4727) or 1-800-487-4889 (TTY). Resources and support groups for alcoholics in your area are available.
If you or a loved one is struggling with alcohol or other mental health challenges, visit the Mental Health Resources page on the My Health Plan portal for additional information and resources.