While alcohol may help some people temporarily unwind, overindulgence can quickly turn a night of fun into severe digestive distress. As many of us know from personal experience, drinking too much alcohol can wreak utter havoc on your gut and bowel movements. It’s a harsh reality that is less talked about than the hangover headaches and nausea.
This article dives into the specific ways alcohol can disrupt your body’s normal digestive processes and bowel patterns. The three main culprits it identifies are alcohol-induced diarrhea, delayed stomach emptying, and increased gut inflammation. Let’s take a closer look at each of these unpleasant effects:
Alcohol-Related Diarrhea When you drink alcohol, your body views it as a toxin that needs to be flushed out quickly. This rapid processing causes water and nutrients to be expelled rapidly through your digestive tract, leading to excessive diarrhea and dehydration. Having food in your stomach can slow this down to an extent, but alcohol is particularly adept at triggering those urgent bathroom runs, especially when drinking on an empty stomach.
Delayed Stomach Emptying
Under normal circumstances, the muscles in your stomach contract in waves to help push food down into the intestines in a process called gastric emptying. A 2020 study found that chronic alcohol overconsumption can seriously impair this gastric emptying ability over time. This backs up the normal flow of digestion and can eventually lead to blockages and other complications in your GI tract if the behavior continues unchecked.
Gut Inflammation Perhaps most concerningly, the metabolic byproducts created when your body processes alcohol can directly promote intestinal inflammation. A 2021 study showed that heavy alcohol use damages the gut mucosal lining, which can then spread inflammatory impacts to other organs like the liver and brain. This can have long-lasting effects like altering your gut microbiome, increasing intestinal permeability (“leaky gut”), and weakening your immune defenses.
In other words, frequently drinking to excess can severely compromise your body’s ability to properly digest food and absorb nutrients in both the short and long term. It inflames and erodes the biological infrastructure your gut relies on to function optimally in processing what you eat and drink.
So what can you do about these decidedly unpleasant effects of alcohol on bowel health? The article provides some practical tips:
Drink in Moderation Of course, the most straightforward solution is to practice moderation when drinking alcohol. While definitions vary, the general guidance is to have no more than 1-2 drinks per day as an adult, avoiding riskier binge drinking episodes. Sipping drinks slowly and alternating with water can also help limit overconsumption.
Try the BRAT Diet
If you do experience diarrhea or other digestive issues after drinking, sticking to the “BRAT” diet of bananas, rice, applesauce, and toast can help settle your stomach with gentle, easy-to-digest foods. The bland, binding qualities of these particular foods can provide relief.
Use OTC Remedies When the BRAT diet isn’t cutting it, over-the-counter antidiarrheals like Imodium or Pepto-Bismol can help relieve immediate symptoms. The article also recommends probiotics from food sources like yogurt to help restore your gut’s healthy bacteria levels.
At the end of the day, while having a few drinks in a social setting is fine for most people, drinking to a level that repeatedly triggers diarrhea, indigestion, and inflammation is incredibly taxing on your body’s digestive system. Being aware of alcohol’s impacts and knowing some remedies can help minimize the downside when overindulgence occurs.
However, the best solution of all is to be honest about your relationship with alcohol and whether your habits are pushing your gut health in an unhealthy direction. If your body’s acute reactions are indicating deeper issues, it may be time to reevaluate your drinking patterns before lingering damage is done.
A little self-awareness and moderation can go a long way in staving off the double misery of a hangover combined with disruptive bowel issues. Knowing how to mitigate the impacts is helpful, but preventing the underlying problem is ideal for keeping your gut happy and healthy long-term.
Reference
3 Ways Drinking Alcohol Affects Your Bowel Movements—and What to Do About It published in Eatingwell by Jessica Ball, M.S., RD