Feeling Ill? Alcohol Isn't Going to Help Your Body Fight It

We've all had those days when we're feeling rough. A cold, a sore throat, a headache or just that general feeling of being under the weather. And sometimes a drink can make you feel a little better. I personally do enjoy a hot toddy.

by Perveen Kaur

But feeling better isn't necessarily the same thing as getting better.

What Happens When You Drink?

The story starts, once again, with ethanol. This is the main psychoactive molecule in alcoholic drinks. When we consume alcohol, the body recognises it as something that needs to be processed and removed. The liver does most of the work, breaking ethanol down through a series of chemical reactions.

At the same time if you're ill, your immune system is already working to deal with whatever has caused the illness. Breaking down ethanol gives the body something else to do when ideally, the body's main concern at that point is to fight the infection. This doesn't mean that the body has a simple energy pot with a fixed amount that it can give either to the liver or to your immune cells. The biology is more complicated than that.

But alcohol does give the body another biological problem to deal with, especially at a time when it doesn't need more to do. Alcohol can also interfere directly with the immune system. Heavy drinking, including a single episode of binge drinking, can disrupt aspects of the immune response and reduce the body's ability to defend itself against infection.

So while your immune system is trying to deal with the illness, alcohol isn't exactly helping the situation.

But I Feel Better After A Drink

That warm feeling, the tingling of the throat when you drink a bit of brandy. It does feel good in the moment, however it isn't what we think.

Ethanol affects the brain and can temporarily reduce unpleasant feelings. It can make you feel more relaxed, less bothered by discomfort and generally a little more detached from whatever is making you feel rubbish. It also does have an effect on the blood vessels making you feel warmer and comfier.

So it is normal to have a drink and think, oh I feel a bit better. And you might. But the alcohol hasn't fixed your illness or helped to fix it in any way. It has only changed your current experience of it, altering your brain chemistry and setting biological reactions off to make you feel temporarily better.

This is the same basic mechanism behind why people drink when they're stressed, anxious or emotionally low. Alcohol can provide temporary relief from an unpleasant state, even while the underlying problem remains.

However the body still has to deal with the illness. And now it also has to deal with the breaking down of alcohol and all the subsequent effects that ethanol has on the body.

So while a drink might temporarily make being ill feel less unpleasant, it isn't a treatment for the illness itself. Sometimes feeling better and getting better are two completely different things.