Institute of Human Anatomy – What Alcohol Does to Your Body

Get an inside look (literally) at what alcohol (ethanol) really does to your body in this eye-opening video from the Institute of Human Anatomy. From the moment it enters your system to how it interacts with organs and tissues, the video explains the full journey of alcohol through your body—and why it affects people in different ways.

Using real cadavers, the video shows the physical impact of ethanol in a way that’s both fascinating and a little unsettling. It’s a clear, science-based look at the effects of drinking, making the invisible consequences of alcohol more tangible and understandable.

Whether you’re curious about how alcohol affects your organs or want a deeper understanding of its toxic effects, this video provides a compelling and engaging exploration.

Research used in the video:

“The stomach is actually going to be the very first real place that alcohol is going to be absorbed into the body, and it’s somewhere around 10-15%. The vast majority of alcohol is going to get absorbed in the small intestine.”

“The amount of alcohol you consume, and the time frame you consume it has a pretty strong influence on the livers ability to convert it all the way into acetate. So what will happen is you drink it, it gets absorbed, it’s permeating the tissues, but it isn’t able to handle the entire workload all at once. So some of that ethanol is going to make its way into the bloodstream. The liver is going to send this blood directly into the heart … the heart is going to beat and send that blood directly to the lungs.”

“Ethanol stimulates what’s known as your Sympathetic Nervous System – this is your “Fight or Flight” aspect of your nervous system. What that means is it’s going to accelerate the heart rate. So the heart’s going to just start beating, and as it starts beating it’s going to start pushing the blood even more forcefully to things like muscles. It’s also going to cause you to sweat.”

“Think of all the ethanol that is hitting the skeletal muscle tissue. And that can actually have an effect on protein synthesis. So let’s say you went to the gym earlier that day and you got a really great workout in, and then later that night you decided to have a few drinks. Well, those drinks could possibly negate … a significant portion of your gains because the alcohol prevents proteins from being built inside of the muscle tissue.”