system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: What actually happens when you drink alcohol?

I know the effects of alcohol (only too well) but what changes in the brain and body and how?
gpt
Great question! Ethyl alcohol (Ethanol) is chemically considered a neurotoxic psychoactive drug. The way that it works is upon first consumption the ethanol enters the bloodstream through consumption, mostly through drinking which is then absorbed by your stomach lining. Surprisingly, most of it is actually absorbed by your large intestine.

Once in your blood stream the ethanol enters your brain, and this is where the effects come from. The ethanol weakens the connections between brain cells, not "killing brain cells" like is most commonly referred to. Normally lets say your brain cells are connected by power lines, well now imagine pouring a beer on those power lines.

By severing these connections, different parts of your brain have trouble talking to each other. Have a pain? Well your pain receptor doesn't get the message as clearly. Feeling horny? Well the part of your brain that filters your decisions doesn't register that you're taking home a troll. Now the rest of your body is also getting affected as well. Ever feel dizzy while drunk? Well the movement processing part of your brain doesn't interact well with the rest of your body. You could be sitting but your brain might think you're moving. Now how does this leave your body and why do you feel so hangover?

The alcohol, getting pumped through your veins starts being collected in your liver and from their pumped back into your digestive system and is ultimately peed or pooped out (yes pooped! That's why shits after drinking are so watery!) Well your brain has started considering the alcohol as food, and when it leaves your brain gets "hungry" for more. Notice how when you get so hungry, you're stomach hurt? Well your brain is hungry so you're brain hurts.