If you are struggling to stop using alcohol, The Recovery Village is here to help. Contactone of our caring team members today to learn https://ecosoberhouse.com/ more about treatment programs that can work well for you. Alcohol use, especially chronic use, raises pneumonia and inflammation risks.

Once the liver finishes the process, alcohol becomes water and carbon dioxide. If alcohol accumulates in the system, it can destroy cells and, eventually, organs. « When you’re feeling run down or like you might get sick, you want to be well hydrated so that all the cells can alcohol weaken your immune system in your body have enough fluid in them and can work really well, » Favini says. « You don’t want to be dehydrated when you’re fighting off an infection. » For those who have a risk factor for COVID-19, like heart disease or diabetes, he recommends drinking even less.

Why Women Who Don’t Drink Can Still Get Cirrhosis

This can lead to other unpleasant effects and cause discomfort or medical problems. Please also list any non-financial associations or interests (personal, professional, political, institutional, religious or other) that a reasonable reader would want to know about in relation to the submitted work. This pertains to all the authors of the piece, their spouses or partners. Your liver detoxifies and removes alcohol from the blood through a process known as oxidation.

• Often, the alcohol-provoked lung damage goes undetected until a second insult, such as a respiratory infection, leads to more severe lung diseases than those seen in nondrinkers.
• With this in mind, always remember the relationship between alcohol and the immune system.
• However, women who drink more than two drinks on one occasion and men who drink more than three drinks on one occasion may experience more health complications due to their excessive alcohol consumption.

The immune system responds to pneumonia by flooding the infected area of the lungs with fluid and immune cells. While this response is necessary to overcome the infection, it can be dangerous and essentially cause someone to drown. Alcohol abuse can suppress your immune system, making you more vulnerable to infections caused by bacteria and viruses which might raise your risk of a bacterial infection such as urinary tract infections (UTIs). The immune system is complex and made of many cells and proteins that recognize infections and attack them. Often, the immune system takes time to recognize and build up a full response to an infection.

Liver failure

What this entails is a lifestyle change free of alcohol, smoking and unhealthy foods. Regular exercise and proper hygiene also help create a proper internal environment for your immune system to repair itself. Setting a nighttime routine to promote better sleep gives your body time to truly rest and heal.

So let’s take a look at what excessive alcohol consumption does to make you more susceptible to COVID-19. When the balance is disrupted, it becomes difficult for the good bacteria in the gut to overcome the bad bacteria. Also, excess alcohol weakens the stomach’s lining, which allows dangerous microorganisms to enter other parts of the body. Drinking alcohol is a major factor in the disruption of the digestive system.

How Alcohol Impacts Your Gut Health

Healthy habits, such as being active, eating a balanced diet, and getting enough sleep, can keep your immune system strong. But unhealthy factors, like stress, smoking, or drinking alcohol, can be taxing for your immune system and make it harder for it to fight off infection. Alcohol can have a range of harmful effects on the body, which can diminish a person’s immune response and put them more at risk for COVID-19. Past research shows alcohol consumption leads to more severe lung diseases, like adult respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and other pulmonary diseases, including pneumonia, tuberculosis, and respiratory syncytial virus. Szabo says that the results fit with evidence from medical records that chronic heavy drinkers with HIV die sooner than non-drinkers.

Examples of common viruses include the common cold, influenza, and pneumonia. Symptoms may also be mistaken for that of other respiratory illnesses such as tuberculosis or coeliac disease. Ensure that after your recovery finishes, you stay away from drugs and alcohol altogether.