Alcohol has been shown to affect nearly every system in the body, from the nervous system to the respiratory system and more. In many ways, the impacts of alcohol consumption can seem pretty obvious. For example, it’s clear that consuming too much alcohol over time can lead to liver damage, but there are other, less obvious, ways in which alcohol consumption affects your health in the short term and long term. In order to better understand how alcohol consumption affects your health, here are 10 ways that alcohol can instantly ruin your health.

1) Immediate Effects

There are an alarming number of immediate effects that alcohol can have on your body. Chronic drinking can lead to long-term health problems such as cancer, heart disease, or stroke. You might not notice these effects in the moment, but they could surface months or years later with devastating consequences. For example, damage from alcoholic liver disease often is only noticeable when it has progressed so far that cirrhosis develops.

2) Heart Issues

Some of the ways alcohol can ruin your health is through heart problems. Alcohol can damage your heart and make you more likely to have a stroke or form clots in your arteries, a condition known as deep vein thrombosis (DVT). If not treated quickly, DVT can travel to the lungs, making it difficult to breathe. Another way alcohol can ruin your health is by causing fatty liver disease and high blood pressure.