Combine a long weekend with a festival and it’s a perfect recipe for too much revelry - parties, binge drinking, and drinking and driving. But the risks of guzzling too much of your favourite tipple are very real.
Drinking more than 3 or 4 units of alcohol a day increases health risks substantially. (One unit contains 8g or 10ml of alcohol and is equivalent to: ½ pint ordinary beer, lager or cider; 1 single measure of spirits; 1 small glass of wine; or 1 measure of whisky)
But even a moderate amount of alcohol (30g of alcohol a day, or the equivalent of 3–4 glasses of wine) produces a range of negative short-term effects on the body.
Increase in heart rate, heart palpitations, increase in skin temperature, muscle weakness and facial flushing, and water loss from the kidneys (leading to dehydration). Mental function is, of course, also inhibited.