This is how mild alcohol poisoning manifests itself

Anyone who has ever been tipsy already knows what mild alcohol poisoning feels like. From a medical perspective, it starts with the first symptoms of intoxication. Any sign, no matter how harmless, that alcohol – a poison – is working in the body is, strictly speaking, a sign of poisoning.

Experts call alcohol poisoning acute alcohol intoxication and divide it into stages. The first stage is mild intoxication. It starts at about 0.3 per mille and progresses to the second phase of alcohol poisoning, moderate intoxication, at about one per mille.

The first signs of intoxication, i.e. mild alcohol poisoning, occur just a few minutes after drinking. It does not take longer for the alcohol to reach the brain via the blood and start to work there.

As a result, overall performance and self-control noticeably decrease, both on a physical and mental level. The typical symptoms are:

None of this is necessarily a cause for concern. Mild alcohol poisoning usually does not pose an immediate danger, unless the affected person is in a situation or environment in which the partial loss of physical and mental capabilities could be risky, for example in traffic.

Problems also arise if mild alcohol poisoning occurs regularly. Even mild intoxication taxes the liver and other organs and can lead to addiction over time. The German Federal Center for Health Education (BZgA) therefore recommends completely avoiding alcohol on at least two days a week. On the other days it is important to ensure that consumption is as low as possible. Concretely this means:

For example, 0.1 glass of sparkling wine or 0.3 glass of beer contains 12 grams of alcohol.

The fact that a different upper limit applies to women than to men is because alcohol has a slightly greater impact on the female body than on the male body.

Mild alcohol poisoning does not require specific treatment as long as the affected person does not experience any worrisome symptoms. Risky consequences can usually be prevented by taking three simple measures:

The only way to combat the poisoning itself is to wait. The body metabolizes alcohol over the course of a few hours. Women lose about 0.1 per mille per hour, while men lose between 0.1 and 0.2 per mille. The symptoms of mild alcohol poisoning usually disappear after about two to ten hours.

The disillusionment cannot be accelerated, however. Coffee, cold showers, hangover remedies – no home remedy or product has been proven to relieve the symptoms or aftereffects of alcohol poisoning.