Alcohol Tolerance: What It Is and Why It Matters

Get Help. Talk To Someone Now!

Call toll free to:

Find meetings near you
Discover online or in person meetings
Get 24 hour information on addiction

All calls are 100% confidential

What is Alcohol Tolerance?

If you’ve developed alcohol tolerance, that means that your body has grown accustomed to the presence of alcohol, requiring you to drink greater amounts of alcohol to feel the same effects that you previously experienced with fewer drinks.

For instance, when you first started consuming alcohol, you probably only needed one or two drinks to feel drunk. But then, as you continued drinking, you likely noticed that you needed two or three drinks to feel that way. This is also known as functional tolerance. Functional tolerance develops at different rates for different alcohol effects, such as impaired coordination and impaired concentration. Moreover, some people may develop a tolerance to the unwanted effects of alcohol while they still experience a rewarding or pleasurable feeling. This can reinforce future drinking.

Signs that you have developed a tolerance to alcohol include

You feel fewer effects of alcohol when you continue to consume the same amount.
You need to increase how much of alcohol you consume to experience the same effects.

Call 800-839-1686 Toll Free. Privacy Guaranteed. No Commitment.

Help is standing by 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Alcohol Tolerance and Changes in the Brain

Alcohol tolerance develops due to adaptations that occur in the brain. These neuroadaptations compensate for the physical, mental and behavioral effects of alcohol. What this means behaviorally is that you act as though you are not intoxicated, even at high levels of blood alcohol concentration (BAC). BAC indicates the amount of alcohol in your blood.

Legal intoxication is defined as .08% BAC. At this BAC, alcohol impairs brain functions. You may experience problems such as blurred vision, slurred speech and a slower reaction time. However, if you have a tolerance to alcohol, you may be able to see clearly, speak without difficulty and have a normal reaction time, even at that BAC.

Those who drink chronically, in high amounts, may be able to function at a high BAC, such as .30%. Normally, this would be extremely debilitating or even potentially life threatening for those without alcohol tolerance.

Why Is Alcohol Tolerance a Problem?

Alcohol tolerance can be problematic because it influences drinking behavior, patterns and effects in several important ways. It can lead to further alcohol misuse, alcohol dependence with subsequent withdrawal symptoms and alcohol use disorder.

Alcohol Misuse

Misusing alcohol means that your drinking may lead to interference with daily life or lead to several health problems. It is considered alcohol misuse if you drink while pregnant or while under the legal drinking age of 21 (in the United States).

Another way you can misuse alcohol is to binge drink. Binge drinking means having four or more drinks per occasion for women and five or more drinks per occasion for men. Another example of alcohol misuse entails consuming seven or more drinks per week for women and 14 or more drinks per week for men.

Alcohol tolerance perpetuates further alcohol misuse because tolerant individuals must drink a greater number of drinks to feel the desired effects. If they don’t experience the negative effects, such as significant impairment, then this may encourage further drinking.

Risky Situations

Because alcohol tolerant individuals have to drink more alcohol to feel the same effects, they are likely to drink more per occasion. This could, in turn, lead to higher and dangerous BAC levels.

With alcohol tolerance, you appear to function normally at high BAC levels. The danger with this is that your body does not give you warning signs that you are consuming too much alcohol, such as vomiting or having trouble walking. Therefore, you may continue to drink because you think you are functioning fine. This can further raise your BAC to dangerous levels, and you could suddenly go from appearing fine to becoming unconscious.

Consuming large amounts of alcohol can also decrease the effectiveness of any medications you take. Furthermore, it could lead to alcohol poisoning, a potentially life threatening consequence in which you drink a toxic amount of alcohol.

Moreover, if you have a high alcohol tolerance, you may decide that you’re okay to drive when your BAC is well over the legal limit since you aren’t experiencing significant impairment. This can lead to extremely dangerous consequences.

Alcohol Dependence

If you have alcohol dependence, it means that you have reached a point of needing alcohol to function. The two types of dependence are psychological and physical.

Psychological dependence means that you feel you need alcohol when experiencing negative emotions. For example, you might feel very anxious in social situations, so you drink to lessen your anxiety. If alcohol is not available, you would endure the party with a great deal of discomfort or distress.

Physical or physiological dependence means that the body needs alcohol to function optimally. Dependence creates strong cravings for alcohol, which leads to continued alcohol use despite problems caused by drinking and an inability to control your alcohol consumption.

The risk for physical dependence goes up the more alcohol you consume, particularly if AUD runs in your family history.

Alcohol Withdrawal

Alcohol withdrawal occurs when you are physically dependent on alcohol and suddenly stop drinking or significantly reduce the amount you consume. This happens because your brain and body have adapted to the presence of alcohol and have compensated in several ways to function when intoxicated. When you abruptly stop drinking, you experience symptoms that range from uncomfortable to potentially life threatening.

Alcohol withdrawal symptoms may include

Sweating
Rapid heartbeat
Hand tremors
Insomnia
Anxiety
Nausea or vomiting
Hallucinations (seeing, hearing or feeling things that are not really there)
Agitation
Seizures

Alcohol tolerance contributes to alcohol withdrawal in the same way that it facilitates the development of dependence, since withdrawal syndrome is a manifestation of dependence.

Call 800-839-1686 Toll Free. Privacy Guaranteed. No Commitment.

Help is standing by 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

What Role Does Tolerance Play in an Alcohol Use Disorder?

Alcohol tolerance is both a cause and a symptom of alcohol use disorder. However, developing a tolerance does not mean that you’ve developed an alcohol addiction. Rather, once you require more and more drinks to feel intoxicated, this can lead to a cascade of consequences, including heavy alcohol use and dependence, that increase the risk of developing alcohol use disorder. On the other hand, you can be diagnosed with AUD without exhibiting alcohol tolerance, as long as you meet the criteria.

One of the criteria used to determine an AUD diagnosis is alcohol tolerance. If it’s the only symptom present, you likely don’t have an alcohol addiction, but you may still be at risk if your drinking continues and escalates. When present, along with at least one other symptom, tolerance can indicate alcohol use disorder.

A doctor can evaluate your tolerance using a series of questions related to your alcohol consumption. They might ask you how often you drink, how much you tend to drink in one session and how frequently you’ve had five or more drinks in one sitting. Using these self reported answers, they can assess your alcohol tolerance. Other questions when screening for alcohol use disorder include:

How often, during the last year, have you found you were unable to stop drinking once you started?
How often have you failed to fulfill obligations because of drinking?
How often have you needed a drink when you wake up?
How often have you experienced cravings for a drink?
How often have you felt remorse or guilt after drinking?
How often have you been unable to remember what happened while drinking?
Have you or someone you know been injured due to your drinking?
Has a doctor or loved one expressed concern about your drinking?

How Can I Avoid Developing a Tolerance to Alcohol?

Alcohol tolerance increases the risk of various alcohol related problems. The good news is you can avoid it by consuming alcohol more safely. Here are some tips:

Eat before and while you drink. This slows down the absorption of alcohol in the body.
Alternate alcoholic drinks with nonalcoholic ones like water or seltzer water.
Reduce the number of drinks you consume per occasion.
Avoid shots and drinking games, as they can increase BAC very quickly.
Space out your drinks to no more than one standard alcoholic drink per hour, since that is what the liver can handle. Excessive drinking can lead to progressive liver damage.

A standard drink includes:

12 oz. of beer
8 oz. of malt liquor
4-5. oz of wine
1.5. oz of hard liquor

If you are concerned about your alcohol use or that of a loved one, you can call 800-948-8417 Sponsored 24/7 to speak with a treatment specialist.