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7 Reasons Why Age and Alcohol Don’t Mix
Why your body doesn’t tolerate alcohol like it used to. Plus, a look at the latest health warnings
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Key takeaways
- Overall alcohol use in the U.S. fell by nearly 2 percent between 2022 and 2024, and heavy drinking rates dropped by nearly 8 percent.
- Adults ages 50 to 64 are moving in the opposite direction, with heavy drinking rates rising by more than 36 percent between 2018 and 2024.
- Experts say alcohol poses greater risks with age because it can intensify intoxication, interact with medications, worsen chronic conditions, increase fall risk and raise the likelihood of alcohol-related diseases.
For the first time since the start of the pandemic, alcohol consumption is down in the U.S. Use of any kind declined by nearly 2 percent between 2022 and 2024, according to a new study by researchers at Keck Medicine of USC, and heavy drinking rates dropped by nearly 8 percent.
But not everyone is cutting back.
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Adults ages 50 to 64 are drinking more now than before the pandemic, according to research published in Annals of Internal Medicine. And rates of heavy drinking among this age group increased by more than 36 percent between 2018 and 2024.
Experts say this trend is particularly concerning because, as you get older, the body becomes “more sensitive to the effects of alcohol,” says Dr. Kenneth Koncilja, an internal medicine physician at the Cleveland Clinic. And the risks of alcohol-related health conditions, such as cancer, become more common with age.
Here are seven reasons why doctors and public health experts say age and alcohol don’t mix.
1. It takes less to get drunk
Your liver processes alcohol, and like the rest of your body, this organ isn’t getting any younger. That’s a big reason an aging body becomes more sensitive to alcohol.
“We also have changes in our body composition as we age,” says Dr. Lauren Kelly, an assistant professor in the department of geriatrics and palliative medicine at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City. “We’re made up of less water and more fat.”
That reduction in the body’s natural water content, in part because water-retaining muscle tissue shrinks, makes older people more prone to dehydration and likely to feel drunker more quickly.
“As you age, you get a higher blood alcohol concentration — what they measure on a Breathalyzer — than a younger person who drank the same amount,” Koncilja says. And that means you can get hit with all the side effects in fewer sips.
“That can include cognitive effects, sedative effects — like how you get sleepy with alcohol — and effects on balance and coordination, raising your risk for falls,” Koncilja adds. It can also affect attention and driving skills, he says.
2. Drinking can increase your risk of disease and death
That drunk or tipsy feeling should clear up by the next day, maybe leaving you with a hangover. But the consequences of consuming alcohol can extend beyond that.
An advisory from the U.S. Surgeon General warns about the direct link between alcohol consumption and cancer.
Alcohol is the third-leading preventable cause of cancer in the U.S., the advisory says, and drinking it increases a person’s risk for seven types of cancer, including breast, colorectal, esophageal, liver, mouth, throat and larynx. When it comes to breast cancer, the advisory notes that more than 16 percent of cases in the U.S. are attributable to alcohol consumption.
A 2024 study of more than 135,000 older adults published in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that even as little as one drink a day raises the risk of death by any cause for older adults with preexisting conditions or low socioeconomic status. And no one, regardless of health or socioeconomic status, was immune to the effects of more than one drink a day.
In the study, those who had more than one drink a day had higher odds of death for any reason. Moderate drinkers (about 1.5 to 2.75 drinks a day for men and .75 to 1.5 drinks a day for women) also had a higher risk of cancer death. Heavy drinkers faced greater odds of both cancer- and heart-related death.
It’s important to remember, Koncilja says, what “one drink” really is: “It’s so easy to fall into that trap of thinking you’re only drinking one glass of wine. I don’t know how much people pour, but I don’t pour just five ounces.”
The definition of one drink is:
- Beer and wine coolers: 12 ounces
- Wine: 5 ounces
- Liquor: 1.5 ounces
3. Alcohol can worsen other chronic diseases
If you already have a chronic health condition, drinking won’t do you any favors there either.
“Older adults have higher rates of chronic conditions, such as high blood pressure and diabetes, and combining that with alcohol increases risk for different problems related to those conditions,” Kelly says.
Maintaining a healthy weight is key to preventing most of the chronic diseases that become more common as you age. This, of course, becomes more challenging after age 50 as your metabolism starts to slow down. Most booze is high in calories and carbs — the perfect formula to derail any weight management plan.
“If you’re talking about having a healthy glycemic index and a low-carb lifestyle, alcohol doesn’t fit in,” Koncilja says.
Given its high calorie and carbohydrate content, alcohol and diabetes don’t mix either. Whether you are living with diabetes or trying to prevent it, heavy drinking — more than three drinks a day or seven a week — will throw you off course.
Drinking too much can raise your blood pressure, too, making it especially risky for people who already have hypertension. Once blood pressure goes up, so does the risk for heart attack and stroke. In fact, heavy drinking raises risk for heart attack and stroke both on its own and indirectly by raising blood pressure.
4. Booze is bad for your bones
Alcohol can wreak havoc on your bones too.
Your risk for osteoporosis— thinning, brittle, porous bones that break easily — increases with age. Calcium helps keep them strong, but too much alcohol prevents your bones from absorbing this essential mineral.
And there’s more. The older you get, the more likely you are to fall, which can be catastrophic if you’ve got brittle bones. Even sober older adults are more prone to falls, so knocking back a few drinks can get extra dangerous. What might have been a tipsy stumble when you were younger could become a hip-breaking disaster.
5. Alcohol can make you more susceptible to pain
As you get older, you’re more likely to live with chronic pain, and you may be more susceptible to depression. While either one of these conditions may make you want to pour yourself a drink, think twice before you do.
“Alcohol is a facilitator of chronic pain,” Kelly says. “It can make people more sensitive to pain.”
Alcohol plays a similar game of tug of war with depression and anxiety.
“A lot of adults 50 and up are caring for their children and their parents,” Koncilja says. “Alcohol is an easy way to cope with the pressure, but it’s not a healthy way.”
Heavy drinkers are more likely to have anxiety and depression than people who drink less. For some, it may be that depression and anxiety drive them to drink. For others, drinking too much may lead to depression and anxiety.
6. Drinking can disrupt your sleep
When you throw sleep troubles into the mix, you get a really tangled web.
Falling asleep and staying asleep become more challenging with age. Sure, a nightcap may help you relax and drift off, but as soon as the booze is through your system, you’re likely to wake up and struggle to get back to sleep.
“Drinking decreases REM sleep,” Kelly says, “which is that deep, restorative sleep.”
Poor sleep can exacerbate or raise your risk for a number of health conditions, including obesity, chronic pain, depression and dementia. What’s more, many of those conditions can keep you up at night too. Alcohol only makes matters worse.
7. Alcohol can mess with your meds
Since we tend to accumulate more diagnoses as we get older, we often accumulate more prescriptions as well. A report from the Lown Institute found that nearly half of older adults take five or more prescription drugs — and a lot of them may not go well with alcohol.
With some medications, even a sip of alcohol is a no-no. With others, taking the medication too soon before or after a drink could put too much stress on your liver or cause sedation. The interactions that alcohol can have with medications vary greatly from one drug to the next and may also depend on your individual health.
It’s crucial you ask your doctor or pharmacist whether there are any risks to drinking while taking your specific medications.
If you want to cut back
If you’re clocking more than seven drinks a week or more than three on any given day, doctors and health experts recommend changing your habits. Even if you haven’t hit that upper limit, you could benefit from drinking less as you get older. According to the World Health Organization, no level of alcohol consumption is considered safe.
If you want to limit your drinking and you don’t know how, tell a friend or family member. “The more you talk about it, the more likely you are to hold yourself accountable to habit changes,” Koncilja says.
And if you find it too difficult to stop drinking on your own, your doctor is there to help.
“When people are struggling with their alcohol use, there are really helpful medications that doctors can prescribe,” Kelly says. “I encourage them to talk to their doctor.”
The key takeaways were created with the assistance of generative AI. An AARP editor reviewed and refined the content for accuracy and clarity.
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