The
short-term effects of alcohol (
ethanol) consumption–due to drinking beer, wine,
distilled spirits or other
alcoholic beverages–range from a decrease in anxiety and motor skills and
euphoria at lower doses to
intoxication (drunkenness), stupor, unconsciousness, anterograde amnesia (memory "blackouts"), and central nervous system depression at higher doses.
Cell membranes are highly permeable to alcohol, so once alcohol is in the bloodstream it can diffuse into nearly every cell in the body.