The Effects of Alcohol on the Sympathetic Nervous System

Alcohol can trigger a more robust activation of the sympathetic nervous system. We've actually dosed men and women with a four to five drink equivalent of alcohol. It's difficult to find participants for these studies, or are there quite a lot of willing people who sign up? But what we see with that is then increase sympathetic nervous system activity,. lasting into the early morning hours, which coincides with when most cardiovascular events like heart attacks and strokes are most common.