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in General Factchecking by Journeyman (2.5k points)

14 Answers

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by Novice (810 points)
Source: https://patient.info/news-and-features/how-does-alcohol-affect-your-body-temperature

As it seems, alcohol does cause your body temperature to change but does not necessarily make it rise. The article mentions something called, thermoregulation, which controls body temperature when you consume alcohol. It can cause your body to cool or warm up. The article mentions that all these alcohol changes create an illusion of warmth but they are actually making your body temperature drop.
Exaggerated/ Misleading
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by Newbie (220 points)

Alcohol does not cause your body temperature to rise, but rather to drop. The reason one may assume their body temperature is falling is due to the symptoms alcohol imposes on the person consuming it. The most important part of all of this, according to Tipton in the linked Patient article, is that this is all an illusion that one might feel their body temperature is rising. Tipton adds to his argument, writing "By flushing and sweating you are delivering more heat to the skin and thereby increasing heat loss from the 'core' of the body to the environment."

The blood supply in the person's body is actually losing heat. Another fact proving these is the hypothermia reports of intoxicated patients. Hypothermia, according to the article, is defined as a process "which occurs when your body temperature drops so low that it causes a cardiac arrest." The article continues to go on to say that " A study of hypothermia and alcohol poisoning in adolescents found that in winter 26.6% of the intoxicated subjects experienced mild hypothermia. This was compared to 18.0% in the summer." This further adds to the support of the environmental factors that contribute to ones internal regulation and can alter a given process. 

RESEARCH LINK - https://patient.info/news-and-features/how-does-alcohol-affect-your-body-temperature

False
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by Apprentice (1.1k points)

According to an article by Amberley Davis from Patient, Alcohol does not in fact cause body temperatures to rise. Alcohol acts as a vasodilator widening and relaxing blood vessels. As you consume alcohol your liver digests it and in doing so, your liver gives off heat. Blood flow is then then increased to the skin which cause an increases in skin temperature. This increase in skin temperature is what gives off that "warm" feeling people feel when they consume alcohol.

Source: https://patient.info/news-and-features/how-does-alcohol-affect-your-body-temperature 

False
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by Novice (600 points)

Alcohol does not actually cause body temperature to rise, but it can create the feeling of a raised body temperature, according to MedlinePlus. 

R. Kudo wrote in Effect of Alcohol on Vascular Function that the liver gives off heat as it metabolizes the alcohol, and the blood vessels also widen when alcohol is in one's bloodstream. Chin Lin wrote in Human Thermoregulation and Measurement of Body Temperature in Exercise and Clinical Settings that these processes allow the body to emit more heat, which actually lowers the body's core internal temperature while creating a feeling of warmth.

https://alcohol.org/effects/warm-flushed-skin/

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