Most everyone knows that alcohol impairs mentaland physiological functions, but what actually goeson at the cellular level when you drink a beer?

大多数人都知道啤酒会削弱人的心理和生理功能，但当你喝酒时，在细胞层次上到底在发生着什么?

Alcohol interferes with the normalfunction of your brain cells. Under normal circumstances, each of your brain cells allows varioussubstances, such as sodium, calcium and potassium to permeate its outer cell membrane.Once inside the brain cell, these substances help give the cell stimulus it needs to functionproperly. Then they leave the cell and allow another set of these substances to begin the cycleagain.

酒精会干扰大脑细胞的正常功能。在正常情况下，每个大脑细胞允许钠，钙，钾等物质通过外层细胞膜。进入脑细胞后，这些物质能够通过给脑细胞提供必要的刺激来帮助脑细胞正常运作。然后它们离开细胞，让新的一组物质取而代之，开始新的循环。

The millions of cells that make up your brain are continually allowing these substances topenetrate their membranes and then expelling these same substances later. All of this actionallows the brain to interpret and transport messages. Alcohol consumption prevents sodiumfrom being able to cross brain cell membranes. Once even this part of the cycle breaks down,brain functions become impaired.

数以百万计的脑细胞不断地让这些物质穿过细胞膜，之后又将它们排放出去。所有的这些过程都能帮助大脑处理和传输信息。酒精能阻止钠进入脑细胞膜。一旦这部分循环停滞了，脑功能就会受损。

You can notice the affects of this break down after a single drink. Even if you’ve had just onedrink, your ability to respond to stimulus decreases and your reaction time slows down. Ifyou’re driving, you might see a car stop, and know that you need to slam on the brakes, but thepathway in your brain that processes this information and causes you to respond to it will beworking in slow motion.

这个循环的停滞会造成多大危害呢?喝过一次酒后你就能注意到。即使你刚喝一杯，你对刺激的反应能力就会下降，你的反应就会变慢。如果你在开车，你可能看到一辆车停下了，而且你知道这时你需要急刹车。但是，大脑中处理信息，让你对此作出反应的神经中枢却在短路。