Are you unknowingly damaging your brain and raising your cancer risk with just one drink? Discover the alarming truth about alcohol from Dr. Sarah Wakeman, what every adult needs to know now.
Dr. Sarah Wakeman is a senior medical director for substance use disorder at Massachusetts General Brigham Hospital, the number one research hospital in the world. She is also the Medical Director of the Mass General Hospital Addiction Consult Team and Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School.
She explains:
▫️How alcohol is hijacking your dopamine system.
▫️Why no amount of alcohol is good for your brain.
▫️The shocking truth about moderate drinking.
▫️How doctors are failing addiction patients on a daily basis.
▫️Why 1 in 3 people will struggle with alcohol.
00:00 Intro
02:13 Sarah’s Mission
02:42 Sarah’s Education and Experience
03:29 Issues With Addiction Treatment in the Modern World
04:20 What Is Addiction?
05:37 What Things Are Capable of Being Addictive?
06:36 Physiological Dependence vs. Addiction
07:15 Scale of the Problem: Why Should People Care?
08:49 Is Society Getting Better or More Addicted?
09:22 Substance-Related Deaths During the Pandemic
10:11 What Drives People to Use Substances?
12:13 Substances’ Effects on the Brain
14:19 Does Trauma at a Young Age Increase Addiction Risk?
16:26 The Opposite of Addiction Is Connection
18:01 Why Addiction Matters to Sarah
18:51 Living With a Family Member Struggling With Addiction
20:33 Who Is Sarah Trying to Save?
22:47 Change Happens When the Pain of Staying the Same Is Greater Than the Pain of Change
25:42 Misconceptions About Alcohol
28:05 Is There a Healthy Level of Alcohol Consumption?
28:40 Is One Drink a Day Safe for Health?
30:28 Link Between Moderate Drinking and Cancer
33:13 Types of Cancer Linked to Alcohol Consumption
34:41 Cancer Risk Among Heavy Drinkers
35:21 Heavy Drinking and Comorbidities as Cancer Risk Factors
36:10 How Alcohol Drives Cancer Mechanisms
37:49 Alcohol and Weight Gain
38:43 The Role of the Liver
41:57 Liver’s Ability to Regenerate
43:42 What Else Damages the Liver Besides Alcohol?
44:21 How Much Alcohol Causes Liver Damage?
45:17 Alcohol’s Impact on the Brain
46:27 How Alcohol Causes Brain Deterioration
47:13 Other Organs Affected by Alcohol
47:50 Alcohol’s Impact on the Heart
48:57 Body Fat Percentage and Alcohol Tolerance
49:55 Does High Alcohol Tolerance Prevent Organ Damage?
50:36 What Is a Hangover?
52:03 Balancing the Risks and Benefits of Alcohol
53:36 Is Rehab Effective for Addiction?
56:40 Psychedelic Therapy for Addiction
57:26 GLP-1 Medications for Addiction Treatment
58:52 Ads
59:49 Sarah’s Reaction to Celebrity Addictions
1:02:14 Stigma Around Addiction
1:04:30 Addiction Cases That Broke Sarah’s Heart
1:06:16 How Society Should Change to Reduce Addiction
1:07:30 What Is Rat Park?
1:12:32 Is Empathy Positive Reinforcement for Addicted Individuals?
1:15:24 Setting Boundaries With an Addicted Person
1:18:46 Motivational Interviewing to Support Recovery
1:22:08 Finding Motivation for Positive Change
1:25:52 Habits to Support Addiction Recovery
1:29:02 Ads
1:30:07 Can the Brain Recover From Addiction?
1:33:59 Non-Substance Addictions
1:34:45 Unexpected Sources of Addictive Behavior
1:35:24 How Sarah Copes With Difficult Addiction Cases
1:37:00 Importance of Language Around Addiction
1:41:30 How Labels Limit People’s Potential
1:43:47 Question From the Previous Guest
You can find out more about Dr. Sarah’s profile, here:
👀 28.05.2025. Be the first to know:
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#Alcohol #Rewires #Brain #Sarah #Wakeman
question? do you like these types of convos? If so please hit the like button on the vid – that’s the best way to let us know ❤ (also, would be doing me a big favour if you could subscribe & join our community 🙏🏾🥲) i appreciate you – SB!
I was sober for 12 years but then I started jr high
Addiction:
If you can stop 100 % use for the rest of your life you are not addicted.
40 YEARS SOBRIETY HERE!
So by her numbers im basically a ghost while i watch this…
Subscribe this man is amazing at bringing all great content . Thank you my man !!
Listening to this BS with a a nice glass of red in hand.
Welcome to 2026 where everyone has to live in a safe space and can't even have a pint
I’m confused – i think I do have a alcohol problem , I’ve had so many consequences and kept going – idk how it got this way my emotions it’s just so much to process . Went thru meth addiction at 19 now alcoholism at 25 –
Ok, so can we drink or not? I dont want to watch the whole thing. I have life.
My mother lost her battle with alcohol and drug addiction. Being here and reading about so many people’s sobriety is incredibly uplifting and beautiful to see.
There are many studies about health benefits of red wine on HDL and etc. I respect this video but it should clarify the truth on both sides. Alcohol consumption has been on a steady decline since 1970’s and the lowest since 1939 but cancer has been increasing and the highest it’s ever been in civilization. So why isn’t cancer declining when alcohol consumption has been declining?
I’ve been sober for three years now. I started drinking heavily at 18, and by 23 I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. Drinking never actually made me happy, it just felt like it might numb the pain or drown out problems, but they were still there, and I ended up feeling even worse. I was constantly on edge, gained a lot of weight, and just generally ruined my health. I’m grateful that I don’t drink anymore and don’t feel like I need it. Life feels so much clearer, healthier, and happier now. I really don’t recommend drinking, it’s not worth it.
I use to drink super heavy, anyone have crazy fever dreams when detoxing? It was like i was in another reality
ugh, I'm on my second White Claw Surge while watching…. Time to stop now..
ABORTION, BIRTH CONTROL and MAMMOGRAMS also increase your risk for breast cancer as well..not just alcohol
Thanks.
Micro dosing psilocybin mushrooms together with journaling everyday has changed my life in an extremely positive way.
Love how they say the high binging episodes is worse then daily alcoholics….daily alcoholics generally drink as much as a binger on a daily basis it's never a moderate amount. They never use the 2 comparisons….so yeah 2-3 binge blow outs a month isn't worse then daily heavy drinking by any stretch …most ppl who drink are either drinking way past moderate amounts once in awhile or doing it daily as alcoholic. Far as severe liver damage it of course varies but on average it takes 25 plus years of daily or hard drinking to get to scar tissue. If u quit binging or drinking hard liquor by 40 u prolly fine…most ppl do. And the ones who still are usually daily beer drinkers most I know still do in there 70s no issues..
I come from a drinking family, tried being that casual drinker tried being that every other day drinker or that guy that drinks one or two beers none of it worked for me I got plaster every single time… so I decided to stop alcohol in my life so far so good prayers are welcome.
32:40….”Clearly something in the environment driving these increased cancer risks”. Oh GEEEEE I’m sure it’s got nothing to due with the jabs
Lost brother to alcohol lost mum to smoking my dad has alcohol problems but pushes everyone away other family members have had issues with pills. It’s shit it’s awful to deal with. I’ve never drank or done anything as I’ve seen how addicted my family got
How much should you drink? 0 is the answer
Horrible explanation spending all your money in time and this and that what if you’re addicted to porn and you’re only doing it on your lunch break when you wake up at your house it’s not harming anyone else and it’s only on your free time but that’s 16 hours out of your day It’s free so you don’t have to send any money on. It definitely can be addicted without causing much harm in your life what if you’re a billionaire and you do drugs all day and the meth keeps you up all night so you do more work, but it does not affect your life negatively because you’re just had so much money. It doesn’t matter you can’t say anything about health because there’s a lot of things to talk about 4 cups of coffee a day being bad for your health so you can’t use that excuseit doesn’t make sense
She forgot to mention that Cancer jus a virus & it has been perfect it. Ask Judyth Baker they started infecting millions of Americans way back in the Polio vaccines in some died immediately others it was doormat for years. The People that took the c 19 that had been plan for years so only time will say all these People have been infected some it will be doormat for years. Not to mention the nano technology, graphene & all our poison process foods that all these gigantic corporations are purposely placing on the food. These People give you 80% truth but NOT ALL THE TRUTH because they are controlled People. You really can't TRUST NO ONE!!!!!
I am one month and two weeks free from dipping tobacco,I have being using since 2008 😢
I use to drink alcohol almost every day but now I drink twice a month and I am gonna quit.
I started drinking hard because of marriage problem.From 2021 to 2025 it was the worst years of my life.
I know I will quit alcohol very soon, thank you for this podcast.💙
What if your brain needs rewiring?
Fatty liver disease a caused by high carbohydrate intake also. Yes, alcohol is bad for the liver, but in a combination, maybe this is why so many young people are coming in with liver failure?
She's amazing
I got a liver transplant in June 2025 from heavy alcohol use. Thank god for my second chance. This episode taught me a lot which I wish I would have known before.
Any alcohol is bad for the liver. Even red wine.
So many new addictions like suntan beds and tattooing. Amazon shopping, the adrenaline/dopamine Rush that comes from jogging daily…
Thk u. Informative.
Alcohol addiction ran into my family till it ran into me
Boring boring boring boring
I can’t see how it can’t be impacted by genetics though. I know people who have drank half gallons of vodka daily for years and eventually quit but still live to be almost 80 or past 80. Make it make sense.
I don't know how alcoholism is compared to cancer… People with cancer usually fight for their life and try not to hurt other people. Alcoholics manipulate, give up to their addiction and most of them do not even try to get better. And to put the preassure on the loved ones to "save them" when most of them don't even admit needing saving? It's a lost battle before it even starts…
Not seen the video yet but, is a glass of red wine ok every now and then?
https://youtu.be/DkS1pkKpILY?si=AX4SvDrnqYXZrMuL Andrew Huberman explains alcohol effect on human body
My team and i*
Its so difficult to listen over her hyper woke voice tone. It's like a joke. Great content though.
Are you a total idiot? Yes, that is a great question. I really wish people would stop saying " That is a great question".
Bloody great insight. Dr. Sarah!
Thats why be muslim end dont drink alcohol 😅
The language part she talks about at the end is a huge piece. I am not "xyz". I am a person who has something that I'm struggling with. Addiction, illness ect.
*reads thumbnail "Alcohol rewires brain" …. *ahah, that's why I'm such a genius!
I’m 3 days sober. I was a heavy drinker. The withdrawal was initially very difficult and now is getting better. The tremors are gone. Sleeping is difficult. But I have no choice. I’m afraid of the damage that’s been done and what damage could come my way. Now I need to decide what to do instead of drinking. But my mental clarity and the ability to get things done was great on day two. I’m hopeful I can stay sober forever. I started when I was 39 and now I’m 55. Terrified of cancer. Used Naltrexone to stop cravings and Gabapentin to treat tremors. It worked wonders.
She does SUCH a great job explaining
Vocal fry addiction.
Alcohol (ethanol) is a number one carcinogen! 👎