Alcohol does not relax people overall. It provides a brief feeling of relaxation (a mixture of GABA receptor interaction and social/learned habit of associating

Alcohol does not relax people overall. It provides a brief feeling of relaxation (a mixture of GABA receptor interaction and social/learned habit of associating the act of drinking with relaxing) but then significantly increases physical stress as the body works to remove the toxic substance from the body and repair the damage. Over the long term, repeated use of alcohol causes the body to have worse 'baseline' stress levels and a worse ability to respond to stress.