By now people are familiar with what a can of Coca-Cola or Diet Coke can do to your body in one hour. From your blood sugar spiking, your pupils dilating, an increase of dopamine production and the need to pee because of the diuretic properties in caffeine, a person may think twice before grabbing a soda (or pop - as it is called in the Midwest) to quench your thirst on a summer day.

Ideally, a big, tall glass of water should be the first choice when it comes to quenching your thirst. But more times than not, on a hot, summer day, the first beverage of choice - is an icy, cold beer.

But surely, a beverage made with the four basic ingredients of barley, water, hops and yeast can’t be as bad to your health as a sugary, caffeine filled soda. Right?

Wrong! As it turns out, drinking a beer is similar to drinking a Coke or Diet Coke and affects everything from brain functions to blood sugar levels. Here’s what happens to your body after just one beer.

After just the first few sips of a beer, your brain begins to release the feel-good hormone called dopamine. The release of this hormone makes you want to drink more and can even cause you to become more social and lose your inhibitions. After all, it is called “liquid courage” for a reason. (And if one beer should lead to another and possibly another, the new-found courage could then lead to risky behavior, impulsiveness, loss of balance and coordination.) But remember, we are dealing with just ONE beer, so the effects on someone are usually more emotional and cognitive.

Drinking just one beer also causes your blood sugar to drop, especially if drinking on a empty stomach, which then leads to feeling dizzy and tricking your body into believing you need to snack.

And if you have ever been called a “tiny-tank” or have said the phrase “Once you break the seal…”, you aren’t imagining things. Just one beer also inhibits anti-diuretic hormones, which means you will be visiting the restroom more often.

Of course there are factors that either increase or decrease the side-effects of one beer on a person. They include a person’s weight or if they are a male or female. And to be fair, some research has shown that drinking one beer a day can actually benefit your health by reducing kidney stones and giving your body extra antioxidants that could help reduce the risk of cataracts or a heart attack.

So if you are looking for the perfect beverage to quench your thirst, you might want to stay away from colas or beer, and stick with something like a tall, glass of water.

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