Everything that happens to your body when you spend a whole day drinking: So many will be boozing ahead of England’s clash with Norway, now our experts reveal exactly what it will do to you – and how to avoid a killer hangover

Millions of us will gather in pub gardens and living rooms today in the hope that Harry Kane & Co can take England to the semi-finals of the World Cup.

But with England’s clash against Norway in Miami not scheduled until 10pm UK time, fans will have a full day in the scorching sun to brace their nerves for Erling Haaland’s attack.

For most people, this means joining tours starting at lunch.

So what effects can a day of drinking hard liquor in the heat have on your body?

Sally Adams, associate professor of psychology at the University of Birmingham and an expert on alcohol and hangovers, says the early afternoon is likely to bring an initial wave of relief.

When alcohol builds up in the bloodstream, it begins to shut down the prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain responsible for complex thinking (and worrying about England’s right-back crisis).

‘Alcohol is perfectly designed to help you relax because of the brain chemicals it releases,’ says Dr Adams. ‘The first few drinks feel great because one of the first parts of the brain to be affected is the prefrontal cortex, which makes all your decisions and thinks about what you should do tomorrow. This is actually slowly closing.’

But this only applies to your first few Aperol spritzes. When you continue to drink alcohol late into the afternoon and evening, alcohol will begin to affect other parts of the brain, including areas linked to language and coordination, causing people to begin slurring their speech and increasing the risk of falls.

‘Alcohol is a pretty dirty drug because it affects so many different chemical systems in our brain,’ says Matthew Parker, associate professor of neuroscience at the University of Surrey.

‘It acts as a stimulant because it affects the systems that make you feel more energetic. However, at higher concentrations it slows reaction times, impairs concentration and causes poor decisions.’

Harry Kane and Jude Bellingham… The important thing is to watch tonight’s game instead of drinking under the table and passing out before kick-off.

That’s why pub evenings often end with Harry Styles blasting through Alexa speakers at a kitchen disco at 2 a.m. But binge drinking ahead of the England quarter-final could be more damaging than arguing over Spotify playlists.

For middle-aged adults, the mix of alcohol and heat-related dehydration can put a strain on the heart, and the risk can increase once the game begins, experts say.

‘During the England-Mexico match my heart rate was extremely high and this was due to my sympathetic nervous system [the part of the nervous system activated when you’re stressed] it speeds it up,” says Dr Parker.

‘Acutely high levels of alcohol also affect electrical signals in the heart. If you’re 21, your heart can probably handle some stress, but for sensitive people this combination could be a problem.’

Studies have shown that watching football matches is linked to a higher risk of fatal and non-fatal heart attacks, especially in men. According to Dr Parker, this combination can also trigger atrial fibrillation, a condition in which the upper chambers of the heart begin to grow irregular and out of control.

Also note the alcohol-induced volatility of other fans. It is well known that binge drinking exacerbates aggression because it changes the way we perceive the emotions of others.

Dr Adams points to studies showing that as levels of intoxication increase, the likelihood of misinterpreting a person’s facial expressions increases: ‘All this ‘Are you looking at me?’ ‘thing,’ he says. ‘Because your brain misidentifies a face as angry.’

It’s also worth noting that our capacity for binge drinking varies from person to person, depending on genetics, liver function, muscle mass, stomach contents, and how often we drink. For some people, higher blood alcohol concentrations have a greater impact more quickly, and we should be aware of the warning signs when someone is in serious trouble.

‘If someone has been drinking all day and is so confused and slurred that they can’t speak or can’t stand up, you should call an ambulance,’ says Dr Adams. But overall the body has a remarkable healing capacity, and Dr. Some binge drinking is unlikely to have long-term effects, Parker says. Instead, it will cause a hangover accompanied by symptoms such as headache and anxiety, which can last for several days.

Part of this is because alcohol disrupts the later stages of sleep; This is especially true with heavy drinking because the body will continue to metabolize the day’s alcohol throughout the night.

David Cox says experts recommend getting plenty of sleep the night before… so hopefully you went to bed at a good hour last night

What’s more, although it initially changes the production of brain chemicals to make you feel more relaxed and ‘buzzy’, over the following days your brain runs out of many of these chemicals, causing low mood, restlessness and anxiety.

Binge drinking can also weaken the immune system for 24 hours or more, so you may find yourself catching a summer cold in the days after the game.

Hangover researcher Sam Royle at the University of Salford explains that behind post-binge eating symptoms such as fever and nausea is the immune system’s ongoing response to a toxin called acetaldehyde, a by-product produced when the liver metabolises alcohol.

‘When you drink to excess, this leads to a sustained inflammatory response [from the immune system]’ he says.

So what can we do to minimize the pain of the next morning?

First of all, you should get plenty of sleep the night before (so hopefully you went to bed straight away after Spain’s match against Belgium at 8pm last night). Dr Adams also recommends taking a nap in the early afternoon on Saturday to compensate for any future disrupted sleep.

Before you start drinking today, he also recommends filling your stomach with a lunch full of protein, fat and carbohydrates; Consider an ‘all you can eat’ meat meal rather than a light sandwich.

This is because a large meal closes the valves in the lower part of the stomach, reducing the effect of alcohol by allowing it to be processed more slowly into the intestines and then into the bloodstream.

Most importantly, says Dr. Reducing the effects of alcohol on your heart and brain after drinking all day is key to preventing peak blood alcohol concentrations from getting too high, Parker says.

One way to do this is to stick to beer rather than wine or spirits, and especially lower-strength beers such as session IPAs, which are 3-5 percent alcohol by volume (ABV). Sam Royle says alcoholic drinks are better avoided because, in addition to being stronger, people consume them more quickly when combined with a mixer.

‘The amount of fluid is no longer a limiting factor,’ he says. ‘With blenders, you can get quite a lot of spirit in a relatively short time. I know there are people who can drink a beer in like eight seconds, but if you do that for a few beers your stomach will feel pretty full.’

Similarly, while the strength of a typical glass of wine ranges from 5 percent to 20 percent ABV, the alcohol is contained in a much smaller liquid volume compared to beer.

Dr Parker recommends replacing alcoholic drinks with soft drinks or non-alcoholic beers and drinking as much water as possible.

While it’s a social custom to buy bullets while watching football, he says it’s actually best to avoid them.

‘Don’t try to keep up with others’ speed,’ he says. ‘This is a really bad idea as everyone’s metabolism is slightly different and their bodies clear alcohol at their own pace.’

Of course, no one likes fun cops and none of this should overshadow what promises to be a fantastic day of sporting excitement. But the important thing is to watch the game instead of drinking under the table and passing out before kick-off.