In case you need to hear it: Drinking alcohol at any age is harmful to our health. And, once you turn the page to 65 years old, drinking comes at an even greater cost.

Because older adults tend to have less muscle mass and retain less water in their tissues, imbibing a cocktail or other drink of choice can send their blood alcohol concentration soaring. This means it takes fewer drinks to feel intoxicated. And, though you can stumble at any age, inebriation for older adults leads to a risk of severe injury … and often a long recovery.

A federal survey reported that 12% of older adults reported indulging in at least four drinks during a single sitting over the past month. That number comes out to about 7 million people.

For even the most active among us, alcohol affects nearly every organ system in the body. This includes muscles, blood vessels, the digestive system, the heart and the brain. Drinking alcohol also increases our chances of developing chronic conditions, like dementia, diabetes, cancer, hypertension and heart disease. One key point: It worsens outcomes for older folks dealing with chronic disease.

It’s also important to keep any prescription medications for conditions like diabetes in mind. When the alcohol mixes with the medication, the latter becomes less effective and the side effects can cause a host of issues.

Experts also recommend that adults 65 and older should consume no more than one drink per day and no more than seven per week. Although abstinence doesn’t have to be the answer, those committed to aging healthily should try to avoid multiple drinks in a day.

If you think about it, that’s a small price to pay for a better quality of life — today and tomorrow.