How does Alcohol Affect the Brain?
Do you know alcohol will affect your memory?
Consumption of large quantities of alcohol negatively affects our behavior and impairs our judgment. It can also cause serious physical side effects – anything from vomiting to alcohol poisoning. But how does alcohol affect the brain? Long after the hangover, what does alcohol do to the brain?
Alcohol consumption can have temporary effects on the brain, and it can also have lasting negative effects on the brain of someone who consumes alcohol on a regular and liberal basis. It can cause anything from small lapses of memory to impaired conditions that require continuous care. Now, these long-lasting harmful consequences will not happen to everyone; the effects of alcohol on the brain can be linked to several varying factors.
It depends on the amount of alcohol an individual consumes and the frequency of the consumption. The age at which a person takes their first drink and how long an individual has been drinking is also another factor. If a person has a history of alcoholism in their background, they have a higher chance of being negatively affected by alcohol in the long term. Other factors include a person’s age, education level, gender, genetic background and overall health condition.
Studies show that 50% of people who suffer from alcoholism show a decrease in memory functions. They also have difficulty with spatial thinking and ability to retain information. This can happen in people as young as teenagers. Chronic heavy drinkers typically experience blackouts and memory lapses. In a survey conducted of 772 college students, 51% claimed they had experienced blackouts before while 40% said it had happened to them within the past year.
It could be possible that these effects on the brain come from pre-disposing factors, such as previously listed, rather than actual alcoholism. Studies also show that chronic drinkers have irregular sized and shaped brains. In regards to the brain, typically, if an area of your brain is slightly larger than the average it signifies a better use of that area of the brain.
For example, if your hippocampus is large, then you would have an increased level of memory function. Studies on animals show that large quantities of alcohol impair the creation of new cells, and this can be attributed to the negative effects on the brain.
A difference can be seen in the brains of heavy drinkers and non-drinkers. Chronic heavy drinkers and alcoholics tend to have to work their brains harder in order to complete a task that wouldn’t take as much work for non-drinker.
For example, retaining information such as a person’s name or an address is more difficult for heavy drinker than someone who is not a heavy drinker. However, studies show that this occurs at a higher level the older you get. Teenage chronic heavy drinkers do not experience this difficulty at as much of a heightened level as someone in their 40s.
Positive changes in the brain can be seen in about one year from an alcoholic’s final drink. However, the longer the damage has been there, the harder it is to override it.
Here’s some ways to improve your memory.
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