Alcohol Abuse and the Brain: A Symphony of Chaos

A typical night of drinking can end with you being an overly confident, talkative or “fall down drunk.” This condition can make for some funny stories and an interesting night but it’s really nothing to laugh at. Alcohol is responsible for these changes in you and they may have disastrous consequences. So before you start another night of debauchery, find out exactly what alcohol does to your brain.

Alcohol makes you sleepy because it affects part of your brain called the medulla. The medulla is responsible for breathing, heart rate, consciousness and body temperature. The more alcohol you drink, the slower these body functions work. If you drink enough alcohol you can ultimately lose consciousness and even die.
Alcohol makes you lower your inhibitions because it affects the cerebral cortex. This part of the brain controls thinking and consciousness. After alcohol is added to the mix, information going to the five senses is processed more slowly. Thinking is slowed, making it hard think straight. If you’re not thinking clearly, this can lead to trouble or danger.
Alcohol can make you clumsy by affecting the cerebellum. This part of the brain controls your muscles, movement and balance. When you drink alcohol, it throws your cerebellum off, which in turn makes your muscles uncoordinated and leads to stumbling and staggering. This gives new meaning to the term “falling down drunk.”
Alcohol can affect your sex drive by affecting the pituitary gland and the hypothalamus. The pituitary gland controls hormone release and the hypothalamus controls sexual arousal and performance. Alcohol has a tug-o-war effect on these parts of the brain. Although your desire to have sex increases, alcohol decreases your ability to actually perform.
Alcohol fogs up your memory or can make you emotional. Alcohol affects the limbic system, which includes the hippocampus and the septal area of the brain. Memory and emotions are controlled by these parts of the brain. Alcohol will cause memory loss and will amplify your feelings. This causes some drunks to blow a situation out of proportion or begin to cry and then forget all about what happened.
The combination of disturbing all these brain functions can lead to trouble. It can lead to dangerous or bad decisions that can affect you and put others at risk. The more this happens, the more damage you cause to the brain.

Serious brain disorders like Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome can come from years of heavy drinking. This condition is two separate syndromes that cause long-term devastating symptoms and psychosis. This is a high price to pay for getting drunk. How much are you willing to pay?

If you find yourself drinking and getting drunk often, then you have a problem with alcohol. Getting treatment for alcohol addiction is the difference between a life of sobriety and a life of alcoholism.