7 Ways Alcohol Changes Your Brain (It’s Not Good)

In a world where cocktails are the life of parties and a glass of wine can melt away the day's stress , have you ever stopped to ponder what's alcohol really doing up there ? Sure , there's the buzz , the laughter , the forgetting of woes , but behind the scenes , in the very fabric of your brain , alcohol is pulling some strings that you might not be aware of .

Today we're going to uncover the seven astounding ways that alcohol reshapes your brain . You might think twice before pouring that next drink . So , firstly , how does alcohol penetrate the human brain ? So ethanol , what we call the alcohol molecule , is a very light molecule .

It's also highly soluble in water and fat , but this reason it can penetrate into the vast majority of human tissue , including , unfortunately , the human brain . You see , nature has put in place a wonderful instrument called the blood-brain barrier . This prevents harmful substances that have in the rest of the body , for example through food , from reaching the brain .

Now , sadly , because of its chemical structure , ethanol can cross the barrier with eats and once inside the brain , it unleashes havoc . So first up we've got brain shrinkage , and this is perhaps the most striking effect of ethanol on the human brain , and it's also the simplest to understand , because ethanol is a neurotoxin .

Over the years it leads to the death of so many brain cells or neurons as they're called that literally shrink the brain's size . Scientists describe this process in various ways . Some call it an atrophy , other times you will see it referred to as premature aging .

And no matter what you call it , the fact is that over the years the brain of heavy drinkers becomes smaller because so many neurons have died off . If you actually weigh the brains of deceased heavy drinkers and compare it to healthy controls , you can see that on average they can be around an ounce lighter , which translates to countless numbers of dead neurons .

And , generally speaking , once a neuron can die , the brain cannot replace it with a neuron . No part of the brain is spared the shrinkage , but some areas are hit especially hard . These include the frontal lobe , which underlies our so-called executive functioning , as well as deep structures like the amygdala and the hippocampus .

These latter areas are linked to the processing of emotions and the formation of memories . All of this is disrupted in heavy drinkers . After stopping drinking , our brain is able to recover a large part of its lost mass .

In all likelihood , this happens not by new neurons replacing the dead ones , but with the existing ones increasing their connections to other neurons . But even though the brain of a recovered heavy drinker can recover a lot of its mass , it will never have its previous resistance to ethanol .

Even a relatively short-lived relapse is enough to make these people lose all of their gains , rapidly reverting their brains to the previous shrunken state . Now next up , we've got myelin decline . So the shrinkage that we just described is easily visible if you image the brain with something like a CT scan or an MRI .

Now other changes are less visible , but equally important , and one of the most recent effects that scientists have discovered is particularly alarming .

Our neurons communicate with each other with so-called axons , which are long , thin structures that are similar to electrical wires , and the insulation on these natural wires is provided by a fatty , whiter substance called myelin . Without myelin , the axons cannot actually send signals properly .

In diseases like multiple sclerosis , where myelin is systematically destroyed , the end result can be paralysis and even death . Today , scientists now know that heavy drinking compromises the microstructural integrity of this myelin protective layer . They can now objectively measure this decline using an advanced new MRI technology called Resonant Diffuse Intensive Imaging , or DTI .

I won't go into details here , but the method allows researchers to derive an objective numerical value of how well axons are transmitting signals and how well their protective myelin layer is functioning .

Sadly , heavy drinkers show consistent deficits in this measure compared to healthy controls , and DTI allows scientists to spot these deficits even in brain regions that don't appear shrunk on a standard MRI . The significance of these findings isn't clear yet , but it's very possible that this microscopic myelin decay contributes to deficits in attention and working memory .

We'll have more on that

soon . Number three we've got neurotransmitter imbalance . To communicate amongst themselves and with other organs in the body , our neurons use a variety of chemicals . Collectively these are called neurotransmitters , and there are several dozen of them . Now the problem is that chronic alcohol consumption severely disrupts a number of these neurotransmitters .

The activity of some of these neurotransmitters is artificially enhanced , whilst others are artificially depressed . Think of it like alcohol artificially pushing the brakes on the activity of one neurotransmitter while going full throttle on another .

Over time , the brain learns to anticipate this external interference and increases or decreases its own production of neurotransmitters accordingly . For example , one of the most heavily affected neurotransmitters is a molecule called GABA , which regulates our anxiety levels .

Drugs like alcohol or benzodiazepine , which artificially stimulate GABA , can lead to a temporary state of relaxation and lowered anxiety . Now , because of this constant artificial stimulation of the GABA system , our brain is eventually forced to decrease its natural GABA activity . This is called GABA downregulation .

Just think about it this way In response to alcohol going pedal to the metal , our brain then puts the brakes on this GABA system and the whole thing manages to limp along , engine blasting and brakes screeching but moving nonetheless .

But then when the person stops drinking , for whatever reason , there is no longer anything to artificially stimulate GABA and the GABA downregulation is exposed , leading , among other problems , to elevated anxiety , irritability and insomnia . Alcohol is special , among other drugs , in just how many neurotransmitters that it affects this way .

Apart from GABA , these include glutamate , serotonin and dopamine , and probably others that we aren't even aware of yet . Some are downregulated , whilst others are upregulated . In one sentence , the natural balance that our various neurotransmitter systems should have is lost . Everything becomes like a tangled mess . At number four , we've got a distorted reward system .

Now we mentioned dopamine as one of the affected neurotransmitters . Though it's one of the less common neurotransmitters in the brain , dopamine is nevertheless a critically important one . It's a key neurotransmitter of one of our brain's so-called reward system . This is a neural circuit that regulates how we perceive and reply to rewarding stimuli so-called reinforcers .

These are things in our brain that our environment have been beneficial to our survival and reproduction through our species evolution . It's for things like food and sex . Because food and sex were necessary to our survival in the past , we have evolved to perceive them as pleasurable and we seek them out .

The reward system is part of the reason that we want and enjoy things like tasty food or attractive sexual partners . Alcohol , in common with other recreational drugs , artificially stimulates this very same reward system . It hijacks it , delivering a massive reward without any effort . This property of alcohol is critical in getting drinkers hooked .

We drink more because it's rewarding . Eventually , however , alcohol can stop being rewarding and at that point we drink , mainly to avoid the negative and withdrawal symptoms that come from not drinking , but it's all caused by drinking . Sadly , by that point , drinking has managed to bring about a so-called reward dysregulation .

This means that alcohol has crowded out natural reinforcers , making them less rewarding , which is why heavy drinkers often go around getting less rewards from natural life-sustaining reinforcers compared to non-drinkers . So after stopping drinking , things will only get worse before they get better .

At that point , the dysregulation of the reward system is completely exposed , often leaving the person unable to derive any pleasure from life . The inability to derive pleasure from life is also observed in other people with compromised reward systems , for example , schizophrenics . At number five we've got nutrient deficiencies .

So another way alcohol impacts the brain is through chronic deficiencies in certain vitamins and minerals . Now there are two possible ways in which these deficiencies can appear . One is through poor nutrition . It's no secret that heavy drinkers don't exactly have the healthiest of diets .

Think about the last time that you were drunk and found yourself craving some broccoli or Brussels sprouts . Probably didn't happen Now . The second way is related to alcohol blocking the absorption of certain vitamins and minerals .

Scientists haven't yet figured out exactly what role each of these two mechanisms plays in the various vitamin and mineral deficiencies , but what they do know is that heavy drinkers are routinely deficient in certain nutrients that are key to the proper functioning of the brain . Chief among these is vitamin B1 , also known as theamin .

Theamin isn't synthesized inside the nervous system . Instead , it has to cross from the gut to the blood and from there to the brain , and this absorption process is seriously impaired in heavy drinkers . The early symptoms of theamin deficiency include weakness , fatigue and emotional problems .

If left unchecked , this deficiency can lead to a type of premature dementia , and it may pronounce this incorrectly , but it's called Wernic Korsakov syndrome . Symptoms include confusion as well as problems with movement and vision . Early on , this is partially reversible . The longer the person keeps drinking , however , the more permanent the damage .

Now , at number six , we've got generalized cognitive impairment . So all the structural and chemical changes that we've discussed so far obviously take a toll on the mind , even if things don't reach the point of full blown Wernic Korsakov syndrome .

It is simply not possible for the brain to sustain so much damage without any consequences , and the consequences for most heavy drinkers are a wide range of cognitive deficits .

In the early stages you can typically only detect these deficits through specialized neuropsychological testing , but as they grow and become more severe , they can have a significant effect on a person's daily life . More or less every cognitive domain that you can think of is deficient , some more than others .

Different studies often come up with different results , partly because they use different assessment methods and partly because they study different types of drinkers , but a general consensus is that some of the most affected domains include working memory , processing speed , verbal fluency , verbal learning , spatial cognition , social cognition , for example , the ability to

understand emotions in other people and executive function . Now , we saw executive function earlier , where we mentioned how alcohol erodes the frontal lobes of the brain . But what exactly is executive function and why should we be interested in it ?

Well , the term refers to our ability to take stock of things , evaluate alternative courses of action and make plans towards our goals . And when you have a drinking problem , executive function is the last thing that you want .

Malfunctioning Drinking basically creates a nasty loop where the more that you drink , the more that you compromise your executive function , rendering you less able to pull yourself out of the hole that you've already dug yourself into , which is pretty sad stuff . Now , at number 7 , we've got alcoholic dementia

. Now , as harsh as this may sound , widespread cognitive deficits are actually a kind of best case scenario for heavy drinkers . Now many of them will have it even worse . We mentioned the Warnock-Korsakov syndrome , but this is a specialized case . More common is so-called alcohol-related dementia , which is basically when the brain gives out completely .

Dementia is a polite way of saying that somebody has gone senile . They can no longer remember properly , perform basic tasks and function self-sufficiently in society . It is a tragedy , and when you actually look at the statistics of how often alcohol can lead to dementia , the numbers are absolutely shocking .

According to one study , alcohol may contribute to nearly a quarter of all dementia cases . I'm talking about one of every four dementia patients across the entire population . And when you look at older cohorts of heavy drinkers again , you find that almost a quarter of them will have some degree of dementia .

Sadly , at this point , even if the person stops drinking , there is no guarantee that the dementia will affect . Thanks for checking out the Stop Drinking podcast by SoberClear . If you want to learn more about how we work with people to help them stop drinking effortlessly , then make sure to visit wwwsoberclearcom .