Drinking affects what part of the brain?

Drinking is a pastime enjoyed by many humans. Whether it be sipping on a glass of wine during dinner or chugging down beers with your buddies at barbeques, alcohol consumption has become a common practice in social events and personal experiences. However, few people are aware that drinking can significantly affect certain parts of their brains.

Prefrontal Cortex- The Brain’s Decision-Making Hub

The prefrontal cortex(PFC) is the primary decision-making hub responsible for governing our behavior, reasoning skills, thoughts and emotions (1). When we consume alcohol to excess levels over extended periods,(2) like binge drinking throughout the weekend (3)or consuming copious amounts daily(4), we put ourselves at risk of impairing this area’s efficacy.

How Alcohol Affects Your PFC

Alcohol hinders neurotransmitters’ chemicals in your brain that maintain neurotransmission and overall cognitive response times; prolonged abuse may damage your neuron cells permanently in this region (5).

A study conducted on rats determined acute ethanol exposure inhibits excitability within the lateral PFS network leading to decreased decision-making abilities (6). Individuals who drink heavily display an inconsistency when making decisions for complex problems because they have deterred both motor-planning processes as well as complete execution due to ethanol-induced neural dysfunction (7)

Hippocampus – The Memory Keeper

During excessive alcohol consumption over time causes physical discrepancies within one’s hippocampal structure which stores all long-term memories (8.)

Alcohol-Induced Hippocampal Alterations

As research confirms chronic alcohol exposure can cause neuropathological changes, resulting in neuronal death causing memory loss or dementia-like symptoms,(9).

When observing postmortem synaptic structures from human cadavers with histories ranging from non-experienced drinkers to severe abusers found evidence supporting increased neuronal death leading to possible hippocampal memory deficits (10).

Chronic, excessive ethanol consumption specifically affects both the CA1 and CA3 hippocampal subfields leading to spatial learning impairment.

Cerebellum- The Balance Keeper

The cerebellum is a relatively small section of the brain located just beneath the occipital lobes—responsible for balance regulation, motor control and subtle movements like fine motor skills.

Impaired Coordination After Drinking Alcoholic Beverages

When we consume alcohol past safe levels, it begins compromising our cerebellar function resulting in decreased accurate motor coordination or ability to move as intended worsens with ascending blood alcohol measures(11). As well as metabolism influencing gender-specific variables declaring women inherently at lesser amounts of drinking than their male counterparts has corresponding negative effects on Sustentacular cells within the cochlea regarding inner ear (12.)

Spatial abilities have also been shown to be detrimentally affected by biologically female individuals consuming light-to-moderate amounts of alcohols due specifically due age or nonregular beverage imbibing (13) .

Brain Stem – Circulating Life Support System

Communication between your spine cord stem and hypothalamus significantly influenced breathing and heart rate patterns. Alcohol depresses this area’s functionality negatively impacting respiratory frequency sensors.(14)

Inhibition Of Cardiovascular Activity

When one surpasses their personal threshold, they begin developing arhythmia’s or drastically fluctuating ventilation rates which are consequences from basoreceptor oversaturation affecting cough reflex inhibition in unison with sleep-wake cycle discfunctions(15), proving you should never trust someone slur-ring words if communicating vital information whilst under alcoholic influence.

Conclusion: The Negative Effects Of Excessive Alcohol Consumption On Various Areas Within Your Brain Is Evident From Research.

While a fun time-consuming alcoholic beverages may reap benefits promoting relaxation enhancers many regions’ integral structures within the brain’s functions. From the cerebellum to hippocampal subfields, all have been reported experiencing alterations with chronicity exceeding medically advised limits.

So next time you want a night on the town with your friends or family members be aware of what you consume as not only can alcoholic beverages affect various areas within your body but more specifically specific parts within your brain highly required for cognitive functions like decision making, memory retention balance perception and healthily regulates circulatory patterns.

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