The brains of teens and young adults are at great risk from binge drinking
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Research shows binge drinking by teens and young adults is not at all safe and may in fact lead to brain damage.
It has been reported by Neuroscience News that researchers have discovered that there is an association between heavy drinking during adolescence and among young adults with alterations in brain structure and function. This can lead to decreased cognitive abilities. There has actually been findings that with binge drinking there is a decrease in areas of the brain that play vital roles in learning, memory, attention and language.
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It is well known that drinking alcohol can have adverse effects on your health. Yet drinking is a well established social habit in many countries. Adolescents in particular often engage in drinking games and all night drinking parties.
As a matter of fact drinking a lot of alcohol is very common in adolescence and about 25 percent of high school seniors in the United States have reported they have been drunk in the past month. Binge or heavy episodic drinking refers to having four or more standard drinks within a two-hour drinking session for females, and five or more drinks for males.
Researchers have determined there is an association between binge drinking in young people and a thinning or decrease of areas of the brain which play a vital role in attention, memory, language, awareness and consciousness. Alterations of the brain due to heavy drinking during adolescence could result in a higher risk of having an alcohol use disorder later on in life.
This study has been published in the journal Frontiers in Psychology. There may be damaging effects of consuming large quantities of alcohol during adolescence and young adulthood on neural development and associated cognition. The brain is very vulnerable to neurotoxic effects of drinking a lot of alcohol during this highly plastic neurodevelopmental period in life. Adolescence and young adulthood are times of a great deal of biological and psychosocial maturation. Heavy alcohol consumption at this time in development may be particularly dangerous for the developing brain.
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