Alcohol causes a bevy of damaging effects on the human brain. This includes blurred vision, difficulty in walking, slurred speech, impaired memory, poor reaction skills, and decreased coordination. It is clear that alcohol affects the brain. Some of these impairments are seen after one or two drinks and can quickly subside when the drinking stops. However on the other hand, an alcoholic for many years may have permanent brain deficits that persist even after becoming sober. What remains a hot topic in the medical community is how alcohol affects the brain and the ability to reverse the impact alcohol has on the brain.

We do know that alcoholism can have extensive and far reaching affects on the brain. This ranges from the simple slip of the memory to permanent and debilitating conditions that may require professional care. Even a moderate amount of drinking can cause short term impairment of the brain. There are a number of factors that shows the extent of how alcohol affects the brain. They include how much and the frequency of drinking, the age at which a person begins to drink, the level of education a person has, gender, ethnic background, and family history of alcoholism. Also whether if he or she is at risk as a result of prenatal alcohol exposure and the general health of an individual.

Alcohol is one of those drugs that can produce detectable memory impairments after a few drinks. As the amount of alcohol consumption increase, so does the degree of impairment. Excessive quantities of alcohol especially when taken fast and on an empty stomach, can and may produce blackouts. Blackouts are an interval of time in which the intoxicated person cannot recall key details of events or even entire events. Blackouts can occur for heavy drinkers as well as social drinkers. It should be viewed as a potential consequence of acute intoxication regardless of age or whether the drinker is clinically dependent on drinking alcohol. Based on statistics, there are an equal number of men and women that report blackouts even though men drink more often and more heavily than women. It is believed that a women’s tendency to blackout more is most likely due to how they metabolize the alcohol in the liver. Women are also more likely to have alcohol induced memory impairments based on the same amount of alcohol consumed by men.

Narconon provides drug and alcohol treatment that can help reverse the effects of alcohol on the brain.

Effects Of Alcohol On Women

Women are statistically more vulnerable than men for many of the medical consequences due to alcohol use. Alcoholic women develop cirrhosis, alcohol induced damage to the heart muscle also known as cardiomyopathy, and peripheral neuropathy or nerve damage after fewer years of heavy drinking when compared to men. Using computerized tomography, alcoholic men and women showed brain shrinkage which ultimately leads to brain damage. Studies also confirm that men and women have learning and memory problems as a result of alcoholic behaviors. People who have drank heavily for longer periods of time are at risk for developing serious and persistent changes to the brain. Thiamine deficiency is a common occurrence in people with alcoholism and is a result from a poor diet. Thiamine is also known as vitamin B1 which is an essential nutrient for the tissues of the body and the brain. Thiamine is abundant in many of the normal things we eat such as whole grains like bread and cereal, nuts, peas, meat and poultry. As a result, the majority of people consume sufficient amounts of thiamine in their daily diet. But alcoholics tend not to take care of themselves and not eat properly leading to thiamine deficiencies.

Serious Deficiency

Up to eighty percent of alcoholics have a deficiency in thiamine. And some of these individuals develop serious brain disorders like Wernicke-Korsakoff Syndrome. Wernicke-Korsakoff Syndrome is a disease that is made up of two syndromes, Wernicke’s encephalopathy and Korsakoff’s psychosis. Wernicke’s encephalopathy include mental confusion, oculomotor disturbances, and difficulty in controlling muscle function. Eighty to ninety percent of people who have Wernicke’s encephalopathy can develop Korsakoff psychosis which is a chronic and devastating syndrome that causes memory and learning problems. These patients are often forgetful, easily frustrated, and have difficulty with coordination and walking. They also have extreme difficulties in acquiring new information or anterograde amnesia. These patients can describe a particular event in their lives but literally an hour later cannot recall ever having the conversation.

It is widely known that heavy drinking can and will cause damage to the liver. The liver is the organ responsible for breaking down alcohol into byproducts which leaves the body. But with prolonged liver impairment, like liver cirrhosis, it can damage the brain leading to a potentially fatal brain disorder called hepatic encephalopathy. Hepatic encephalopathy can change a person’s sleep patterns, personality, and mood. It can also lead to anxiety, depression, shortened attention spans, and the shaking of the hands known as asterixis. In serious cases, a person with this condition can fall into a coma and die.

Drinking during a pregnancy can lead to learning, physical, and behavioral effects in developing a fetus’ brain. The most serious is called fetal alcohol syndrome. These children have a distinct facial feature with a lower nasal bridge, a shorter nose, a small head circumference, smaller eye openings, a small midface, and thin upper lips. The brain also has less volume and they may have a fewer number of brain cells or neurons.

Alcoholics experience a wide array of impairments and this disease has different origins for different types of people. Alcoholics with cognitive impairments can show improvements in brain structure and functioning after a year of being sober although some individuals take a longer period of time to reach that level. As technology improves, physicians will be able to develop new methods to help an alcoholic. They can use brain image scans to monitor the course of treatment because imaging shows functional, structural, and biochemical changes. The next step in helping alcoholics of many years would be to create something that could stimulate and grow new brain cells and neurons.