Abstract
Alcoholism, according to the latest statistics, is one of the highly abused drugs among many teenagers in America today. The numerous statistics and variances here point to the paradigm of abuse and adverse effects on the human body. One critical effect of alcoholism is on the human brain. Brain operation has been found by researchers to have critical impacts due to alcoholism. This paper evaluates the critical effects of alcoholism on the human brain and the variances depending on intake rates such as “binge” consumers and non-binge consumers. some of the variances and statistics used in this paper reflect the contemporary abuse rate of alcohol in the US among institutions and their equivalent levels on cognitive processes. Furthermore, literature reviews also reflect the depth of research on the subject explored to create the argument below.
The Effects Alcoholism Has on the Human Brain
The abuse of alcohol forms the highest ranking among drug abuse among teenagers and youths. Studies in 2009 expounded that over half of the teenagers in an American university abused alcohol. The consumption of alcohol is rife in many nations despite the frequent health effects accompanying it. According to statistics from Chick (1997), many people stand a chance to get negative alcohol influence due to their rate of consumption. Research has proven that alcohol intake contributes to several health hazards including effects on the brain. The brain of a human organism has several functions that create a systematic nuance of operations. The operations within a brain determine the influence of the brain on other elements of the body as well as the physiological orientations of the personal mobility index. In retrospection, alcohol consumption forms one of the major influences on the human brain due to its intoxicating influence and the manner of addiction. The effects of alcohol on the brain have a close relationship, which is discussed in this paper at length. Some of the instances used here emanate from paradigmatic structures and orientations of the human body as well as the manner of human alcohol consumption (Grant, 1987). Therefore, this paper evaluates certain aspects of alcoholism on the human brain.
Effects of alcohol o the brain can either be long-term or short-term. In many ways, however, the behavior of alcohol abuse can be extremely risky and can always harm other people who have never had the experience to drink. The impacts on the central nervous system are numerous and are worth discussion due to the significance of the nuances available. It is understandable that the brain forms the central control of the body where several other functions emerge. An effect of alcohol on the brain can lead to failure of several other parts and aspects of the bodily functions thereby leading to the explosion of the human control factor. In that case, the person ceases to reason and operate within the required optimum and can either be hyperactive or under-sensitive in nuances. It is crucial to observe that different parts of the body face different effects due to their functions and nuances. Some of these effects are threatening to life and can lead to death or disabilities of the body organs. An addiction to alcohol for a person starts when the brain starts to adjust and orient to the need to consume alcohol. In that case, the brain begins to alter and function correctly when under the influence of alcohol.
One critical contribution of alcohol to the brain is memory loss. According to Harper “Consumption and abuse of alcohol leads to memory loss and enhances failure of cognitive aspects” (1988). In ideal senses, the people who tend to drink too much often tend to forget their experiences and forget their surroundings. In many cases, these people adhere to their spontaneous activity indexes and orientations as opposed to rationality and judgmental reasoning. Ideally, alcohol can lead to the recording of memories of the brain such that every memory of the brain relaxes and weakens to the ideals of the body. An instance occurred when a person drunk too much at one time. As time progressed, the person began to lose memory and cognition of his environment. He formed hallucinations and images, which were deceiving to their environment. This element is often associated with the primary features of drunken abuse.
Moreover, many instances of people drinking too much alcohol often pass out after some time. The act of passing out is often linked to the paradigms of above optimum level of consumption. In this case, the alcohol is said to have reached a level of high saturation in the brain. The high levels occur in the Reticular Activating System, which enhances cognitive aspects of reasoning and balance. The RAS forms a critical part of the brain where the stem and midbrain work to control elementary factors of production and orientations. “The RAS would simply be said to control whether one is awake or asleep in many cases” (Lishman 1990). In the event of high alcohol intake, the alcohol often counters the RAS and takes to an equilibrium where the brain is highly saturated. It is vital to understand that different brain elements behave at different levels of saturation which often affects the sensitivity index of the nuances observed above. Some of the brain parts experience limited effects by the alcohol while other parts encounter massive influence. These influences often affect the RAS and functions to create a systematic elementary of structures in organizations. When RAS reaches a high level of control, the effects force it to stop functioning and switch to night mode. “An activation of the night mode often leaves the drunkard dead asleep or collapsed since the RAS cannot maintain a uniform standard of activity” (Harper 1988)
Additionally, the phenomenon of drinking too much alcohol at a fast speed is common among teenagers. At these times, they compete in drinking alcohol quickly. Such acts are dangerous to the brain since too much consumption of alcohol at a fast rate poses the risk of passing out for many people. In many cases, passing out occurs when the mid-brain shuts down and causes a destabilization in the bodily functions of the drunkard. One common misconception on passing out occurs when people think that the act of passing out while drinking is a control mechanism when the body has had enough drink. This is not often the case.
On another note, the alcohol intake after a long time often disengages the brain’s capacity to think creatively. According to Lishman, an average human brain has the capacity to think creatively and innovatively in such a manner, that enhances the development both of the person and their relative environment. Excess intake of alcohol after some time often has the impact of reducing the creative paradigm of the brain such that a person becomes senile and slow in thoughts and creation of objectives. Harper notes that such syndromes, for extreme and persistent intake of alcohol, may persist even when the person is sober (1997). Such occasional and conditions in drunkards can lead to madness or brain impairment where they cannot think concretely for themselves. In these cases, they lead redundant lifestyles, which reduce their lifespan.
Drinking alcohol, while affecting the brain enormously, has the ability to reduce the reasoning of the person when the brain parameters fail to function appropriately. In these cases, the brain’s ability to sustain the human balance becomes impaired shortly due to the controlling environments of the alcohol. In this case, alcohol reduces the balance of the brain in relation to the central nervous system. From such experiences, the environment of the activities reduces considerably. In this case, for instance, the character lowers his ability to reason concretely and weigh choices appropriately to enhance discipline. In many cases, such people start behaving in risky behaviors without having any element of actin awareness. When such happen, they begin to function under wanton elements and the influence of sinister motives of other people. Examples of activities that may emerge due to reduced reasoning and cognitive sleep are unwanted sexual liaisons, drunk driving, as well as uncontrolled drug habits. Such actions have a critical influence on the awareness standard of the person thereby reducing the activity indexes of the drunkard. Often, when such people come to sobriety, they begin to regret their actions and may even become psychologically dependent. Another example of alcohol’s effect on the brain occurs when the alcohol is mixed with substances such as Ritalin, which is a dangerous element. The danger of Ritalin occurs when it reaches the brain of the teen and reduces the concentration span of the character. From such actions, such people fail to have a total concentration in activities that require in-depth concentration. Large elements of alcohol fused with elements of lithium also have the ability to cause instances of poor judgment a major element of impaired thinking. Often such people would develop difficulties in doing certain tasks requiring motor functions. Difficulties in performing motor functions include elements such as driving and knitting (Scheeper, 1996).
Lastly, binge drinking is an element that research claims to have a critical role in brain development. According to researchers, MRI and brain damages have a linkage to binge drinkers. A comparison between binge drinkers and non-binge drinkers often has a relative element of comparison emanating from the manner of drinking therein. The difference often lies in the color of the white matter in the drinkers. Binge drinkers include people who engage in short but rapid consumption of alcohol over a short period. These people often stuff their system with alcohol content as opposed to people who drink moderately over a long time. The difference in the color matter of the brain often has a linkage to the functioning of the brain. Binge drinkers often have difficulties in solving complex quizzes and would encounter elements of brain sleep (Porjes & Borgleiter 1987). This often occurs in girls who drink plenty of alcohol. Boys on the other hand, often have an inability to concentrate or pay attention for a limited time span. In retrospection, such elements may persist long after to cause permanent damage to the brain although researchers still believe the extent may vary from person to person.
Reference
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