“I Just Drink a Little” #wait

“I Just Drink a Little” #wait.

Drinking even a small amount of alcohol can have harmful effects on long-term brain health. While moderate alcohol consumption is often socially accepted and sometimes even touted for certain health benefits, emerging research suggests that no level of alcohol consumption is entirely risk-free when it comes to brain health.

Alcohol affects the brain in various ways, and even minimal consumption can lead to changes in brain structure and function. One of the primary concerns is the impact on brain volume. Studies have shown that even light to moderate drinking can lead to a reduction in gray matter volume, which is critical for processing information and executing cognitive tasks. Over time, this reduction can contribute to cognitive decline and an increased risk of neurodegenerative diseases.

Another significant concern is alcohol’s effect on neurogenesis, the process by which new neurons are formed in the brain. Alcohol consumption can inhibit this process, particularly in the hippocampus, a region vital for memory and learning. Reduced neurogenesis can impair the brain’s ability to adapt and recover from injuries, leading to long-term cognitive deficits.

#brain #longevity #health

[PS-xirm]

So the longer you drink the harder its going to be to stop because your executive function is decreasing. Vicious.

[bekleedee]

Ugh....i cant begin to imagine how rotted some of my family's brains must be after drinking a carton of beer a day....

[laviniaasofiei]

I hope this message gets to who need it most..

[ihaveadream]

"Which brain would you want". Dude asked like we're zombies 😂

[Annie_Annie__]

My granddad had Alcoholism Dementia.
It’s not really “dementia” but they call it that because the symptoms are so similar. In actuality, he drank so hard for so long that he gave himself brain damage.

On a brain scan (forgot if it was MRI or CT) large parts of the front of his brain were extremely shriveled.
My dad and his siblings said that he “pickled his brain”, but pickled foods are much better preserved than what his brain looked like.

He could no longer take care of himself. He literally wasn’t eating, just getting all his calories and nutrients from drinking. And just before he went in to a nursing home, he was in a state where he couldn’t even keep up with his own hygiene. He wasn’t showering, brushing his teeth, or even wiping his butt. (It was disgusting. All his clothing and his little bit of furniture just got thrown away because it was so filthy.)
He couldn’t manage any task that required thinking more than about 3 steps ahead.
He was starting to get to where calling the liquor store to arrange another delivery of booze was too much for him.

And if anyone tried to help him get cleaned up or do laundry he would start raging and would say the most hurtful things he could think of.
And since it was usually his kids helping, he knew exactly what to say to hit them where it hurts. Even telling one kid that he should have been the one to die instead of his brother (who died as an infant from an illness. No one’s fault).

Eventually all his kids wanted nothing to do with his drunk ass except my dad, who felt obligated on a human level to get him some kind of care. So he got him in to a high quality nursing home.
Not that granddad appreciated it. He was mad that none of his kids wanted to take his nasty butt in to their home, and he almost got kicked out of the nursing home for sexually harassing the nurses.
Mostly because he had no impulse control anymore, but still, those women didn’t deserve to have to put up with that at work.

He finally got to a point where he couldn’t react to anyone even if he wanted to, and when he died, we didn’t even hold a funeral for him because no one would have gone.

My granddad is a large part of the reason that I just don’t drink.
I don’t know if I got that alcoholism gene and I’d rather not find out the hard way. I’ve felt that way since I was a kid.

[enlighteningstar]

I work in a rehab center, and even after people sober up you can kind of tell that there is some leftover damage to how they talk and behave. Some people even continue to slur like they're still drunk when they have been sober for a month. It's a lot more noticeable in people who use stimulants, they usually have less patience than a toddler. Especially those who started drinking/using heavily at a young age. When you think about it, getting drunk or high is basically symptoms of being poisoned. Hallucinations, changes in your vitals (BP/heart rate), loss of coordination, loss of control over bodily functions, your body literally trying to reject the substance by throwing up. And the withdrawals people get when they are detoxing is actually the body trying to reverse the long-term effects of trying to get accustomed to using the substance.

[genghisdingus]

Pretty sloppy video.
1: The study isn't exactly recent. It's from mid 2017.
2: There were only 550 participants not 25000.
3: The study didn't find thinning of the cortex but decrease in volume of the hippocampus and difference in corpus callosum micro-structures .
4: The picture you use while discussing the cortex isn't in the study cited.
5: The very study you're citing found no correlation in memory decline like you imply when talking about the cortex.
6: Weird chart. Why do the alcohol drinkers have a higher lexical score when they just started drinking? Is this chart implying that drinking gives you a boost of intelligence in the short term? Also the chart shows pretty poor correlation when the extreme alcoholic and the moderate consumer both even out in the end. Not to mention the frequent drinkers do worse than both of them.

[moonfiend]

That's so crazy because I've been dunked on for not drinking ever since I turned legal age. It just made me feel sick plus I have family history with alcohol addiction. If I do drink it's a few times a month. Not even weekly.

[kellyshuffler]

I’ve been in recovery for almost 3 years. I’m curious about regeneration of the cortex. But either way my life is so much better without alcohol 😊

[grahamelliott]

i like how the 'drinkers brain' is clearly a preserved physical brain (formaldehyde?) and the 'non-drinkers brain' is a graphical representation

[jrum]

Watching my brothers brain deteriorate is painful. He stopped and was doing well until a month ago, now he drinks whiskey instead of coffee again.

[cherieeepow]

Wild! I struggle with my memory badly when I drink, simple words elude me, and that's once a week. Canr imagine the damage it would do drinking daily

[AGBolish]

I was an alcoholic from age 18-21. It was odd for me because I had to stop drinking as soon as I was “allowed to” legally. I grew up with alcoholic parents and was practically raised to think it’s normal to have quite a few drinks every day after work. I never got cravings or triggers for alcohol, so I thought I’d turn out differently than my parents. After a few months of the habit, it became ingrained in me to drink every day after work. After a while, my body would go into withdrawals during the workday. I went from not even liking the idea of alcohol because of my parents, to not being able to stop cold turkey without the risk of having seizures. I got into a fabulous rehab facility and learned better coping skills and I’ve been sober for 7 years this month. It saved my life and I’m reminded of it every single day.

[heathertaylor]

When I was in AP biology, we had a guest speaker who brought in 2 brains; one of a young woman who never drank, and the brain of the drunk driver who killed them both. He had at least 10 drinks every day until his demise. I will never ever forget the sound they both made when they hit the medical tray. One a wet, disgusting splat, and one a healthy thud.

Alcoholism runs in my family. My father was a terrible alcoholic until his death. I truly believe this saved my life because I'm 46 and still don't drink, though I was drinking quite a bit when this happened. It's horrifying what alcohol can do to some people with the gene.

[jaxongarrison]

Makes sense that my uncle who has been an alcoholic for 30+ years has dementia symptoms even though his doctor says there technically isn’t anything wrong with his mind other than being plastered 24/7. He’s now in assisted living at 64 and my dad (who I’ve only seen drink twice) is still fully functional at 60. And yeah we tried to help him but he’s abusive (drunk or not) so we gave up after a few years. Apparently he’s been doing good in assisted living so the staff must have some tricks up their sleeves for dealing with him. Bless those nurses

[justanotherpotato]

I never wanted to drink in the first place. 1. I hate the smell of alcohol
2. It can worsen my autoimmune blood disorder
3. I’m already on medication that puts stress on my liver

[BrovG-ol]

My dad drinks as much as a collage student. hes been like that for my entire life. he says its ok because yeast is good for you and hes only drinking beer and not liquor like alcoholics do. im already seeing that mental decline especially when it comes to short term memory. sometimes he 'remembers' things that never happened and it causes a lot of arguments.

[farrennickol]

So greatful I broke the generational curse of alcoholism. 5 years sober living a beautiful life with my husband and kids! I wouldn't have this had I kept drinking.

[Versatile]

That is all the more reason why I don't drink and haven't for years

[girlofanimation]

I'd like to see fhe source paper for that graph and get more info on what theyre measuring for the lexical score and where the age scale actually starts.