HOW BINGE DRINKING CAN DAMAGE YOUR MEMORY

An article found in today's Daily Mail. I certainly wonder about this, certainly when I was lecturing at college and over hearing the tales of what my students got up to. Week end classes were certainly bad, that's if they turned up, they were generally late or fell asleep. No body is saying the odd drink is bad however moderation is the key. Alcohol is toxic to the liver and cirrhosis of the liver is becoming apparent in young people, it is worrying what a whole generation is doing to themselves

Why binge drinking makes you forgetful - it damages your ability to lay down long-term memories

Students who enjoy regular pub crawls are putting their long-term memory at risk, scientists warn.
A study has found that binge drinking affects the brain's hippocampus, which plays a key role in learning and memory.
This brain structure is particularly sensitive to the poisonous effect of alcohol no matter what your age, which is bad news for heavy drinking undergraduates.

Night on the tiles: Heavy drinking can affect your memory long-term and not just the night after

Lead researcher Dr Maria Parada said: 'We wondered whether hippocampus-dependent learning and memory could be affected by heavy episodic drinking.
'In northern European countries, there is a strong tradition of a sporadic, drunkenness-orientated, drinking style.
'In recent years, the pattern of binge drinking among young people has become more widespread throughout Europe, hence the growing concern about this issue.'
Our long-term memory is split into two types: declarative memory - which is our memory for facts and procedural memory - which is how we know how to physically do something like tie our shoelaces.
Scientists from Universidade de Santiago de Compostela in Spain found heavy drinking had a detrimental effect on students' declarative memory.
Those who admitted to indulging in too many pints were not as good at remembering facts.

THE HIPPOCAMPUS

This seahorse-shaped set of neurons is known to be play a role in both writing a working memory and committing it into a long term memory store.
It also connects memories with other memories to give them context. So pictures from your first day at work may be connected with information about the physical surroundings.

Many people with damage to the hippocampus have anterograde amnesia: they can remember the distant past but cannot form new memories. However, they can learn new skills.
The most often quoted case is of H.M. Two thirds of his hippocampus was removed to relieve him of epileptic seizures in 1953.
Doctors then realised that although H.M had memories from before the operation, he could not hold on to any new memories for more than a few seconds.
His story changed scientific understanding about the brain.

Dr Parada said: 'Our main finding was a clear association between binge drinking and a lower ability to learn new verbal information in healthy college students.
'This was even after controlling for other possible confounding variables such as intellectual levels, history of disorders, other drug use, or family history of alcoholism.'
The study examined 122 Spanish university students, aged between 18 and 20, divided into two groups - those who engaged in binge drinking and those who abstained.

They were then subjected to a neuropsychological assessment which included a logical memory subtest to test verbal declarative memory and tests to measure visual declarative memory.
Dr Parada said: 'This (study) allowed us to establish a clearer association between binge drinking patterns and poorer performance on memory tasks.
'One of the factors that appear to be behind this pattern of consumption is the low perception of risk.
'Whereas most attention has focused on negative consequences such as traffic accidents, violence or public disorder, society and students themselves are unaware of the damaging effects binge drinking may have on the brain.'
She added that the study accounted for variables such as genetic vulnerability, or drug use, such as marijuana.
Dr Parada said they would be following the students long-term to see whether drinking could affect academic performance, when taking variables such as class attendance into account.
The findings are published in Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1387919/Alcohol-Heavy-drinking-university-damages-long-term-memory.html#ixzz1MuC1XY00

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STRESS CAN WIPE AN ENTIRE MEMORY

Stress can damage your health its well documented and generally it results in high blood pressure, with resulting heart disease and strokes. I came across this article today.


You will find more on stress on my blog here on the tab at the top of this site. As for how to deal with stress well all Holistic Therapies are great for alleviating stress

Stress causes businessman's brain to 'blow a fuse' and wipes his entire memory

A businessman has lost his entire memory because he was so stressed his brain 'blew a fuse'.
Self-employed Billy Wallace, 53, was under so much pressure to make his timber haulage firm a success that his body could not cope.
Stress caused Billy's brain to 'shut down', wiping his memory in one life-changing blackout.

Blown a fuse: Billy Wallace was put under so much pressure by work that his brain shut down and wiped his memory

The devastating occurrence left the father unable to recognise his children, forcing him to relearn the simplest of tasks, even using a knife and fork.
His memories have never fully returned and doctors cannot offer answers to his nightmare ordeal.
'I was always on the go,' said Mr Wallace. 

 

'The work pressure built-up so much it had an effect on my personal life and I asked too much of myself at times.
'The doctor told me my brain overloaded and blew a fuse, like a safety mechanism.
'It's bizarre to think work did that to me. I've learned big lessons.

Forgotten: Mr Wallace (right) with his children Stephen and Rachel - he couldn't recognise them after his blackout

'I wish I could turn the clock back and do it differently.'
The former lorry driver decided to go it alone in 1989 and became a self-employed timber haulier.
But he found himself working 16 hours a day, six days a week and put in more time on the seventh.
He rarely had the chance to relax with his wife and children Stephen and Rachel, now 25 and 20.
But while waiting for his son Stephen to finish a music lesson in 1998, Billy became unwell and went to his car where he collapsed and suffered a total blackout - losing consciousness.
Mr Wallace, from Tynron near Thornhill, Dumfriesshire, was taken to hospital where specialists told him his brain had overloaded.

I've said to myself, just worry about todays and tomorrows, leave the past be

He said: 'I was petrified. I was so alone. It was like a horror movie.
'I would wake up in the morning and it was a matter of, what do I do and how do I do it?
'All my friends and work colleagues came to visit but it just frustrated me because I didn't know them. It made me really depressed.'
Mr Wallace spent six months in hospital where he was shown how to tell the time, tie his shoes and use cutlery again.
The former forester used to be able to identify every tree but suddenly found himself seeing them as if for the first time.
Experts used stories of past events and smells to trigger memories until eventually some began returning.
However, Mr Wallace's illness clouded his life and his family broke up.
On being discharged from Dumfries and Galloway Royal Infirmary he moved in with friends and relearned how to play the guitar and sing.
But there was never a time when the memories came flooding back.
Some recollections - like his childhood home, playing school sports and the births of his children - remain, but the rest is patchy.
Dr John Higgon, a clinical psychologist at Dumfries and Galloway NHS, said the condition could be dissociative amnesia - a form of memory loss which occurs after a stressful event.
He said: 'It is extremely rare.
'It is a very traumatic experience to feel that a lot of your memories from early life have disappeared and you can't access them again.'
Now Mr Wallace is helping the organisation which was instrumental in piecing his life back together - Support In Mind Scotland.
He will cycle from John O'Groats to Land's End to raise cash for the charity next month.
'I don't remember much but I've said to myself, don't worry about it Billy, just worry about todays and tomorrows, leave the past be,' he said.
'The new memories are always good, because now I'm developing as an individual again.
'I've learned the good times of the future can drown out the bad times from the past.'

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1383501/Stress-causes-businessmans-brain-blow-fuse-wipes-entire-memory.html#ixzz1LgebIJpw

Maggie Brown (Author)

Visit Amazon's Maggie Brown Page

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