How Does Alcohol Affect The Brain?

The brain anotomy diagram

As adults, we understand the health risks and effects to the body from abusing drugs. There are many drugs in the world that allow people to live normal lives, which without the drugs would be near impossible. On the other hand there are many types of drugs that when abused have negative effects on the body in particular the functions of the brain. However, one drug that is very socially accepted and abused is alcohol. Today we will try to educate ourselves how and why alcohol is a psychoactive drug that changes brain functions and can lead to alterations in perception, behavior, mood or perception and eventually to an addiction. Alcohol is a depressant psychoactive drug with the purpose of slowing down the brain activity in the areas concerned with self-consciousness and decision making. Alcohol is a depressant of the central nervous system; it makes the nerve cells in the brain less excited, causing them to slow down. When the brain does not have alcohol slowing it down it can function normally, the brain reacts and responds almost instantly to the stimuli it takes in when not under the affects of alcohol, under normal conditions, a balance exists between excitatory (increase) and inhibitory (decrease) neurotransmission in the brain.

Neurotransmitters are chemicals that allow signal transmission, and thus communication, among neurons, serotonin ,GABA and dopamine are some of the main neurotransmitters that are affected by alcohol, serotonin influences brain function such as learning and memory, perception of the world around you and your frame of mind. GABA is the key inhibitory neurotransmitter in the brain; it reduces the activity of the signal-receiving neuron. The neurotransmitter dopamine is responsible in communicating the reward motivated behavior feeling to the brain, and whenever the brain has a pleasure or reward signal it has an increase in dopamine. Alcohol directly affects the brain chemistry by altering levels of neurotransmitters. When serotonin levels rise your brain has an intoxicating and rewarding feeling, an increase in GABA production in the brain results in sedation, meaning your speech and movements will be slowed alcohol also increases the release of dopamine in your brain’s “reward center.” By increasing you’re dopamine levels in your brain, you think you’re happy but you are actually becoming depressed. All of this can lead to addiction, which is your brain telling you it has to have something to act normal, it fools you into thinking that you can’t function properly without alcohol. You will give anyone up or anything in your addiction to get the thing your brain thinks it has to have.


The effects of alcohol on neurotransmitters



The longer you live in this abuse the more your body will need alcohol, you build up a tolerance, meaning you need more and more to get the same good feeling. When the time comes that you think you have had enough, and you try to stop abusing the alcohol. Consequently, you may go into a withdrawal, going into a depression and becoming sick because your brain has changed its chemical makeup and can’t function properly without the alcohol. A chronic or long term alcohol use can lead to adaptive change in the brain cells, this is a process where your brain is trying to re-create normal cell functions, if the alcohol has been inhibiting the cells the brain may try to compensate for this by increasing the number of receptors or by changing the molecular structure of the cells so that the alcohol can longer inhibit the receptors. As you can see from the above information. Alcohol can be a very dangerous drug to your brain and have devastating results to your life and relations ships when abused and not used responsible. It is ironic that something you think makes you happy is actually a depressant that can change the way your brain functions forever. This is something I never thought about before writing this article, now that I understand how and why alcohol can affect my life I will be more cognizant of alcohol.