A woman worries about alcohol and memory issues

How Alcohol Impacts Your Memory

Alcohol use disorders can lead to a number of physical and mental health challenges, including impairment in the brain’s ability to store memories. As troubling as this may be, many people with an alcohol addiction struggle to quit alcohol on their own. Starting treatment at an alcohol rehab is the surest path to achieving sobriety.

If you or your loved one are in need of alcohol treatment, call the addiction experts with Promises by dialing 844.875.5609.

How Alcohol Affects the Brain

When you drink alcohol, it gets absorbed in the stomach into the bloodstream and rapidly makes its way into the brain. Alcohol has a number of effects upon reaching the brain, but its primary mechanism of action is on a neurotransmitter called GABA.

GABA is the brain’s inhibitory neurotransmitter, meaning it sends signals throughout the brain and body for you to relax, calm down, and not get overly excited. Alcohol increases the potency of your brain’s natural sources of GABA, leading to effects such as:

  • Slowed breathing
  • Anxiety relief
  • Tiredness
  • Relaxed social inhibitions

These relaxing effects extend to nearly every part of the brain, even those you’d prefer to be awake and alert. One such area is the hippocampus, a brain region vital to forming memories and learning. Drinking disrupts the normal activity of the hippocampus, which can lead to several troubles with memory formation.

Alcohol and Memory

While the exact interactions between alcohol and the brain are complex, the real-world effects between alcohol and memory are simple. 

Alcohol leads to reduced activity in regions of the brain associated with turning short-term memories into long-term memories, making it difficult for people to retain new information or remember what they did while drinking.

The impact of alcohol on memory scales with how much you drink. Having one or two drinks may only impair your ability to form memories a little, such as forgetting someone’s name when you meet them for the first time.

But if you drink to excess, the effect of alcohol on your memory grows much more pronounced. Binge drinking often leads to a blackout, where people have no recollection whatsoever of what they did while they were under the influence of alcohol.

Blackouts can be incredibly dangerous. Not only does such a high level of alcohol intoxication increase your risk of alcohol poisoning, but people who experience blackouts are at a much higher risk of injury and other harm.

Long-Term Effects of Alcohol on Memory

Blackouts aren’t the only memory challenge people experience from alcohol use. The long-term effects of alcohol can substantially affect your memory as well, as alcohol use disorders can cause lasting brain changes that can take months or years to fully recover from.

For memory specifically, long-term heavy alcohol use is associated with a reduction in the size of the hippocampus. This means that even while not intoxicated, people with an alcohol use disorder can struggle with memory deficits for years. 

While most brain changes associated with alcohol use disorder will recover in time, people first need to achieve and maintain abstinence to see a full recovery.

Start Alcohol Rehab at Promises Today

Alcohol use disorders are debilitating conditions that affect several aspects of physical and mental health. The best way to protect yourself from these long-term consequences is to find treatment, stay sober, and start building a better life for yourself in recovery.

When you’re ready to begin evidence-based alcohol treatment, call Promises at 844.875.5609 to hear about our comprehensive addiction and mental health treatment programs. Taking the first step to recovery can be nerve-racking, but the rewards of sobriety are worth the effort.

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