The First Drink
Alcohol is a depressant, but it also has stimulating effects. When alcohol reaches the brain, it alters the levels of important neurotransmitters there. Glutamate levels decrease, draining your energy, and leaving you feeling relaxed or exhausted, depending on how much you’ve had. GABA levels increase, which also makes you feel tired and out of energy. Alcohol also increases dopamine levels, which is responsible for your brain’s sense of reward and pleasure. This makes you think you’re feeling great, even though your body is not functioning in a healthy way. Even a little bit of alcohol goes a long way and you might feel memory impairment, loss of coordination, slowed speech, and other signs of lagging energy after just one drink.
Now You’re Drunk
If you drink enough alcohol it begins to have an affect on other areas of the brain, including the hypothalamus and pituitary glands where many of the body’s hormones are produced. This can inhibit sexual function, but increase sexual desire, which is never a fun combination. As alcohol reaches the cerebellum, you’re left feeling confused and off-balance. If you drink too much, alcohol starts tripping up the medulla, which is responsible for regulating essential functions like breathing and heart rate. At this point being drunk becomes life threatening. Blackouts and memory loss when drinking are signs that serious brain damage is occurring.
Now You’re Addicted
Like many other drugs, alcohol stimulates the brain to increase dopamine production. When you continue drinking a significant amount of alcohol on a regular basis, your brain stops producing dopamine in its own, and then needs alcohol to trigger production. This may then send you looking for more and more alcohol to satisfy this need, and soon you’re addicted. Your brain continues to be damaged as alcohol does its dirty work, and the rest of your body will suffer as well. Wernicke-Korsakoff Syndrome is a severe form of brain damage due to a thiamine deficiency caused by alcohol consumption; this can have a permanent psychological impact. This disease permanently affects coordination, memory, and emotional control. Getting help to overcome alcoholism as soon as problems come up is essential and life saving.
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