Have you ever wondered how alcohol affects your memory, or changes your behaviour? Take a closer look at the potential long-term effects of drinking in excess.
Most of us who enjoy drinking alcohol know that after a hideously stressful day at the office it’s the norm to go out with friends for a “pick-me-up” drink, or go home and collapse on the couch to relax with a beer or glass of your favourite wine.
But before you take that next swig, have you ever thought what alcohol does to your body and more specifically, to your nervous system?
Not to be a killjoy, but like with most things, moderation is the key word when consuming alcohol.
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Turns out that South Africans like to drink; in fact, we are some of the biggest boozers in the world, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).
About 130 people in South Africa die each day due to alcohol related incidents, says Professor Charles Parry, director of the Alcohol and Drug Abuse Research Unit at the South African Medical Research Council (MRC).
His concern goes beyond statistics; he says various non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and conditions are "entirely attributable to alcohol". These include many mental and behavioural disorders, foetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) and nervous system damage.
“The more alcohol you drink, the more problematic these disease-related complications become,” Professor Parry warns.
How exactly does alcohol affect your central nervous system (CNS), (i.e. your brain and spinal cord) and peripheral nervous system (PNS)?
The CNS plays such vital roles that your body cannot survive without it. These include taking in and processing information through the senses, controlling complex motor functions as well as other tasks like reasoning, thinking and, understanding.
Alcohol acts as a depressant on the brain and other nerve tissue. This means it slows down the functioning of nerves cell and activity in the CNS, explains neurologist Dr Stuart Kieran of Bitterroot Neurology in Montana, USA.
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It might sound odd, since most people usually become less reserved and more animated after drinking alcohol. Fact is, the acute feeling of euphoria or loss of inhibition is not stimulation, says Dr Kieran, but rather the result of "certain areas of the brain that normally control judgment, reasoning and instincts being suppressed".
Most of us who enjoy drinking alcohol know that after a hideously stressful day at the office it’s the norm to go out with friends for a “pick-me-up” drink, or go home and collapse on the couch to relax with a beer or glass of your favourite wine.
But before you take that next swig, have you ever thought what alcohol does to your body and more specifically, to your nervous system?
Not to be a killjoy, but like with most things, moderation is the key word when consuming alcohol.
![[Image: alcohol-drinking-presentation-9-728.jpg?cb=1320222022]](http://image.slidesharecdn.com/alcoholdrinkingpresentation-111102074721-phpapp02/95/alcohol-drinking-presentation-9-728.jpg?cb=1320222022)
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Turns out that South Africans like to drink; in fact, we are some of the biggest boozers in the world, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).
About 130 people in South Africa die each day due to alcohol related incidents, says Professor Charles Parry, director of the Alcohol and Drug Abuse Research Unit at the South African Medical Research Council (MRC).
His concern goes beyond statistics; he says various non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and conditions are "entirely attributable to alcohol". These include many mental and behavioural disorders, foetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) and nervous system damage.
“The more alcohol you drink, the more problematic these disease-related complications become,” Professor Parry warns.
How exactly does alcohol affect your central nervous system (CNS), (i.e. your brain and spinal cord) and peripheral nervous system (PNS)?
The CNS plays such vital roles that your body cannot survive without it. These include taking in and processing information through the senses, controlling complex motor functions as well as other tasks like reasoning, thinking and, understanding.
Alcohol acts as a depressant on the brain and other nerve tissue. This means it slows down the functioning of nerves cell and activity in the CNS, explains neurologist Dr Stuart Kieran of Bitterroot Neurology in Montana, USA.
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It might sound odd, since most people usually become less reserved and more animated after drinking alcohol. Fact is, the acute feeling of euphoria or loss of inhibition is not stimulation, says Dr Kieran, but rather the result of "certain areas of the brain that normally control judgment, reasoning and instincts being suppressed".