While the government tells me it kills my mind, I need a real voice

Does alcohol really kill brain cells, making you "stupid". I would like to think that the government would tell me at least 1 thing to be the truth.

I don't know if it is 100% true, but I wouldn't be surprised. I mean, most drunks I've encountered aren't the brightest crayon in the box.

Speaking from personal experience I believe it to be absolutely true I'm afraid.

Why is it only the fun things that are bad for you. Stuff like drinking kill you. It is BS. If there was a way to be drunk and not kill brain cells. But that isn't possible, is it. If it is true that how to be drunk is to kill to many brain cells at once.

Cliff Claven theory

I always like Cliff Claven from the TV show Cheers, and I always liked his philosophy on drinking beer:

“Well ya see Norm, it’s like this… A herd of buffalo can only move as fast as the slowest buffalo. And when the herd is hunted, it is the slowest and weakest ones at the back that are killed first. This natural selection is good for the herd as a whole, because the general speed and health of the whole group keeps improving by the regular killing of the weakest members.”

“In much the same way, the human brain can only operate as fast as the slowest brain cells. Excessive intake of alcohol, as we all know, kills brain cells, but naturally it attacks the slowest and weakest brain cells first. In this way, regular consumption of beer eliminates the weaker brain cells, making the brain a faster and more efficient machine. That’s why you always feel smarter after a few beers."

It may not be scientific, it may not be true, but is sure was funny...

JDub

I don't drink, so I'll never know if it makes me smarter or dumber. but I'm willing to bet that Claven's theory, while convincing, is probably untrue.

bravo for the Cliff Claven quote. Had I had it at hand during my drinking days, they might have lasted longer.

It just seems to me that alcohol goes with humans hand in hand. The few times that I have drank, I felt better. I have yet to feel stupid. It just seems as a good way to escape this world.

Removed drug reference.

[edit on 2-4-2006 by sanctum]

The few times that I have drank, I felt better.

There's alot of difference between someone who consumed alcohol a few times and people who drink frequently or in excessive amounts. Sure you may have felt better while you were drunk, you probably didn't feel that way in the morning though.

[edit on 1/4/06 by Skibum]

Removed drug reference.

[edit on 2-4-2006 by sanctum]

Skibum, I only usually drink a 6-pack of bottles because that is all I can get. I never even have a headache.

Removed drug reference.

[edit on 2-4-2006 by sanctum]

I'm sorry, but that is the most ignorant statement I have ever heard. Yes, when America had prohibition (we never had that in Italy thank god), many people drank. But can you honeslty provide me information that shows more people drank then than before? I highly doubt it. It was, in fact, harder to get, some people who were only casual drinkers were probably put off by the legal issues, and some people just had no way to get it illegally. If you make coc aine legal, then you open the doors to every child to experiment with it who normally would not be exposed to it. You allow it to be marketed like cigarettes, and you allow it to become accepted, despite the fact that it is one of the most physiological harmful drugs.

~MFP

Please stay on topic.

Does alcohol really kill brain cells, making you "stupid". I would like to think that the government would tell me at least 1 thing to be the truth.

We were on topic, Sanctum. It's about information about alcohol and drugs and the legality of the substances. I'm sorry you can't see that a discussion can take several courses and that reiterating the same pointys over and over makes for a poor thread.

~MFP

Originally posted by bsl4doc
If you make coc aine legal, then you open the doors to every child to experiment with it who normally would not be exposed to it. You allow it to be marketed like cigarettes, and you allow it to become accepted, despite the fact that it is one of the most physiological harmful drugs.

~MFP

alcohol being another one!!!!! all mind altering substances are harmful psycologically,just because they alter the psycology.

the question originally asked, alcohol melts braincells (nurons), to protect itself the brain coats them in a fatty acid, inhibiting the brains normal functioning and causing the feeling we call drunkeness.

non toxic narchotics are available legally in parts of europe and some states in the u.s. for medicinal use but you'll have to reasearch them yourself.

beer makes you both smarter and sexier...think about it. ..you always know everything about anything when you,re drunk and you talk to girls who you know are way out of your league when youve had a few

Honestly, I don't know, I've never actually done a research experiment, and watched a persons amount of brain cells.


However, even if it does, it's not like you can't geyt more, I know alot of people (especially those who are against alcohol) will tell you that you don't grom new brain cells, and tyhat when one dies that's it.
However, I have read an article, was on LiveScience.com about a year ago, that said that humans may well grow new brain cells, it was originally based in research done in birds that showed they gre new brain cells to learn a new song.

So I figure when we learn something new we grow new brain cells for it.

Anyways I drink, not often, about once a moth, and I'm not less intelligent, actualy I seem to have gotten a boost in my over all inteligence level since I first started.

My pharmacology friends and I call alcohol the pharmacological hand grenade.
To get much of this data, I restate much of Robert Julien's "A Primer for Drug Action" tenth edition.
Before I get labeled as a modern day prohibitionist, I will state that I am 23 and I do drink, but not often and never excessively. The last time I drank was in November and I only had two beers at the time.

First off, recreational alcohol is actually ethyl alcohol (ethanol). To understand its effects, we have to look at this compound and its actions as we would a drug.

One of the issues with alcohol is that it acts sloppily by being absorbed by many different parts of the body (which also adds to the fun of it). It is rapidly absorbed throughout the entire GI tract. The first part of absorbtion can occur within 20 minutes of consumption and absorbtion can continue from the intestines up to 80 minutes later.

Roughly 95% of consumed alcohol is absorbed by the body. Women absorb more than men. The extra 5% and the difference in sex is due to differences in the presense of alcohol dehydrogrenase, the enzyme that breaks down alcohol. When we discuss tolerance for alcohol, we refer to the presense of this enzyme. Many people brag that they can drink others under the table due to increased tolderance. This is mostly false. One can produce increased levels of the enzyme, but it does not have that much of an effect in the large scheme of things. What is primarily changed is the psychological way these people have gotten used to being drunk. Physiologically very little difference in the presense of enzyme exists between someone who rarely drinks and those who consume a 6-pack daily. Habitual drinkers may slightly lower their absorbtion to 93% due to increased enzyme.

The 90%+ that remains in the body that is absorbed goes many places.

In my personal experience in working with neurons, I have had to do controls for many drug studies (which are sometimes suspended in alcohol)
To control for the suspension a neuron + alcohol cell line is always used. Apply a small concentration of alcohol in the neuron media and the neurons die - regardless of the concentration in the media (when compared to the pure control)

But what is it doing?
Alcohol is a major inhibitor of NMDA Glutamate (excitatory neurotransmitter) receptors. It also causes an increase in chloride ions at GABA receptors causing neuronal inhibition. At the same time it activates the reward pathway due to activation of opioid receptors. Finally, it also disrupts the Serotonin pathways (serotonin is a derivative of tryptophan - like the turkey at thanksgiving that makes you sleepy, alcohol dirupts the sleep cycle in a similar way)

All in all the first neurons to die are those associated with higher processing
(see wiki on Korsakoff's syndrome). This data goes hand in hand with the teratogenic effects. When a pregnant mother consumes alcohol, the fetus develops FAS and higher skills are impared.

As neurons die, their neighbors, the ones they form synapse with continue to look for the synapses (connections they once had). This process is known as plasticity and is linked to hallucinations, motor aggistations, confusion, disorientation and the delirium tremens (DTs). 30-50% of alcoholics meet criteria for major depression due to such physiological changes.

The cons
In addition to the above stated, alcohol is also linked to a promoter of cancer , pancreatitis, liver damage and chronic gastritis. Alcohol is also metabolized into acetaldehyde and free radicals which do their own damage to cells.


The pros.
Alcohol is an anticonvulsant (but not clinically used)
In light to moderate doses, it has shown to lessen risk of stroke. (perhaps since there are fewer neurons to dose)


There's a lot more, but I'll save that for later posts since it is getting rather late here.

I'm 33 and I've never been drunk, never set foot in a bar. The amount of alcohol I've had the last 13 years wouldn't get a dog drunk. The last time I had anything was probably in the late 1990s.

My sister is almost 32 and she's in AA. She told me I'm not missing anything.

Who remembers Bill Cosby, Himself where he's describing someone with a hangover? "And that's called having a good time!" he declares.