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10 Ways You Can Use Alcohol That Doesn’t Involve Drinking It

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10 Ways You Can Use Alcohol That Don't Involve Drinking It

10 Ways You Can Use Alcohol That Don’t Involve Drinking It

Believe it or not alcohol doesn’t and isn’t only for drinking. There are many ways you can use alcohol that don’t involve drinking it. From cleaning to working in your garden, the alcohol you are so accustomed to drinking can actually be a useful tool for many things in your life aside from getting drunk.

Here are 10 ways you can use alcohol that don’t involve drinking it:

Vodka

Vodka is one of the most, if not the most, popular alcohols today. This is not only because of its ingredients but also because it is a less intense flavor, which makes it perfect for mixing with other juices and liquors. So what are some ways you can use alcohol that don’t involve drinking it?

  1. Cleaning – Vodka has potent cleaning power of all kinds. If you spray your laundry with vodka as a freshener the alcohol kills odor-causing bacteria but it doesn’t leave a scent behind after it has dried. You could also use alcohol to polish glass and porcelain. Alcohol is great for getting rid of mold too, simply scrub the dirty area with a towel that is wet with vodka.
  2. Poison Ivy – Vodka can help disinfect skin and reduce symptoms of poison ivy.
  3. Flowers – Packaged flowers usually contain acid, sugar and a biocide that kills bacteria. If you add vodka and a spoonful of sugar to the water of your bouquets you can help with that.

Whiskey

Whiskey is made from fermented grain mash and is aged in wooden casks.

  1. Decongestant – Whiskey has been used to help with colds and congestion for a long time. This is one of the ways to use alcohol while drinking it but not to get drunk. Alcohol is heated with honey, lemon and water to help with decongestion.
  2. Toothaches – This is also an old remedy that uses alcohol. Whiskey dabbed on sore teeth can help with any toothache.
  3. Biofuel– Alcohol can be used for fuel! Scientists developed a fuel-grade biofuel that uses the waste from distilling whiskey and it is more powerful than most biofuels.

Beer

Right after water and tea, beer is actually the most consumed beverage in the world.

  1. Hair  – The vitamin B and sugars within the alcohol in beer can help restore shine in hair. Warm, flat beer worked through hair after it has been shampooed works great. Rinse and then style as usual.
  2. Soil -Putting a few tablespoons of beer over soil helps grass grow fuller and faster. Why? Because of the yeast in the beer.
  3. Baths -This alcohol, beer, can actually soften your skin. Especially the darker beers with more malt.
  4. Cooking – beer can help the flavor of any bland dish including anything fried, soups, and more!

There are so many ways to use alcohol that don’t involve drinking it that it makes you wonder why we don’t use it more often in our baths or in our gardens!?

If you need help with your addiction give us a call now at 1-800-984-4003.

Alcohol Addiction

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Alcohol Addiction

Alcohol Addiction

Alcohol Addiction: Definition

Alcohol addiction, or alcoholism, is a chronic, progressive disease that includes problems controlling your drinking, being preoccupied with alcohol, continuing to drink despite negative consequences, having to drink more to get the same effect or having withdrawal symptoms when you rapidly decrease or stop drinking.

It is possible to have a problem with alcohol, even when it has not progressed to the point of alcoholism. Problem drinking means you drink too much at times, causing repeated problems, but you are not completely dependent on drinking.

Alcohol Addiction: Facts

Alcohol addiction has little to do with what kind of alcohol you drink, how long you have been drinking, or even exactly how much you drink.

Vulnerability to alcoholism can be inherited, but doctors still do not know what causes alcohol addiction.

Alcohol addiction affects people from every type of background, but here are several characteristics that can increase the risk that a person will develop alcoholism. These are known in the scientific community as “risk factors.”

“Binge Drinking” defined as five or more drinks in a sitting for men and four for women, can increase chances of developing alcohol addiction.

Alcohol addiction is a disease, which is why most alcoholics can’t stop using “willpower”

Alcohol addiction: Signs of a problem

There are some simple signs to understanding addiction and determining if you are an alcoholic:

  1. Does your drinking cause problems in your life?
  2. These can be legal, financial, moral, or spiritual.
  3. Do you make promises to yourself or others about quitting or cutting down on drinking and then break them?
  4. Do you lie about drinking or try to hide the amount you drink?
  5. Do you avoid social situations that don’t involve alcohol?
  6. Do you have a high tolerance for alcohol?
  7. Do you ever use alcohol first thing in the morning to get rid of hangover symptoms or avoid the shakes?
  8. Have you ever “blacked out” or forgotten things you did while you were drunk?

Alcohol Addiction: Intervention

Sometimes when an alcoholic’s problems reach a crisis stage, the family must seek a professional intervention. An intervention comes down to confronting the alcoholic with how his or her drinking has affected the people around them. The alcoholics friends, families, and employers tell the alcoholic how his or her drinking has become a problem in their lives.

Interventions should be carefully planned and developed by a professional substance abuse counselor. If they are done haphazardly, they can be counterproductive. The goal of an intervention is to get the alcoholic to go into a treatment program.

Alcohol Addiction: Treatment

Alcoholism is a treatable disease and there are many programs available to help and support an alcoholic that has decided to get help. Thousands of facilities in the United States offer alcohol and drug rehabilitation and treatment services, ranging from short-term residential or in-patient hospitalization to long-term, outpatient counseling and therapy. The goal of these facilities is to help the alcoholic learn how to remain sober and resist the urge to drink.

Sources: http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/alcoholism/DS00340

http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=52888&page=2

 

If you need help with your addiction give us a call now at 1-800-984-4003.

Hangover Movie: Wedding Crashers

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Hangover Movie: Wedding Crashers

Hangover Movie: Wedding Crashers

“Wedding Crashers” is a 2005 movie starring Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson. This comedy dream team worked together previously in “Starsky & Hutch” and “Zoolander”, but “Wedding Crashers” is by far their best team effort.

In this comedy, John Beckwith (Owen Wilson) and Jeremy Grey (Vince Vaughn) are divorce mediators in Washington D.C. Naturally, this line of work sours them as to the sanctity of marriage, and these two motor-mouthed conned men spend their free time crashing wedding parties and trying to pick up unaccompanied women. The two work from a set of rules established by a past crasher, Chazz Reinhold (Will Farrell).

In the first half an hour of “Wedding Crashers,” Jeremy and John crash a sequence of weddings and become the hit of every reception. They then begin gearing up for the social event of the year- the wedding for the daughter of the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, William Cleary (Christopher Walken). Once inside, the two set their sights on Cleary’s other daughters, Gloria (Isla Fischer) and Claire (Rachel McAdams.) Jeremy ends up sleeping with Gloria on a nearby beach during the reception. Gloria quickly becomes obsessed with Jeremy and claims to have been a virgin until the encounter. Jeremy tries to get John to bail on the reception, but John is busy trying to woo Clair.

John, wanting to spend more time with Claire, convinces Jeremy to accept the family’s invitation to an extended weekend at their family compound. Jeremy agrees reluctantly, not wanting to spend any more time with Gloria. A serious of entertaining event occur at the compound: Jeremy gets hurt during a football game and Gloria tends to him while trying to have sex with him at the same time. John spikes Claire’s fiancé’s drink with eye drops and he gets sick for the rest of the night, allowing him to spend more time with her.  Claire’s mother, Kathleen (Jane Seymour) makes John feel her surgically enhanced breasts.

John and Jeremy’s ruse is eventually discovered by Claire’s fiancé, and they are kicked out of the compound. Jeremy continues to see Gloria secretly and when John finds out, it causes a rift between them. Thoroughly depressed, John begins to crash weddings by himself, often crying or destroying things at the reception and being kicked out. Eventually, he even joins Chazz in crashing a funeral.

“Wedding Crashers” is pretty much a double romantic comedy, plus a “bromance” movie. The first third of the film, where Jeremy and John are crashing weddings, is the most entertaining. They use corny pickup lines and their always the life of the party. “Wedding Crashers” slows a bit when it settles into their serious romantic conflicts. Despite the romances between Jeremy and Gloria and John and Claire, the movie creates a stronger chemistry between the two best buddies than between the buddies and their girlfriends. However, Wilson and Vaughn complement each other nicely, and the cameo by Will Farrell is extremely entertaining. All in all, this is definitely a comedy worth watching.

If you need help with your addiction give us a call now at 1-800-984-4003.

Alcohol in the Age of Social Media

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Alcohol in the Age of Social Media

Alcohol in the Age of Social Media

A decade ago, getting drunk and doing something you regretted while drunk would probably live on in a few photos and skewed stories from people who witnessed it. Nowadays it takes half a second for someone to pull out their smart phone to snap photos, record audio or take video and post it online. Many times, we self-incrimated by Facebooking, Tweeting, or YouTubing while intoxicated.

Alcohol in the age of social media has truly made it’s mark and the social implications can be very serious. Using Facebook while drunk has received it’s own acronym – PUI, which stands for posting under the influence. Drunk Facebook posts and the use of social media while under the influence has become so common and in some cases so damaging that there is even software that exists today that tests your sobriety before letting you on your laptop to Tweet or post a status.

Alcohol in the age of social media has caused the ending of relationships, the loss of jobs, and in some cases even the imprisonment of one Australian teen who admitted that he was intoxicated while driving on Facebook and then got arrested. PUI or is kind of like drunk dialing but worse.

Drinking and using social media can ruin your reputation for good. Once you post something on the Internet it’s practically there FOREVER. Alcohol in the age of social media is a fast and sure way to damage your reputation. Getting kicked out of a bar or making a drunk dial every now and then could be recovered from but with social media it is different. There are videos of drunk girls on YouTube that can’t be taken down by the girls themselves. People can take screenshots of any pictures or statuses you accidentally post and even if you try to delete them someone has a copy of them.

This isn’t even that bad in comparison to what could happen when the company you work for catches wind of what you did that weekend you don’t remember due to the Internet. That accidental status about your boss being jerk? Even if you delete it someone could have already sent a picture of it to your boss and you could actually lose your job. Mixing intoxication with social media can truly ruin someone’s reputation. The problem is that it’s so easy to access social media from wherever you are, especially if you have a smart phone. Unfortunately everyone nowadays has a camera ready on their phone so even if you don’t take the picture someone else can and post it. Then you have no control on whether or not it comes up or down. This can cause high school girls and boys to get suspended, expelled, or walk into a Monday morning of school with people whispering behind their backs. We all know that bullying is a serious offense to anothers emotional, mental and physical well being. There have been many instances where school-aged children have been videotaped smoking, drinking, being assaulted or attacked and uploaded online. In a current ongoing case  two high school football players have been charged with raping and kidnapping a 16 year-old girl (who was unconscious apparently from being drugged according to witnesses), and the ordeal was shared amongst other students on Facebook and Twitter. That is just terrible, ain’t it?

It can affect your reputation in so many ways. So if you are going to be drinking do your best and resist the urge to get on the Internet because alcohol and the age of social media do not mix in the least bit. It’s also not a good idea to let your friends use their social media accounts when they’re under the influence. It has led to more embarrassing moments than it has to good ones.

So think before you post, don’t let your friends post, and if you are going to be taking pictures be very careful of who snaps pictures or videos of you. We now live in a Social Media age and we need to be more conscious of our actions.

If you need help with your addiction give us a call now at 1-800-984-4003.

Alcohol and Sex

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Alcohol and Sex

Alcohol and Sex

Most people are aware that there is a strong relationship between alcohol and sex. Alcohol lowers the inhibitions, causing some to act out sexually. Many people use alcohol to loosen themselves up before sex with a new partner and most people believe that alcohol is an aphrodisiac. However, there are some negative effects of combining alcohol and sex, especially when you are drinking too much.

Alcohol and Sex: Short term effects

Combining alcohol and sex sometimes can have a “disinhibiting” effect, which can make people feel more comfortable initiating and engaging in sex. In small quantities, it can facilitate sexual communication and have a positive impact on sexual desire and arousal.  However, even after a few drinks, sexual response is reduced. In large amounts, alcohol can make sex difficult or even impossible. Both men and women experience a reduction in sexual arousal and have difficulty experiencing orgasm. Men may also have difficulty getting erections.  Because alcohol has a dehydrating effect, women may have difficulty producing lubrication.

Overindulging can also have other related sexual effects. Sometimes, drinking large amounts of alcohol can cause people to make risky sexual choices that they would not have made while sober. This could include having sex with multiple partners, having unprotected sex, or having sex outside of a monogamous relationship. This, of course, increases the incidence of unwanted pregnancy and cases of sexually transmitted diseases and infections.

Also, the incidence of date rape and sexual assault is much higher when you factor in alcohol. Victims are less likely to be able to ward off an attack when they have had a lot to drink. Additionally, because alcohol impairs judgment, people who have had a lot to drink are less likely to recognize and avoid potentially risky situations.

Alcohol and Sex: Expectancy Effects

The expectancy effects of alcohol are the impact of what we think alcohol will do for us sexually. In studies where people were given non-alcoholic drinks that they were told contained alcohol, participants reported an increase in sexual arousal, much like those who were actually given alcohol. Often, when people expect or anticipate a certain physical effect, they often experience it. This is known as the placebo effect.

Alcohol and Sex: Long-term Effects

Combining alcohol and sex can have some negative effects in the long term. Chronic alcohol abuse has a devastating effect on sexuality. This can include erectile disorders and dysfunction in men, loss of sexual desire or decrease in sexual arousal for men and women, and difficulty experiencing orgasm for both sexes.

Chronic alcohol abuse can also cause problems that contribute to sexual dysfunction. People who are chronic abusers of alcohol find it difficult to maintain healthy long-term relationships. They also have more difficulty finding sexual partners. They also may have social, health, and financial difficulties that make them less desirable to potential sex partners. Additionally, psychologically, chronic alcohol abusers have a harder time connecting emotionally with a sexual partner. Chronic alcohol abuse also often leads to social isolation.

 

If you need help with your addiction give us a call now at 1-800-984-4003.

How many drinks are too many?

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How many drinks are too many?

How many drinks are too many?

“I usually have about three glasses of wine every night,” Laurie tells me. “I never really think about it. It’s an automatic thing when I get home, and I don’t get drunk.”

“My husband has three or four beers when he gets home on weekdays, and he drinks more when he doesn’t have to work the next day.” Michelle says. “Is that too much?”

Sometimes it can be hard to judge your own alcohol consumption, or even to judge the alcohol consumption of a loved one. It may be difficult to know how many drinks are too many.

How many drinks are too many? Factors

There are a lot of factors that determine how many drinks is too many including body weight, body fat, hydration, initial blood sugar, stomach content etc. Typically a “serving” of alcohol is 8 ounces of beer, 4 ounces of wine, or 1 ounce (one shot) of liquor. Once alcohol is absorbed, it enters the blood stream and is distributed in the body’s tissues. Alcohol is broken down by the body at the rate of 0.5 OZ per hour in the average person. This translates into about 1 drink per hour.

Alcohol use affects a person’s behavior and functioning. When a person begins to consume more alcohol than their body can eliminate (i.e. more than one drink per hour) their Blood Alcohol Content (BAC) begins to rise. Most people are fairly functional at .08 BAC however some will have noticeable impairment. Generally a night of “Heavy drinking”, or to the point where a person blacks out, generally is from a BAC around .18-.22. Most people will become unconscious at .22-.25 BAC. A BAC over .25 can cause long term loss of brain function, induce heart attacks, and so on.

How many drinks are too many? Individual Concerns

However, that is just the science of drinking. What also determines how many drinks are too many depends on what you are most afraid of. If it is alcoholism, than limiting yourself to one drink per night will keep most women out of the danger zone. If you are pregnant, than total abstinence is the way to go.

This is not to say that if you have, say, two drinks a night, you are alcoholic or slightly alcoholic. For some people, two drinks a night isn’t a big deal, for others, the same amount can compel them to overindulge.

The key to recognizing a problem with drinking is deciding whether it has a detrimental effect on your life. That is the important part in determining how many drinks is too many. If you find yourself habitually making inappropriate comments, acting out sexually, driving dangerously, blacking out, or waking up with a hangover, these are signs of a problem, no matter how infrequently you drink.

Alcoholism is usually diagnosed by control, compulsion, and consequences. If you find yourself drinking more than you intend do, are preoccupied with drinking, or suffer negative consequences from drinking, then you probably have a problem that requires professional help.

If you need help with your addiction give us a call now at 1-800-984-4003.

Kids and Alcohol

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Kids and Alcohol

Kids and Alcohol

Kids and alcohol

Parents may not want to think about it but the reality is that many kids and teens try alcohol during their high school and college years and this is way before it is legal for them to drink. Research shows that around 80% of high school kids have tried alcohol. Perfect example is to ask yourself, when did you have your first taste of alcohol? Experimentation among kids and teens is common but it isn’t always safe or legal.

Kids and alcohol: The effects

Alcohol interferes with a person’s perception of reality and their ability to make good decisions. This is especially dangerous for kids and teens that have less problem-solving, coping mechanisms, and decision-making experiences.

Short term effects of kids and alcohol are:

  • Distorted vision, hearing and coordination
  • Altered perceptions and emotions
  • Impaired judgment which can lead to accidents such as broken bones, drowning and other risky behaviors such as unsafe sex and drug use
  • Bad breath
  • Hangovers

Long-term effects include:

  • Cirrhosis and cancer of the liver
  • Loss of appetite
  • Vitamin deficiencies
  • Stomach problems
  • Heart and central nervous system damage
  • High risk of overdosing
  • Physical dependence

Kids and alcohol is a dangerous mix. During times of transition which most kids are going through, during the onset of puberty or a parent’s divorce can lead to alcohol use. So it is important that kids are taught that even when life is upsetting or stressful, drinking alcohol can make the bad even worse. They can be taught healthier and better coping mechanisms.

Kids who have problems with self-control and have low self-esteem are more likely to abuse alcohol. They feel as if they can’t handle their problems and frustrations without using something to make them feel better. This is also where talking to kids about healthier coping mechanisms would be a good way to cut back kids drinking alcohol.

Also, kids without a sense of connectedness with their families or who feel different in some way, either in appearance, economic circumstances etc. may be at risk. Those kids who have trouble believing in themselves desperately need the love and support of parents and other family members.

Believe it or not the most common reason that kids don’t use alcohol or other drugs is because they don’t want to harm the relationship between themselves and the adults in their life who care about them.

Kids and alcohol: Signs of drinking

Regardless of trying to do the right thing there is a chance a kid may still end up drinking. Here are the warning signs that a kid has been drinking:

  • The odor of alcohol
  • Sudden change in mood or attitude
  • Change in attendance or performance at school
  • Loss of interest in school, sports, or other activities
  • Discipline problems at school
  • Withdrawal from family and friends
  • Secrecy
  • Association with a new group of friends and reluctance to introduce them to you
  • Alcohol disappearing from your home
  • Depression and developmental difficulties

Here are some great ways to help kids with alcohol:

  • Be a good role model. Watch how you drink and how it may influence your kids with alcohol.
  • Educate yourself about alcohol so you can educate kids better
  • Try to be conscious of how you can help build a kid’s self-esteem.
  • Teach kid’s to manage stress in healthy ways such as seeking help from a trusted adult or engaging in productive activities.

Sources:

http://www.talkaboutalcohol.com/uploads/parentsguide.pdf

If you need help with your addiction give us a call now at 1-800-984-4003.

Hangover Movie: Bad Santa

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Hangover Movie: Bad Santa

 

Hangover Movie: Bad Santa

Bad Santa is an American Christmas crime comedy. It stars Billy Bob Thornton, Bernie Mac, and Lauren Graham.

The movie starts off with the main character Willie Stokes, played by Thornton. Every year Willie Stokes finds a different job at shopping malls to dress up as Santa. Supposedly Willie Stokes is a jolly old man whom all the kids love. This isn’t the case though. On Christmas Eve, Willie and his friend Marcus the ‘elf’ will disarm the alarms in the shopping mall and then rob the store blind. Willie then spends the rest of his year getting drunk and committing other crimes waiting for next Christmas where he will find a shopping mall where he can dress up as Santa and then rob them again. The following Christmas Willie and Marcus meet up once again to rob a mall in Phoenix, Arizona and during that time Willie meets a bartender named Sue.

Meant to be funny and full of insult and Christmas humor, Bad Santa really is bad. During Willie’s shift work as Santa, Willie finds a quiet, fat boy named Thurman. One night when Willie is getting off work he gets attacked by a strange man and Thurman ends up helping Willie. Willie drives Thurman home and then realizes that Thurman lives in an expensive house with only his grandmother so Willie manages to talk Thurman into letting him rob the house and take the expensive car in the driveway.

Eventually at his job at the mall as Santa a security guard starts to pick up on Willie’s antics. The security guard, Gin Slagel played by Bernie Mac then decides to break into Willie’s house to search for any evidence he can find to get Willie fired.  The movie continues on with Willie and Sue’s relationship and Willie is now living with Thurman. The security guard eventually figures out that Thurman’s father is actually in prison for embezzlement and decides to pay him a visit. When he goes to visit Thurman’s father he realizes that Willie should not be staying at Thurman’s house and from that point on it is the end of Willie’s robbery days.

On Christmas Eve, Willie, Marcus and Lois break into the mall and disarm the alarms. It takes Willie longer than usual to crack open the safe; Marcus notices this and after successfully opening it, Marcus reveals to Willie that he is becoming too unreliable and was planning on killing him. Before Marcus could take his shot, a police squad appears and starts shooting at all three of them. Willie makes an escape, but manages to snag a pink stuffed elephant as Thurman’s Christmas present. He escapes and drives back to Thurman’s house with a convoy of policeman behind him. However, while trying to get to the front door, the police shoot him down.

The epilogue of the movies is told from a letter Willie wrote to Thurman from the hospital explaining his innocence. In the end Marcus and Lois are arrested and Sue gets custody of Thurman and Willie ends up being a sensitivity security guard.

If you need help with your addiction give us a call now at 1-800-984-4003.

Hangover Movie: Love and Other Drugs

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Love and other drugs

Hangover Movie: Love and Other Drugs

This picture can best be summed up as a kind of old fashioned romance falling in love story that touches your emotions as you feel the couples Jamie (played by Jake Gyllenhaal) and Maggie’s (played by Anne Hathaway) growing pains of trust, sickness and feel good pleasure.

Set in the mid 1990’s when the economy was booming you have Jamie (Jake Gyllenhaal) who’s a young playboy from a well to do family and his biggest love in life is going to bed with hot young females. Then Jamie decides to get a little bit more power hungry when he becomes a pharmaceutical sales rep. He’s taken under the arms of an ego driven boss Bruce (Oliver Platt) and the catch and sale of the game is for Jamie to use his charm and good looks to help sell medicine like Zoloft and Viagra. Plus his connection with a cocky Dr. Knight (Hank Azaria) helps his climb and profile in the drug selling world too! Now that Jamie has become a hotshot pharmaceutical rep he now meets his match in one of Knight’s patients that being the sassy and witty sharp tongued free spirited sexy Maggie Murdock (Anne Hathaway) as you can see a lot of adjectives to describe her. Only blemish with the beautiful Maggie is that she has stage one Parkinson’s disease. Never mind these hot young attractive singles hit it off perfect as this quickly becomes a relationship of no strings attached lust bedroom making very hot passionate sex.

Yet as the charms of Jamie continues to go both for Maggie and his business he unexpectedly starts to have feelings for Maggie has he finally met his match can he charm the stubborn sex magnet Maggie? Soon after the feelings between the two arise, Maggie’s condition begins to get worse and Jamie goes on a long hunt to find a cure for her Parkinson’s disease with no avail. And of course there is an ending that fits right in with the romantic cliché’. Something bad happens they split up and then have to go chasing each other down again.

The film is blended well with both comedy and drama as Jamie’s slob geek overweight brother Josh(Josh Gad) provides laughs trying to score and it’s fun seeing he’s addicted to watching internet porn and sex tapes. Plus the scene of Jamie’s boner from taking the Viagra pill was downright funny. Still Maggie is a serious go getter by traveling even to Canada to Parkinson support groups in the search for new cures and ways of living with the disease.

Either way you look at it Love and Other drugs is a great movie that is different than most romantic comedies. It’s real, funny, witty, and sad at times.

More Hangover Movies You Might Like.

If you need help with your addiction give us a call now at 1-800-984-4003.

How Alcohol Affects the Hippocampus

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How Alcohol Affects the Hippocampus

How Alcohol Affects the Hippocampus

The hippocampus plays a major role within the brain of human beings and other vertebrates. The hippocampus is a part of the limbic system and its most important role is in the storing and breaking down information in order for it to go from short-term memory to long-term memory. Humans and other mammals actually have two hippocampi. These hippocampi are located on either side of the brain.

In Alzheimer’s disease the hippocampus is one of the first regions of the brain to suffer damage. This is why those who have Alzheimer’s disease have such a hard time with their memory and disorientation is one of their first symptoms. As the hippocampus suffers more damage they may lose long-term and short-term memory permanently. Damage to the hippocampus can also come from oxygen starvation, encephalitis, epilepsy and even alcohol.

So just how does alcohol affect the hippocampus?

When people drink alcohol and seem to lose coordination, become disoriented, and lose memories from when they were drinking, that is because the hippocampus has been affected. Ethanol is the type of alcohol found in alcoholic beverages and can cause severe impairment in the individuals who drink it. Alcohol acts a general nervous system depressant and affects specific areas of the brain to more of an extent in comparison with others. Losing memories or memory impairment due to alcohol is linked to the disruption of the hippocampus. Alcohol affects the hippocampus by damaging the hippocampus cells which are involved with the formation of memories. Drinking a lot of alcohol will significantly inhibit the formation of memories since the hippocampus plays such a big role in making them.

For instance, a long-term memory which can be stored for a few days up to a lifetime has to go through three processes. : encoding stage, storage and the retrieval stage. Each one of these individual process which are integral in storing long-term memory are alcohol affecting the hippocampus.

Alcohol affects the hippocampus by inhibiting explicit memory too. Explicit memory requires conscious and intentional effort to recall. It includes everyday events and factual information. Alcohol affects the hippocampus and therefore affects explicit memory. A blackout from drinking is an example of alcohol’s effect on the hippocampus when it comes to explicit memory. Blackouts are caused by a rapid increase in blood alcohol levels and this distorts the neurons in the hippocampus, when this happens it impairs a person’s ability to remember moment to moment events, conversations, etc.

High doses of alcohol affect the hippocampus by also disrupting its ability to store factual information, also known as, semantic memory. Alcohol keeps the hippocampus from being able to consolidate information and encode it.

Alcohol affects the hippocampus most in these two areas of episodic memory and semantic memory or everyday events and factual information. The retrieval of this explicit memory is significantly impaired by alcohol. When asked to recall task for everyday events intoxicated participants do very poorly next to their sober counterparts. Alcohol impairs word recognition tasks, retrieval processes, and more.

The hippocampus is an important part of the brain that deals with the ability to function in everyday life. Alcohol affects the hippocampus in significant ways making the person who is intoxicated unable to remember much of anything and affecting their memory even when they sober up.

If you need help with your addiction give us a call now at 1-800-984-4003.