How does alcohol affect brain?

Answer 1

It makes you leave words out of sentences, like "the".

And:

Alcohol (ethanol) is a very common drug, and can be easily purchased in most countries. Ironically, alcohol's effects can have some very destructive effects in oth the short- and long-term.

Alcohol is recognized as a CNS (Centrally-acting nervous system) depressant, yet it has many effects on several areas of your brain, which makes it a drug with a lot of drug interactions. Be very careful when drinking alcohol and taking any legal or illegal drugs. Always consult your doctor.

When ethanol is consumed, the brain is affected in the following areas: acetylcholine, GABA, serotonin, and NMDA receptors. Dopamine levels in the brain also increase, but the link is not fuly understood. The alcohol probably inhibits the reuptake of the DAT receptors. All these receptors changing their mechanisms of action are what give people the various feelings that alcohol induces.

*An individual's sensitivity to alcohol can vary greatly depending on body type, weight, other drugs, supplements, medications or tolerance from regular use.

At low doses alcohol can make you more social, talkative, relaxed and give you euphoria.

At moderate doses alcohol can make you dizzy, increase euphoria (or dysphoria for some), lack of motor skills (Don't drink and drive). At this level of alcohol use, you may lose some inhibitions and do things you would not normally do.

At high doses alcohol can begin damaging brain cells and even acutely cause alcohol poisoning, coma or death. If you are drinking a lot of alcohol, it is best not to stay by yourself. At a high dose alcohol will cause severe orientation problems, speech problems, and noticeable personality change. Some people continue to drink at this point because of the euphoria they want more of.

Chronic, regular heavy use of alcohol can destroy your liver, kidneys, and overall physical and mental health. This pattern of alcohol use is known as Alcoholism. Abuse of alcohol can destroy your life and your relationships, as with any drug addiction. The effects on the brain of an addict of alcohol is likely to change the receptors function in the brain which ethanol effects. After abstinence, some long term alcoholics (10+ years) report negative side effects that they attribute to their past alcohol use.

Since alcohol works on so many areas of the brain in a non-selective way, it should always be taken in great caution and overindulgence or habitual (heavy) use should be avoided. Alcohol use seems to make people's personalities very unusual at high doses. Someone who is drunk is easy to spot out in a crowd when compared to other recreational substances. Alcohol also changes your thoughts to such a degree that functioning can be very difficult as an alcoholic, and over the long term you can experience identity loss (in psychological terms), should you chose to quit.