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If your friend gets sloshed at a party, then swirls her clothing in the air while wildly dancing atop a table and swears not remembering it, don’t blame it on the alcohol. Blame it on the brain receptors.
Neuroscientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have identified brain cells and function that allow extremely intoxicated people to perform complex tasks such as dancing, debating or even driving home without having any recollection of it the next day.
In the study published in the July 6 edition of the Journal of Neuroscience, researchers reported they previously believed consuming large amounts of alcohol killed brain cells, and that explained the temporary amnesia commonly called blackouts. They now understand alcohol interferes with brain receptors that produce steroids, which cause neurons essential to memory and learning to misfire.
“It’s been known for a long time that changes in the way neurons connect with each other underlies the ability to learn new things, and people thought alcohol blocks memory function,” says senior investigator Dr. Chuck Zorumski, the Samuel B. Guze Professor and head of the Department of Psychiatry at Washington University. “It’s actually the main neurons or brain cells that shut themselves down when they’re exposed to alcohol.”
Once a person has even one blackout, it’s likely others will follow, Zorumski explains, and that could lead to disaster.
“If you drink enough alcohol, you will do things you won’t even realize you did the next day,” he says. “You will have conversations with people you won’t remember and put yourself in dangerous situations. You will get yourself in trouble, not remember and it may be the police explaining it to you.”
Neuroscientists unraveled the alcohol-induced blackout mystery while studying rat brain cells to understand why certain illnesses such as Alzheimer’s disease affect people’s memory. When the rat brain cells were exposed to large amounts of alcohol, memory loss was significant.
Scientists also discovered stress and certain drugs affect memory. Additionally, a combination of alcohol and sedating drugs, such as Xanax, is more likely to cause blackouts than alcohol alone, the study reported.
However, in some medical situations, having a “blackout” can be beneficial -- and intentional.
“When you have surgical procedures done, and you get Propofol, Midazlam or another anesthesia,” Zorumski says, “you will have little memory of the procedure.”
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Sorry, from the picture I thought this was a story about Casey Anthoney.
I can drink til I can barely walk and I will still remember everything. Unlike some of my friends who blackout easily. I believe they are susceptible to blackouts because they started drinking and/or smoking when they were young (middle school or early in high school), whereas I rarely drank until I went to college.
In my younger days I certainly had a few of these alcohol induced blackouts. However, the next day I was sometimes able to concentrate enough that I was able to reconstruct the previous evening’s memories, and the accuracy of these memories were confirmed by others in attendance.
This is why I always thought the speculation that drinking destroys brain cells as a reason for not being able to remember was incorrect.
Same for me I remember all the embarrassing things I did. However my sister has blackouts. I am wondering if this is a genetic thing. Don't drink much any more though, it just does not fit into my lifestyle. I'm just to old for the hangovers. :)
I know what you mean Hanover. I don't go to bars anymore, that's for those that are still young and foolish like we obviously once were. I guess we've outgrown such foolishness since I also don't drink more than a couple of beers occasionally. See? Some of us apparently do get a little smarter with age.
Once in my life I drank enough to not remember what I did the next day. I was also sick like a dog from the hangover. I decided then that I would never let that happen to me again and I have not. Why would anyone make a habit of getting drunk out of his mind unless he was an alcoholic?
Cornmeal as a recovering alcoholic your right about getting mindlesslly drunk, that's what alcoholics do when they drink. We're unable to just cut it off, until we're blacked out or on my case just passed out. I always remembered but always drank to much. you sound like a normal drinker that happen to over do it one time. Keep the faith and good for you.
It's called autopilot.
Yep! That's right! Autopilot. I'm 59 years old and people always tell me they see no difference between four drinks or 14 drinks. I love everybody and I have a "nice" sense of humor. I can't recall ever being hungover. Tired, yes: sick, no.
I had my first blackout just a few years after I first started drinking, and they became more frequent as my drinking got worse. Towards the end of my active alcoholism, blackouts were a regular thing, and it didn't always take an enormous amount of booze to get there either.
If you think you might have a problem with drinking, do yourself a favor and seek help. I drank to seek pleasure and ultimately found only misery. I haven't had a drink in over 8 years and never want to return to that miserable life again.
KUDOS, Matt!! Keep up the great work.
Congrats, Matt. Wishing you the best!
Way to Matt from one alcoholic to another! One day at a time Bro!
The mind works in mysterious ways. It is truly amazing that when one has a colonsocopy one usually remembers NOTHING of the procedure. Moreover nearly everyone with whom I talked reported that the only thing they loved about the procedure was the light sedation Propofol. To which I concur. I felt TERRIFIC going under and then afterward had NO serious side effects that other anesthesia has and remembered nothing of the procedure itself ... thankfully. I never felt so good!! Adding to the euphoria was of course a negative reading for colon cancer.
The prep though could use some SERIOUS improvement. It is downright disgusting ... but of course worth it!
Why can so many other parts of the body be treated in such a better fashion but treating the brain's mind is very problematic!
My doctor gave me Demerol and Versed when I had a colonsocopy . I didn't feel a thing (that I remembered).
Demerol and Versed, what a combination. They gave me that when I went in for an angiogram. I told my wife that they were my new best friends....lol. I never felt a thing, in fact i fell asleep, and no negative effects when woke me up and said they were done. Best part was, my arteries were clean as a whistle.
Did the lab rats dance on tables while under the influence?
The worst feeling I ever had was when I woke up thinking I was in my own bed but, upon opening my eyes, I found myself in a jail cell, not knowing for the life me how I got there or what I did to get arrested.... let alone having no clue of whos city jail I was in! Luckily I had a friend in there with me who told me all about it. Some of it I remembered and some I didn't. Funny how the brain works. All because of a dangerous drink I invented called "The Nudge." Apparently I had a great time though.... before they caught up with me.
Mine was waking up in a motel bed spattered with someone else's blood. I assume (or assure myself) it was a sex partner's, but I can't swear to that.
The terror didn't stop me from drinking for another four years, though. Never danced on tables that I know of (I wasn't much of a dancer drunk or sober), but I got myself in several bad jams, and probably earned myself more than one time-share at the Graybar, if not the morgue.
I finally sobered up in January, 1978, and haven't had a drink since. Life still gets rough at times, but nothing like that morning, or all the other hungover, where-am-I-and-what-the-hell-did-I-do-last-night? mornings of my drinking career.
I once woke up at home safely in my own bed and couldn't remember how I got there. I immedietely ran outside to see if my car was there. It was, perfectly parked. Only thing I remember was stopping at Popeyes drive thru. You talk about auto pilot! SCARY
NEVER AGAIN!
I've done the exact same thing, minus the Popeyes. It was like a 10-mile drive from point A to point B. Very scary!!!
Black outs = time travel.
I blacked out the first 2 times I ever drank alcohol in my life.. around the age of 17. Once i had drank ALOT .... and the other time, I only drank a little.
I am 40 now and since then I have been wasted, puking on occaision,and buzzed and drunk!!! and have never ever had another black out. I only drink 4-8 times per year now, but in my 20s I drank every week.
This study needs more specifics.!!
After suffering an alcohol induced blackout as a teen and feeling sicker than any dog could feel, once I awakened, I knew that I would never get drunk again and I haven't. Its also aggravating when your friends are laughing as they tell you all the crazy things you did and you can't recall any of it. My only advice to new drinkers is drink slowly and never fast. Don't be fooled by mixed drinks which taste too much like kool-aid. They still have alcohol in them and drinking one right after another without breaks in between will do you in. Alcohol has a cumulative effect so the fact that you feel fine in the beginning won't mean that those drinks over time won't kick your butt so put a limit on how many drinks you will consume in one evening. Lastly never, I repeat never listen to or give into the so called friend who is telling you to take another drink. They have an agenda and its not in your best interest.
This is normal activity for me, got C.R.S.
Kills brain cells, hey? Ha! Try to say THAT about pot!!!
So these important scientists testing booze,blackouts and memory, got a bunch of rats drunk. How do they do it??? I always thought the fun part of binge drinking was hearing about all the things you did and said the next day...obviously the rats couldn't say otherwise!? Everybody knows too much drinking is bad for your body but tell it to your brain?! It doesn't remember and will give you permission the next time. Over time, you learn to handle your liquor (or not).
This study reminds me of the saying, "There, but for the grace of God, go I. Most alcoholics
Drinking myself into blackouts resulted in my becoming more isolated: I was scared to find out what kind of gonzo behavior I had committed, or what I had said that I wouldn't have said sober, so I stayed home and drank so nobody would judge me (typical alcoholic belief). There comes a point where it's just not funny anymore. I found out 23 years years ago that sober is better; you really can be happy without taking a drink.