How Alcohol Impacts the Brain Northwestern Medicine

No matter how much you like some drug or activity and how much you choose to involve yourself with it, you are not addicted if you can stop it when the consequences become negative for you. Coffee is an ideal example with which to illustrate this because it contains a powerful drug, caffeine, that can have significant effects on our behavior. Most of us like to drink coffee, but if your doctor told you that the heart attack you just had was precipitated by caffeine and that you would likely have another if you did not stop drinking coffee, what would you do? Most people would miss the buzz, but not so much that they would continue to drink coffee, knowing it would likely kill them. By jacking up dopamine levels in your brain, alcohol tricks you into thinking that it’s actually making you feel great . The effect is that you keep drinking to get more dopamine release, but at the same time you’re altering other brain chemicals that are enhancing feelings of depression.

For example, an adolescent may impulsively take a first drink, smoke a cigarette, begin experimenting with marijuana, or succumb to peer pressure to try a party drug. If the experience is pleasurable, this feeling positively reinforces the substance use, making the person more likely to take the substance again. This learned “reflex” can last a long time, even in people who haven’t used drugs in many years. For example, people who have been drug free for a decade can experience cravings when returning to an old neighborhood or house where they used drugs. Other drugs, such as amphetamine or cocaine, can cause the neurons to release abnormally large amounts of natural neurotransmitters or prevent the normal recycling of these brain chemicals by interfering with transporters.

Introducing the Human Brain

This part of the brain undergoes a dramatic fine-tuning during adolescence. Because their minds and bodies are still developing, teens have different responses to the effects of alcohol than adults. For example, underage drinking in Europe, where consuming wine and other alcoholic beverages is permitted at younger ages than in the U.S. and assumed to be more ingrained in the culture, is just as dangerous as it is in the U.S. In fact, rates of binge drinking and alcohol misuse problems in youth are higher than rates in the U.S. The CDC defines binge drinking as a drinking pattern that brings a person’s blood alcohol concentration to 0.08% or above.

Whether alcohol is a stimulant or depressant, most people drink because they like its effects. Some people like these effects so much, they drink increasing amounts of alcohol to keep obtaining those feelings. The problem is that if you’re abusing alcohol, the desired effects will become harder to get, and your body can become dependent on alcohol https://ecosoberhouse.com/ to function properly. Instead of speeding up your central nervous system activity, depressants slow it down. They tell your brain to release neurotransmitters like dopamine and suppress parts of the brain tied to anxious or fearful feelings. Effects of depressants may make you feel calm, have slower reaction times, and feel drowsy.

Speak to an addiction specialist now

Not all people use substances, and even among those who use them, not all are equally likely to become addicted. Many factors influence the development of substance use disorders, including developmental, environmental, social, and genetic factors, as well as co-occurring mental disorders. Other factors protect people from developing a substance alcohol vs drugs use disorder or addiction. The relative influence of these risk and protective factors varies across individuals and the lifespan. Stimulants increase the amount of dopamine in the reward circuit either by directly stimulating the release of dopamine or by temporarily inhibiting the removal of dopamine from synapses, the gaps between neurons.