The booze brain drain
BELLA HADID says seeing the damage booze can cause was the boost she needed to stop drinking.
In an interview with InStyle magazine, the model, 25, said: “I loved alcohol but it got to the point where I started to cancel nights out as I felt like I wouldn’t be able to control myself.”
Bella, who stopped drinking several months ago, added: “I don’t feel the need as I know how it will affect me at 3am when I wake up with horrible anxiety, thinking about that one thing I said five years ago.”
The benefits of giving up alcohol are well known and the charity Alcohol Change UK says it can include better sleep, skin, energy levels and concentration.
Giving up booze can also lower the risk of type 2 diabetes and boost the immune system.
The charity’s Andrew Misell said: “Alcohol-related brain damage can happen as a result of long-term, heavy drinking and produces symptoms very similar to dementia. To maintain good brain health, it’s important to keep consumption moderate.”
Here’s how alcohol can affect the brain...
The brain’s chemistry
Alcohol is a depressant and can disrupt the brain’s delicate chemical balance – affecting thoughts, feelings and actions.
The charity Drinkaware says the relaxed, confident and less anxious feeling that comes with drinking is due to the suppression of signals in the part of the brain associated with inhibition.
Learning, emotions, movement and memory
An Oxford University study used scans to look at the relationship between moderate alcohol consumption and brain health and found no amount of alcohol is “safe” for brain function.
Research showed alcohol consumption is linked with decreases in brain grey matter, which controls movement, memory and emotions, and white matter, which affects learning and general brain functions. The study concluded: “No safe dose of alcohol for the brain was found. Moderate consumption is associated with more widespread adverse effects on the brain than previously recognised. “Current ‘low-risk’ drinking guidelines should be revisited to take account of brain effects.”
It shrinks the brain
A study by Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore found the more alcohol consumed, the smaller the total brain volume.
Research suggests people who have one to seven alcoholic drinks per week have smaller brains than nondrinkers, and those who have two or more alcoholic drinks per day have even more brain shrinkage.
Less control over aggression
Researchers from the University of New South Wales used MRI scans that measure blood flow in the brain to look at why some folk can become aggressive and violent after drinking alcohol. After only two drinks, changes in the brain’s prefrontal cortex, which helps control aggression, were noted.
Anxiety and depression
Drinkaware says regardless of the mood you’re in, the effect of alcohol on the brain’s neurotransmitters means negative emotions can take over. This can result in anxiety and depression.
Studies show links between alcohol and poor brain health... Lisa Salmon looks at the science
No safe dose of alcohol for the brain was found in the study
Blood flow to the brain
Alcohol is a vasodilator (it causes blood vessels to relax and widen) but at higher levels, it becomes a vasoconstrictor – shrinking the vessels and increasing blood pressure, exacerbating conditions like migraine.
Brain scans of heavy drinkers may show reduced overall blood flow, which experts say can damage and eventually kill brain cells and is linked to vascular dementia.
Learning and memory
Alcohol amnesic syndrome can occur in very heavy drinkers. It involves short-term memory loss, difficulty concentrating and confabulation (filling gaps in memories with irrelevant or inaccurate information).
It is also linked to dementia and studies show excessive and prolonged alcohol use can lead to permanent damage to the structure and function of the brain.