Alcohol can do permanent harm to youthful brains
November 12th 2007 03:33
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One brain has to last a lifetime
"Recent studies show that alcohol consumption has the potential to trigger long-term biological changes that may have detrimental effects on the developing brain, including neurocognitive impairment," acting Surgeon General Kenneth P. Moritsugu wrote in "Call to Action to Prevent and Reduce Underage Drinking," a report released in March.
David Rosenbloom, professor of public health at Boston University's School of Public Health and director of Join Together, an organization that supports drug and alcohol treatment and prevention programs in communities says"Alcohol affects many portions of the brain." "The portion of the brain which is related to exercising judgment and caution is the last part of the brain to develop and changes rapidly during adolescence. There is some evidence that alcohol affects that part of the brain negatively."
Damage from alcohol can be long-term and irreversible, the AMA says.
During adolescence, the brain goes through changes, and alcohol use during that time can damage long- and short-term growth processes, according to the AMA.
An AMA report titled "Harmful Consequences of Alcohol Use on the Brains of Children, Adolescents and College Students" notes that the area of the brain that handles memory and learning, called the hippocampus, is about 10 percent smaller in youths between the ages of 14 and 21 who drink than in youths that age who do not drink.
The report also states that those drinkers scored lower on vocabulary, visual-spatial and memory tests and were more likely to perform poorly in school, fall behind and experience social problems, depression, suicidal thoughts and violence.
So let's start looking at the serious consequences of alcohol consumption and abuse, not blindly accept it as a right of passage, which any intelligent, thinking adult could well do with having worked out for himself.
Life is not meant to be sacrificed for some seemingly youthful pleasures, let's start getting REAL about life.
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