We all know that alcohol messes with our brains, but a recent study from Johns Hopkins reveals just how long-lasting those effects can be, even after months of sobriety.
We must thank rats once again for being the, uh, guinea pigs researchers use to better understand humans. Johns Hopkins scientists had the bizarre task of getting rats drunk. Rather than filling their little cage water bottles with vodka, they exposed the rats to an excessive amount of alcohol vapor, then left them to sober up for nearly three months. When the rats were tested on their simple decision-making skills, they failed miserably.
To pass the test, all the rats had to do was press one of two levers to get a sugary treat. The researchers constantly switched the reward levers, making it more of a game of memory and strategy. The rats who had been boozing it up struggled. The control group crushed it, making smarter and faster decisions.
This study’s findings suggest that alcohol can leave your brain in a fog long after closing time and your morning-after hangover. Alcohol does long-term damage to your dorsomedial striatum, the brain’s decision-making hub. This area helps control behaviors related to rewards and expectations, and is also where addiction and compulsive behavior take root.
Alcohol exposure wrecked this part of the brain, which helps explain why so many people relapse after rehab. Heavy alcohol use damages the part of your brain that would help you tone down your alcohol consumption, so you drink more, and rinse and repeat.
The study’s results only applied to male rats. Female rats didn’t seem as affected, suggesting alcohol might hit male brains harder.
Keep in mind, then, especially if you’re a guy, that the damage caused by alcohol will stick with you after you’ve stopped drinking, and the damage isn’t just hitting your liver. It’s in your brain, and that damage could be steering your decisions, making an eventual quest for sobriety a much harder road to travel.
While your brain might be able to recover from heavy drinking, according to an entirely separate study from a different team of researchers, it’s best not to take your chances on its effectiveness at repairing itself from the damage you’re doing to it.
