How does alcohol affect the brain? Explains the narcologist?

Alcohol is the most popular and affordable drug on the planet. The chief narcologist of our clinic, Vasily Shurov, tells us exactly how alcohol affects the brain, why it can both amuse and put to sleep, how addiction is formed and why a hangover appears.

Alcohol is a psychotropic drug that seriously affects the work of nerve cells.

This is largely due to the unusual property of the ethanol molecule – it can dissolve in both water and fats.

So the molecule easily penetrates both the plasma membrane (a barrier of proteins and fats, protects cells from the external environment) and the cytoplasm (semi-liquid internal environment of the cell). In addition, due to the increased solubility, ethanol freely penetrates not only into neurons, but also into any other cells of the body.

Alcohol affects the structures of the central nervous system in two ways:

Penetrates into nerve cells and affects the work of ion channels and receptors - a kind of "communication lines and receivers" between cells and structures of the nervous system.

Activates the work of specific receptors of the brain - "receivers" that are sensitive to neurotransmitters (biologically active substances that regulate the coordinated work of the nervous system and the whole body).

At the same time, the effect on specific groups of receptors depends on the amount of alcohol consumed:

1-2 units of alcohol (half a glass or a can of beer, half a glass of wine, a glass of strong alcohol).

In small doses, alcohol primarily affects dopamine nerve cells and receptors – they are most sensitive to ethanol.

Dopamine is one of the main neurotransmitters of the nervous system, one of the "hormones of happiness". It increases physical activity, stimulates the formation of positive emotions.

Therefore, the first doses of alcohol provide a person with a pleasant feeling of uplifting mood and light cheerfulness. I want to joke and laugh, dance, chat.

3-8 units of alcohol (1-4 glasses of beer or wine, 3-8 glasses of strong drink)

Usually, no one lingers at the dopamine stage – either pleasant sensations make you continue drinking, or a person quickly drinks an average dose.

With such an amount of alcohol, in addition to dopamine receptors, the GABA system is activated.

GABA, or gamma-aminobutyric acid– is the main "slowing down" neurotransmitter of the brain. This biologically active substance provides a calming effect on the psyche.

At this stage of intoxication, alcohol gives a relaxing, soothing, hypnotic effect.

from 8-10 units of alcohol (more than 5 glasses of beer and wine or half a bottle of spirits)

In large doses, alcohol causes massive disruption of all structures of the nervous system.

Depending on individual predispositions (for example, genetic characteristics of the receptors, character traits and mental state), people have different side effects: increased drowsiness and maladaptation, aggressiveness and suspicion, tears and depressive thoughts, sexual preoccupation, a tendency to risky and impulsive actions.

The difference between different types of addiction is clearly visible in the manifestation of withdrawal withdrawal syndrome:

Dopamine-type withdrawal is depression, lack of initiative, chronic fatigue, general negativism of perception and the development of depression.

GABA-type withdrawal is an excessively increased activity of the central nervous system. Anxiety, irritability, convulsions, outbursts of aggression, hallucinations.

since a small amount of alcohol (up to 0.1 ppm) is naturally formed in our body during the breakdown of glucose, there are special enzymes in the liver for its processing.

Of course, they are not designed for such a volume of alcohol that we drink "for fun", so they can cope with it only as long as the toxins in the alcohol do not lead to serious damage to the organ.

Which liver enzymes are involved in processing:

Alcohol dehydrogenase - converts alcohol into acetaldehyde – a very toxic compound, more poisonous than ethanol itself.

It is acetaldehyde that causes us painful symptoms of hangover and poisoning when the pleasant effect of alcohol goes away. Acetaldehyde Dehydrogenase - converts acetaldehyde into acetic acid and other fairly harmless compounds that leave with urine and feces.

The coherence of the work of these two enzymes depends on how quickly a person gets drunk, and whether he will have a hangover.

If both enzymes work well, the person gets drunk very slowly and does not feel bad the next day. But this is possible only with a healthy liver in a person with a sober lifestyle - most often during the period of "adult youth", when conditional students are just starting to take alcohol.

In most adults, the first enzyme is actively working, which turns alcohol into toxic acetaldehyde− and the second enzyme copes worse. Therefore, a hangover is guaranteed - in severe cases, almost immediately, during drunkenness.

Moreover, due to the deficiency of the enzyme, acetaldehyde is not completely excreted, accumulates in the body – and with each intake of alcohol poisoning increases.

You can often hear about how much alcohol harms the human body and how important it is to deal with this problem at an early stage in all its manifestations. Indeed, the harm can be significant, starting with memory disorders and social problems and ending with serious diseases, disorders in the functioning of organ systems. Today we will briefly consider this topic.

What is harmful to the use of alcohol

All organ systems suffer from the consumption of alcoholic beverages at the same time, metabolic processes and the work of internal organs are significantly disrupted. It is a mistake to believe that alcohol harms the body only during its consumption. In fact, many alcoholic beverages can lead to irreversible changes in the human body, thereby reducing the life expectancy of such people and significantly impairing their quality of life.

Alcoholic beverages most strongly affect such human organs:

The brain. Brain tissues under the influence of alcohol begin to die off. In combination with nicotine, alcohol provokes oxygen starvation of cells and their even faster death. Alcoholics develop swelling and scarring on the cerebral cortex, which is why the quality of its work deteriorates significantly;

The psyche and nervous system. It is customary to single out individual diseases of the central nervous system that develop against the background of prolonged alcohol consumption (delirium tremens, a type of encephalopathy and epilepsy). The consciousness of such people will be clouded, psychoses, hallucinations, suicidal tendencies may develop. Such people become more aggressive, they cannot always assess the situation sensibly and control themselves;

Liver. It is this organ that is responsible for the elimination of toxic substances from the body, therefore, when consuming alcoholic beverages, the main blow falls on liver cells. Gradually, the effect of toxins on the liver increases, and its cells begin to die. Instead of liver cells, scars and adipose tissue begin to form. With continued alcohol consumption, the structure of the organ completely changes, the vessels begin to contract, stagnation and blood clots form, which can lead to rupture of the walls of the organs. Internal bleeding, rupture of the liver is the most common cause of death in patients with cirrhosis of the liver. But even before that, serious problems are possible due to intoxication of the body, which develops against the background of the fact that the liver cannot fully cope with its basic functions;

Vessels. The harm is obvious and proven. Blood clots can often form under the influence of alcohol;

Heart. Increases in size due to alcohol abuse. Also, against this background, the risk of heart attacks, strokes, hypertension increases significantly;

Kidneys. They are responsible for the filtration of fluid in the body. Against the background of alcohol consumption, pyelonephritis, kidney stones may develop, since in such extreme conditions the kidneys are forced to work with increased intensity.

Alcohol and drugs, smoking

Alcohol in combination with any drug increases the negative impact on the body tenfold. Most often, such experiments end in death. Drug addicts often try to mix drugs with alcohol to get a more tangible effect (most often alcohol is combined with cocaine), while the effect on brain cells becomes many times more destructive.

Regarding the combination of smoking with alcohol consumption, the prognosis will also be disappointing for such patients. Alcohol in combination with nicotine causes harm to the body in such a way that red blood cells begin to lose their protective shells and stick together, thereby increasing the risk of blood clots forming in the body's vessels.

Influence on the female body

Doctors in the course of research have found that alcohol harms the health of women much more than men. This is primarily due to the peculiarities of the structure of the body and organ systems. Female alcoholism develops much faster and is treated much longer, more difficult. Read a detailed article about female alcoholism.

Alcohol has an aggressive effect on all organ systems, quickly destroying the cells of internal organs, transforming the skin condition, voice, mood for the worse.

Also, first of all, it is worth remembering about the harm of alcohol for the body of the unborn child. Moreover, many people absolutely mistakenly believe that if you give up alcohol during pregnancy, then this will be quite enough. In fact, the effect of alcohol on the body persists if a woman consumed it in large quantities for a long time before pregnancy. Therefore, even if you refuse alcohol directly during pregnancy, the risk of giving birth to a child with pathology of internal organs remains. Such children in the future, even if they are born without serious pathologies, then in the future they significantly lag behind their peers in mental development, have problems with studying.

Also, when exposed to the body of a child or teenager, alcohol has a much more negative effect than on the body of an adult. This is due to the stage of formation of all organ systems. A teenager gets drunk much faster and 100 grams is enough for him to be heavily intoxicated. Because of this, with frequent use of alcoholic beverages in adolescence, problems in development, increased emotional arousal, slower growth, and physical development of the body can often occur.

Psychologists from all over the world tend to believe that the use of alcoholic beverages has a negative impact not only on the quality of life of the person who consumes alcohol, but also the rest of the surrounding people. This is due to the increased aggression of such a person, his habits of constantly breaking down in the family, inability to control emotions. 80% of fights in the family arise precisely on the basis of alcohol intoxication. In addition, such behavior of parents is harmful to the psychological formation of the child's personality.

Interesting facts

For a long time, various sources have described the harm of alcoholism on human life. It is possible to identify the main reasons to give up alcohol, which are not only weighty medical, but also social arguments:

alcohol is considered to be the cause not only of diseases, but also of conflicts in families, with friends, as well as unrealized abilities, lack of success in work;

1/3 of suicides are committed while intoxicated. Also, most fights, scandals, and half of accidents occur while drunk;

the mortality rate of children among alcoholics is 5 times higher, and the probability of initially giving birth to a healthy baby is 15 times less in comparison with non-drinkers;

according to statistics, during the prohibition law in force in Russia for 10 years, crime significantly decreased, the number of divorces decreased, and the standard of living of the population improved.

Alcohol is harmful in all its manifestations and in any quantity, because because of this an imaginary illusion of satisfaction is created, the connection with reality is lost. Thus, a person cannot experience positive emotions without alcohol, which is why alcohol begins to act like a drug on the body in this case.

Drinkers on average live 10 years less than non-drinkers.