Are Kids’ Brains Too Damaged From Drinking to Make Good Decisions?

                                                                                         

You may have heard that alcohol damages the brain. It is true? Not only is it true, it doesn’t even take much alcohol to start the process. One night of drinking impairs critical thinking for a month; you can well imagine what frequent drinking can do. If you’re expecting the young adults in your family to be able to make correct decisions, you could be out of luck. To make real change, you may need to take the lead and get them into an addiction treatment center.

What does alcohol do to a person’s brain? The first part of the brain to be affected by alcohol is the frontal lobe. It’s located at the front of the brain, and is responsible for such things as long-term memory, drive and motivation, the ability to plan, make decisions, and control impulses.

Being able to assess the consequences of your actions, to choose between right and wrong or determine which direction is best, to respond and react to life in a socially acceptable manner are all ‘life skills’ related to the health of the frontal lobe.

The frontal lobe matures slowly compared to other parts of the brain: it’s not fully matured until age 25. So every bit of drinking kids do before they reach that age not only impairs their thinking on a day to day basis, it could impair them for life.

Can the brain damage from alcohol be reversed?

Unfortunately, nobody really knows. Once the person quits drinking, there are a number of factors at play: how much the person drank and how frequently, how long they drank and how old they were when they started, whether there was exposure to alcohol prior to birth, their genetic background, and their general health status all combine to determine the extent of the damage done and the possibility of reversing it.

The good news is that after a year of not drinking, most brains at least start to show improvement. And we can grow new brain cells.

But even with full recovery, there’s a lot of wasted years.

Do you want to help? Get them into alcohol rehab as quickly as possible. The sooner the process is started, the greater the chances of recovery and a good life.

About the author:
Gloria MacTaggart is a freelance writer that contributes articles on health.

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