Youthful Drinking Could Result In Memory Problems During Adulthood

New findings published in the journal Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research show that binge drinking can significantly increase the risk of damages to the brain.

Researchers studied a link between binge drinking and memory loss in young rats and adult ones by specifically focusing on the hippocampus, or what's otherwise known as the part of the brain that's associated with memory and learning. They found that excessive drinking could cause brain cells to become more susceptible to injury from trauma or disease in adult life.

"In the eyes of the law, once people reach the age of 18, they are considered adult, but the brain continues to mature and refine all the way into the mid-20s," said lead author Mary-Louise Risher, of the Duke Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, according to the LA Times. "It's important for young people to know that when they drink heavily during this period of development, there could be changes occurring that have a lasting impact on memory and other cognitive functions."

Researchers studied the rodents' brains that were still developing, giving them alcohol during the adolescent period of their lives throughout the span of 16 days and just enough that it would cause impairment in a human but not enough to "blackout." Soon after, the team stopped providing the rats with alcohol and let them grow into adulthood; this took about 24 to 29 days.

Then, researchers sent a small electrical pulse to the hippocampus portion of their brains and measured how the synapses worked at attempting to learn a new task.

Findings revealed that too much alcohol exposure actually changed the way the hippocampus functioned.

Of course, there's certainly nothing wrong with a drink here or there, but at the cost of your cognitive health, getting inebriated for fun just might not be worth it.

And yet, we know that heavy drinking can also be tied to a list of numerous other significant health issues, which may be even worse if drinking is started earlier in life.

Previous studies have also suggested that excessive drinking can increase the risk of cardiovascular issues, depression, dementia, cirrhosis and even cancer. And unfortunately, that's not all.

If you or someone you know has a drinking problem, talk to your doctor about ways to get help. The National Alcohol Abuse Institute defines binge drinking as 5 or more drinks for men and 4 or more drinks for women, all to be consumed within a 2-hour-period.