Alcohols and Memory

It has been known to all of us that alcohol is a health hazard and a large number of negative effects on our health. Now what can alcohols possibly do to our memory?

Researches done at different times have shown that alcohols primarily interfere with the ability to form new long term memories. As the level of consumption is increased, the degree of memory impairment is found to increase in the proportionate level.

A research done in 1991 showed that the impact if alcohol on the memory power on the formation of new long term memories of facts and events is far greater than that of the drugs. These memory impairments include forgetting someone’s birth days and forgetting where things are normally kept.

A team of researchers leaded by Acheson did similar type of research in 1998. The team primarily focused in the levels of memory power on intoxicated and non-intoxicated subjects. Each test subject was presented with the list of new words. It was found that the intoxicated subjects could easily recall items in the wordlist immediately after the list was presented but were unable to recall when asked half an hour later.

Another internet based research conducted in June 2003 by Colin R Martin collected data from 763 participants (298 males and 465 females). It was found that heavy users of alcohols reported making consistently more errors that those who said that they consumed little of no alcohols. A typical heavy user of alcohol reported over 30 % more memory related problems than someone who reportedly didn’t drink and 25 % more problems than those who stated they drank only small amounts.

The research further concluded that rapid and increased amount of alcohol intake causes periods of memory loss for the events that occurred while the person was drinking. This phenomenon is known as "the blackouts". The blackouts are the episodes of amnesia during which subjects are capable of participating in different sorts of events but cannot remember later.