Alcohol Affects The Brain

It is over. As I sat on my bedroom floor, I read that text over and over again. The more I read it, the more it hurt. I could not believe that Zac had broken up with me over a text message. I slammed my phone on the floor, and I felt a rush of sadness hit my body. My body was shaking, and I could slowly feel the tears run down my face. This happened more than it does for the average teenage girl. It happened about twice a day. It happened whenever I got home from school and before I went to bed. I was ready for something to change, and then I had a great idea. I was going to drink alcohol for the first time. I had always heard that alcohol was like a bandage for your emotions. I needed something to cover up my pain, so I silently waited until …show more content…
Twenty-eight percent of people ages twelve through seventeen have drank alcohol (National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism). Alcohol stays inside the body for around 2 hours after being consumed depending on specific factors. These factors include height, weight, gender and age. Alcohol affects a person’s brain, liver, and heart. Alcohol affects the brain by causing the neurotransmitters in the brain to relay information too slowly, and this makes a person who is drinking feel tired. The slowing down of neurotransmitters also trigger mood and behavioral changes that include depression and memory loss. A particular neurotransmitter is susceptible to small amounts of alcohol and it is called glutamate. Glutamate affects memory, and this is linked to when binge drinkers “black out” and forget events that happened during the night that they were drinking. Alcohol also affects the cerebellum and cerebral cortex. When the cerebellum is affected by alcohol, it harder to balance. The cerebellum cortex is what contains the ability to think and interact, so when it is affected by alcohol it is harder to remember, learn and interact with others (U.S National Library of