Drinking alcohol and memory loss

08 October 2014

The Daily Mail covered this particular subject just recently with some rather alarming results. Broadly speaking, research shows that drinking too much in your 30s and 40s can lead to memory loss in later life.
Scientists at the University of Exeter Medical School questioned 6 542 American middle aged adults about their past alcohol consumption and analysed their mental abilities over a period of eight years. They found that a history of problem drinking more than doubled the risk of developing severe memory impairment.

Clearly, and as the lead researcher Dr Iain Lang from the university was quoted as saying, “this is only one part of the puzzle and we know little about the consequences of alcohol consumption earlier in life.”
It’s certainly a public health risk that needs to be addressed. Most of the media’s attention focuses on young people ending up in A&E drunk after a night out. Now, whilst that itself is unacceptable and of serious concern, it’s the longer effects of the drinking that are less publicised as they affect the individual rather than communities.

There’s a hidden cost, which we talk to young people about in the classroom through video and q&a sessions – the impact later on in life needs to be a focal point for our young.

Terry Martin, Co-founder and facilitator for Alcohelp workshops knows all too well about the damage it can cause:

“I started drinking regularly from the age of 13 and my recollections from then onward deteriorated. I know this to be a fact because I can remember in detail from the age of 6 to 13. My school work was excellent until then and, as my reports show, took a nose dive and never recovered. I have a complete memory loss for the last 10 years of my drinking and only have "snapshots".

“I have not had a drink for 14+ years but my memory function remains impaired. I have a technique to push information into my long term memory but if I don't and you ask me what I did a week ago I couldn't remember.”

In fact, research released just a matter of days ago has revealed that drinking alcohol on a weekly basis could affect the structural and neurochemical changes to the parts of the brain responsible for long-term memory and decision making, according to ABC.

Dr Daniel Hermens from the University of Sydney's Brain and Mind Research Institute (BMRI) told ABC that between the ages of 16 and 25 brains are undergoing a lot of change and alcohol can impair that growth.

This is, as the article argues, particularly risky for those young people who already have depression or are from a family where mental illness is prevalent.