Do you know what over-drinking does to your brain?

over-drinking_affects_brain

At this time of the year we all drink far more than usual because we are invited to so many more parties and dinners. Of course, if you are always appointed the designated driver for friends and family members, than you don’t have to worry about over-drinking during the holidays, but if you don’t have to deal with driving back home, you might be tempted to go over your usual drinking limit.

This holiday season people will over-drink for a variety of reasons, but I suspect that the two most popular ones will include: over-drinking as an ice-breaker … people who are shy or insecure will use alcohol as a way of loosening them up. I also suspect that given the recent market meltdown and the last few months of high stress a lot of people will seek refuge and solace from a glass of their favourite alcoholic beverage.

Of course, these reasons don’t include addictive personalities who may suffer from alcoholism … but that’s a whole different ball game.

There are so many reasons why you should avoid over-drinking including these:

1) You’re not in control when you over-drink

2) Over-drinking is the surest way to gain weight

3) Over-drinking will give way to that famous belly-fat (men and women who over-drink will often carry that extra weight around their stomach area)

4) Over-drinking will age you in a serious way

5) Over-drinking is bad for your liver

6) Over-drinking can cause you to become very aggressive and even violent

There is another reason why over-drinking is not a good idea. It’s been reported recently by The Med Guru that researchers in Massachusetts found the more alcohol you drink, the smaller your brain becomes! YES, over-drinking reduces the total brain volume! Yikes!!!

It’s been scientifically proven that our brain shrinks with age (alas) and gives way to memory loss or worse, Alzheimer’s disease, but now researchers find that over-drinking will add to that “natural” brain shrinkage.

The researchers in Massachusetts conducted a test on the brains of 1,839 people using an MRI and also by cross-referencing those results with the lifestyle habits of how much these people drank during the week.

Note: Just in case you weren’t clear on the definition of what an MRI, I checked dear old Google and found that it was “a non-invasive procedure that produces a two-dimensional view of an internal organ or structure, especially the brain and spinal cord.”

These researchers found that there was a correlation between the increasing quantities of alcohol consumption and brain shrinkage.

Basically, the more your drink, the smaller your brain!!!

Photo by Darwin Bell