This holiday season many people will be partying and celebrating.  So, I wanted to know if the pop culture saying that “alcohol kills brain cells” is true.  While it cannot be denied that alcoholism is one of the worst conditions out there. But is it really possible for alcohol to kill the brain cells of the one who drinks it too?

The Effects of Alcohol

Alcohol is widely known for its ability to cause slurred speech, make your behavior sluggish, blurs vision and muddles with your memory. Of course, prolonged use of any substance that causes the brain to react differently, is unhealthy for all human beings.  However, there are different ways in which the majority of people choose to satisfy their cravings for alcohol.

Binge Drinking vs. Drinking Moderately

Extensive research conducted on the subject led researchers to unearth key differences. One who binges when drinking and one who drinks regularly but never binges experience different effects on their brains. In fact, a study that was conducted confirmed that contrary to drinking moderately, binge drinking can cause serious and permanent damage in the brains as well as overall health of the person in question. People who drink a lot of alcohol over a prolonged period can damage the dendrites of brain cells. Dendrites are the branch like ends of the brain cells that pass messages between neurons. However, it’s also possible for the damage to be reversed with therapy and training, due to cells ability to reproduce and repair themselves.

When you drink moderately, however, it’s certainly not as dangerous.  Alcohol can actually even be considered a good habit for stress release, and social bonding. It’s pure alcohol, without any distillation, that causes severe damage to the drinker. The amount of alcohol needed to kill brain cells would also kill the person who drinks it. The drinks that you have access to at bars or even at the shops is hardly ever 100% alcohol so it’s highly unlikely for that to be permanent damage until and unless you’re consuming gallons of alcohol within the hour.

Binge Drinking Can Cause Permanent Brain Damage

When a person chooses to binge drink, they’re not only putting their own life in danger, but also the life of those around them or even their loved ones. Binge drinking is the process of consuming 4 or more glasses of alcohol within an hour or two – this also depends on the gender due to the fact that men tend to have a higher tolerance than women – and thus, such a high amount of alcohol consumption in such a short span of time can lead to the person in question losing all control over their senses.

There have been plenty of cases where a binge drinker either puts their own or someone else’s life at risk. Excessive binge drinking certainly can cause permanent damage to the brain, and alcoholics risk Wernicke-Korsakoff Syndrome, which affects memory, confusion, eye paralysis, and reasoning, concentration, etc.  Alcohol abuse can lead to thiamine deficiency and THAT deficiency DOES kill brain cells.  So, take your B vitamins to avoid the risk.

So my advice is if you are going to drink, drink safely and in moderation. Don’t worry, your brain will be fine. You may feel a little worse for wear, but the old grey matter is much more resilient than we think.