Neurotransmitters and the Effects of Alcohol
Alcohol is a dangerous drug because it is so easily given
to anyone and is often the sign of a good time, yet, not many people think
through the adverse effects it can have on someone’s life. This study seeks to
show the very significant link between certain neurotransmitters and the development
of alcohol addiction. Whenever there is an imbalance, the brain activity and
function is altered. This could be as a result of an influx of neurotransmitters
or a loss of neurotransmitters, but either way inhibition is altered as a
result of it, which creates a drastic increase of alcoholism. Alcohol, like
most drugs, causes the Central Nervous System to be highly affected.
Neurotransmitters in the brain can change the pathways and alter the brains
thinking patters towards alcohol when it becomes a reward. Once the alcohol has
interacted with these neurotransmitters, the brain sees alcohol as a reinforcer
and creates the pathway for addiction.
This study implies that alcohol is a dangerous drug because
it not only brings negative effects and harms your body, but it also alters the
way in which your brain processes and thinks. Also, as the study explains that
alcohol causes a steep level of inhibition, this implies that rash decisions
are being made, leading to more accidents and fatalities as a result. Another
implied result of this study is that the positive reinforcement that the
neurotransmitters altered in the brain from the alcohol can lead to a substantial
increase in drinking, which could likely lead to addiction.
Some of the limitations could be that only adults were
studied in this. The younger that someone started drinking the more of a chance
that alcohol would affect the neurotransmitter pathways. This would be a
significant difference to study longitudinally because it is hard to know the
length in which someone had been drinking when they began to become studied.
Though this would be a difficult area to study, it would definitely show differences
in the effect that alcohol has on the brain.
Banerjee, N. (2014).
Neurotransmitters in alcoholism: A review of neurobiological and genetic
studies. Indian Journal Of Human Genetics, 20(1), 20-31.
doi:10.4103/0971-6866.132750
No comments:
Post a Comment