Teen Binge Drinking Takes Dark Turn
There are serious consequences for teens that binge drink. Some of those consequences can last for a life time.
It really is too bad that in American society drinking alcohol is the norm and is deemed as the only way to have a good time. As a teen I drank alcohol on a regular basis and partied a lot, but I have learned nothing good comes from drinking alcohol. Alcohol is toxic, it is poison. People need to realize the seriousness of drinking alcohol.
Binge drinking in childhood can cause damage to brain for life;
Binge drinking as a teenager can affect the brain for life, a study has found. It is caused by alcohol impeding the part of the brain, the hippocampus, which is responsible for the development of learning and memory, before it has fully matured. Ref. Source 5
Heavy alcohol use in adolescence alters brain electrical activity
Long-term heavy use of alcohol in adolescence alters cortical excitability and functional connectivity in the brain, according to a new study. These alterations were observed in physically and mentally healthy but heavy-drinking adolescents, who nevertheless did not fulfil the diagnostic criteria for a substance abuse disorder. Ref. Source 3y.
Heavy drinking in teens causes lasting changes in emotional center of brain. Lasting changes in the brain caused by drinking that starts in adolescence are the result of epigenetic changes that alter the expression of a protein crucial for the formation and maintenance of neural connections in the amygdala -- the part of the brain involved in emotion, fear and anxiety. Source 3g.