WITTENBERG RESEARCH
Study: Heavy drinking leaves damage after you sober up
Brains of college-age men already show measurable impairments to motor skills, creativity, judgment.
Sunday, September 23, 2007
Young alcohol abusers experience the same brain changes as older people with alcohol-related dementia, according to a recent study conducted by a Wittenberg University professor and presented to the American Psychological Association.
Twenty men, ages 21 to 25 years old, participated in the study. Half of the men were self-reported heavy drinkers, consuming at least 25 alcoholic beverages a week. Half abstained from alcohol. The volunteers were from Wittenberg, Wright State University and the University of Dayton.
Extras
"Most of the (alcohol abusers) had been drinking heavily since they were 15 or 16 years old," said Josephine Wilson, Wittenberg professor of psychology.
Subjects had to abstain for 24 hours before the testing.
The subjects underwent PET scans while they participated in a number of pen and pencil activities which included memory and sorting exercises.
The brains of the heavy drinkers showed measurable impairments to three main areas — those affecting motor skills, creativity and imagination and judgment.
"Even at rest, there was a
difference in the brain activity," Wilson said.
Past studies have shown older alcoholics who undergo rehabilitation do see return of some lost brain function.
"They never fully recover," Wilson said.
The report was the result of a five-year study Wilson
conducted with Martin Satter, Joseph Mantil and Michael Finton of Wallace Kettering Neuroscience Institute and Bradley Christian of the University of Wisconsin.
Wilson is seeking a grant from the National Institutes of Health to continue her study to include long-term effects on the younger subjects.
