Blacking Out After Barrels Of Beer!
Michelle Mullings
Why I chose this topic
What is it?
- dissipate anxiety and avoid trauma (like in psychiatric emergencies), or
- in the case of surgery, allows them to not be able to remember being operated on.
Amnesia can also set in due to substance abuse. A well-known drug that makes you lose your memory is alcohol. Many are known to drink too much and "black out," waking up the next morning and not remembering anything from the previous night. Benzodiazepines, and barbiturates can have the same effect.
Alcohol
Benzodiazepines
Barbiturates
What's going on in the brain?
What research has been done?
Donald W. Goodwin studied the effect on alcohol in people's memory. He interviewed hospitalized alcoholics and studied the relationship between alcohol and memory loss in blackouts, and distinguished two different types: fragmented and en bloc blackouts.
Interesting Facts
- Drinking on a full stomach rather than an empty one can help to prevent blacking out, because your blood alcohol level will rise at a considerably slower pace.
- The main suspect in blacking out is a quick, dramatic spike in blood alcohol levels due to drinking too much too fast
- Women are more likely to black out than men because their blood alcohol levels rise faster due to the fact they have less water in their bodies and less gastric dehydrogenase (a substance in the body that breaks down alcohol)
Works Cited
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackout_(drug-related_amnesia
http://www.rxlist.com/benzodiazepines/drugs-condition.htm
http://www.webmd.com/mental-health/addiction/barbiturate-abuse
http://www.drugfree.org/drug-guide/alcohol/
http://intervention.org/educate/benzodiazepines
http://familytalk.ca/barbiturates/
http://www.lef.org/Protocols/Neurological/Amnesia/Page-03
http://pubs.niaaa.nih.gov/publications/arh27-2/186-196.htm
http://greatist.com/sites/default/files/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/blackout.jpg
http://gizmodo.com/5977688/what-happens-to-your-brain-when-you-get-black-out-drunk