Memory problems caused by alcohol and drug addiction: How forgetful are you?

Memory problems caused by alcohol and drug addiction can be corrected professionally

We have seen time and again how alcohol abuse is reducing highly regarded people from the societies into nothing but a laughing stock. This (memory problems) has brought with it serious embarrassment and disgrace to the value of education. We have an opportunity to stop this and bring back those lost glories to their rightful places. This way we will not only put to check the escalation of alcoholism but also create role models to our children and their children’s children. Even as we chose to bring this to serenity, we must first find out why is this happening to our people? And that now brings us to our topic of discussion which has come out in a form of concern that is “memory problems caused by alcohol and drug addiction?” According to the experts from AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center alcohol and its effects on memory and general cognitive functioning, is not new and has been the subject of investigation and currently much research has been done over the years on this single subject. We are going to look at some of the impacts alcohol has in our general life system even as we take time to dwell much on how it affects the brain. We spoke with doctor Dalal Akoury MD, President and founder of AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center where all addiction related complications are professionally addressed and this is what she had to say.

Professionally doctor Akoury is registering that alcohol acts in human body in different ways but mainly as a general central nervous system (CNS) depressant. The human brain is segmented into different parts depending on their functions and all these parts of the brain are affected by alcohol addiction with some suffering the greater consequences than others. Doctor Akoury affirms that most importantly, alcohol abuse directly leads to distraction inattention and significantly inhibits neuronal activity in the hippocampus section of the brain which impairs memory encoding since the hippocampus plays an important role in the formation of new declarative memories. Because procedural memory functions more or less automatically, retrieval of procedural memory (“remembering how”) is not as severely impaired by alcohol as retrieval of declarative memory (“remembering what”).

Memory problems caused by alcohol and drug addiction: Memory Encoding

In memory processing, encoding becomes the first crucial first step which is instrumental in allowing any other observed item of interest to be transformed into a construct for storage in the brain, primarily to be recalled later from short-term or long-term memory. This is what alcohol abuse alters significantly thereby causing memory loss. Nonetheless for a better understanding, it is important to note that encoding is a biological event commencing with perception through the human senses. When the process of laying down memory begins, it normally triggers the attention where memorable experiences react with neurons causing certain intensity that increases the possibility that the experience is encoded as memory. During encoding emotional elements has a way of facilitating memory in the future through a pathway in the brain leading to the amygdala.

Now as to why alcohol addiction is not good for your memory, experts have established that alcohol with its addictive nature impairs the encoding of episodic memory which is that part of declarative memory that relates to our personal experiences and specific events in time and especially for certain types of recall, such as cued recall the recognition of completed word fragments and free recall. The experience of blackout commonly associated with excess consumption of alcohol is a perfect example of how difficult it can be in the encoding of episodic memories. The effect is facilitated by the rapid increase in blood alcohol concentration, which in turn distorts the activity of neurons in the hippocampus, thus impairing a person’s ability to form new episodic memories. Besides the aforementioned effects, excessive alcohol consumption can also brutally disrupt the encoding and storage process of new semantic memories which is human memory of facts, meanings and acquired knowledge about the external world even though this has got nothing to do with any previously learned information.

Memory problems caused by alcohol and drug addiction: Short-term memory

Besides the known and discussed complications of alcohol abuse above, alcohol also impairs short-term (working) memory, this it does primarily by affecting certain mnemonic strategies and executive processes rather than by shrinking the basic holding capacity of working memory or by physically altering the structure of the those parts of the brain which are critical for working memory function records doctor Dalal Akoury. And even though experts are agreeing that light to moderate drinking does not appear to impair long-term cognitive functioning significantly, the same is not true with heavy drinking and chronic alcoholism which has been closely associated with long-term impairment in sustained attention and working memory function, and in particular the visual working memory.

Finally experts from AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center, are reiterating that those who are into serious over-consumption of alcohol, especially in comparison with the intake of other foods, can besides the already mentioned effects can cause a thiamine deficiency, which when not addressed in good time can lead to a much more serious form of amnesia known as Korsakoff’s syndrome. Therefore we must all pool together in this journey of eradication alcohol and other substance of abuse. If you are heavily into alcohol, you may want to consider scheduling for an appointment with doctor Dalal Akoury today for a detailed professional evaluation and treatment. This needs not to wait because alcohol and memory have nothing positive in common. Treatment of both conditions (alcoholism and memory loss) must be done immediately to salvage the situation before it is too late.

Memory problems caused by alcohol and drug addiction: How forgetful are you?