Author: James Anderson

I drink because I like the way it feels That doesn’t mean I have a problem Rebecca Carroll

Alcohol is classified as a depressant, which means it can cause or worsen depression, especially if used in excess. While these conditions can take time to develop, more immediately, most people don’t feel as well the day after a night of drinking, even if it was only a couple of drinks. People like to get drunk because alcohol smacks your brain around in a number of ways that feel pleasant, or at least different, or at the very least better than going without. And that’s really how all mood-altering drugs work.

In the prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain you use for thinking and planning, the net effect is inhibition. That’s why your judgment is flawed, your decision-making is set to “whatever” and your ability to see things from any perspective other than your own approaches nil. The remarkable side effect of this general dimming is that your thoughts seem amazingly clear – which is nice – while in reality they are just amazingly limited.

A theory, which isn’t hard to accept, is that alcohol makes you more social, and humans need to be social to survive. It’s easier to build shelters, fend off predators, and raise our young when we work as a group. Being social also makes us happier, and helps us live longer. After a drink or two, people tend to feel happier in the moment, conversation flows more readily, and connecting with others comes more easily. Alcohol helps us attain a necessary goal in life, both for the individual and for the community. The first time I got drunk – like a lot of people – was in high school.

Does Alcohol Make You Feel Better?

A person is at greater risk of injury when they are tipsy.

The next, she’s running out of the bar in tears because you told her what you really think of her gerbil desk calendar. According to the 2015 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, 70.1% of adults in the United States report drinking alcohol during the past year. And Glasner agrees, explaining that our expectations can actually have a pretty big impact on our behaviors. I love the idea of a drink at the end of a long day, too. Then, the decade after I moved to New York was personally and professionally fraught, and involved a significant amount of drinking.

What it feels like

And sometimes that leads us to (literally) lean on our friends a little more than usual. Your immediate reaction might be to reach for the nearest bottle of wine until you can escape. While alcohol should always be consumed in moderation, you can also get just the right amount of buzz so you can enjoy your evening, but won’t feel a sickening hangover in the morning. Drinking in a social setting can increase feelings of closeness and positivity, as mentioned above. However, when drinking alone, the euphoria is more muted, or absent altogether.

1. So what you get is a stream of dopamine coursing into the striatum (or reward system), the brain part that generates desire, anticipation and (once you’ve finally brought the glass to your lips) pleasure.
2. I challenge you to avoid all alcohol this weekend and see how you feel.
3. Although I already knew a bit about the neurobiology of alcohol, I just spent an afternoon reading a dense journal article that described roughly 50 different neural mechanisms it affects.
4. This tipsiness begins when alcohol enters the body’s bloodstream and starts to affect the functions of the brain and body.
5. People who frequently drink may feel less drunk than those who do not.

That’s why you start to stumble and slur if you drink too much. But alcohol acts on many other neurotransmitters too. While a couple of drinks on a Saturday night with friends may boost your mood, there is a narrow therapeutic window. Drinking too much in one sitting or drinking too frequently can quickly convert the benefits of alcohol into a detriment.

But with booze we’re just ‘getting tipsy’ or ‘feeling a bit merry’. A person will enter the euphoric stage of intoxication after consuming 2 to 3 drinks as a man or 1 to 2 drinks as a woman, in an hour. You might have a slower reaction time and lowered inhibitions. Older people, people who have little experience drinking, females, and smaller people may have a lower tolerance to alcohol than others.

For a while, I thought I was maybe an alcoholic – or at the very least a troubled drinker by proxy. I became (briefly) engaged to a performance artist – a recovering alcoholic who was almost giddy at the notion of ushering me into sobriety. I visited the rooms with him a couple of times and, like many alcoholics in denial (which I thought I also might be), judged the entire room and everyone in it. The more alcohol you drink, the stronger the effects of alcohol on the body. According to a 2015 national survey, more than 86 percent of people ages 18 and older say they’ve had alcohol at some point in their lifetime.

Alcohol tolerance can affect the extent to which a person feels intoxicated. People who frequently drink may feel less drunk than those who do not. People with alcohol use disorder may not feel drunk at all, even when their BAC is very high.

I love being drunk

Which is generally OK, because recreational drug use, including drinking, doesn’t lead to addiction for most people. But for those who get caught, the fun soon disappears. Alcohol is a very simple molecule with incredibly complex effects. Although I already knew a bit about the neurobiology of alcohol, I just spent an afternoon reading a dense journal article that described roughly 50 different neural mechanisms it affects. It’s widely known that alcohol reduces stress temporarily, and many people use it for just that purpose. It reduces stress by increasing the uptake of a neurotransmitter called GABA, the brain’s primary inhibitory molecule.

But I think the real bogeyman, the unbeatable Catch-22 when it comes to alcohol and other drugs, is the realisation that the thing you rely on to relax is the very thing that stresses you out the most. It’s hard to find a way out of the recurrent cycle of anxiety and temporary relief, over and over, and that’s the epitome of a losing battle. Im writing this while im drunk lol, and i know it’s not healthy, but i love being drunk. I just do it when I’m with other people bc it’s normal for people my age, i wouldn’t do it just by myself bc i know im prone to addiction and i could possibly become an alcoholic. I don’t like when people in the group don’t drink as much bc i know they’re judging me and they take a ‘caretaker’ role, when i just want them to have fun with me and not care about stuff that matters.

The Sober School

But alcohol has one advantage over drugs like heroin and cocaine. In fact drinking has become deeply enmeshed with themes of social engagement, joyful celebrations and all the rest of it. Your body functions will slow so much that you will fall into a coma, putting you at risk of death. Emergency medical attention is critical at this stage.