Adolescent Brain and Alcohol

Attending this presentation by Karen Williams was a very valuable experience for me.  Ever since taking Psychology in high school, I have been fascinated with how the brain works and develops.  Karen's energetic presentation showed that she shared  this same fascination for her subject.  She started out by explaining to us that there are three periods in our lives when our brain have the most plasticity, when it is most easily and readily developed. The first period is when we are still in our mother's womb, the second is between one to six years of age, and the third is between the ages of twelve and eighteen years old.  This third stage is the stage that most people overlook, but is critical to understanding and explaining how we behave during those years.  Research shows that during adolescence the brain is changing at such a rapid pace that any interruption in brain activity can have major consequences.  This is where Karen tied the information about the brain to alcohol.  Karen stressed that MEMORY is the essence of all development.  The hippocampus, buried deep inside the brain, is the part of the brain responsible for memory.  We can learn anything and everything that we want, but if we are unable to create memories of it, then we will be back to square one and the learning we did was useless. This understanding is especially pertinant when looking at adolescents because they are in that third stage of rapid brain development.  Alcohol use at this time can hinder one's ability to make memories and therefore to learn.  Alcohol effects the brain from the front to the back.  The brain develops from the back to the front.  The brain isn't mature until around age twenty-five.  This means that the pre-frontal cortex, which controls instincts, judgements and drives, is still developing in an adolescent, but is the first to be effected by alcohol.  Teen brain neurons take about four days to recover from getting drunk, and getting drunk on weekends can reduce the hippocampus by up to 10%.  I found this information extremely interesting and scary.  Another huge part to this situation is that major damage to the brain from alcohol is delayed.  Karen explained that you might feel the headache, nausea, and hangover symptoms after a night of drinking, and then think you are fine after they go away. However, much like a concussion, the major problems such as the damage to the PFC and hippocampus don't appear until later and often are overlooked.

I believe that the entire expanse of information that Karen presented is crucial for all students, teachers and parents to be exposed to.  A lot of this information was stuff that I didn't know, and I found myself asking why I hadn't been taught this before.  We need to get this knowledge accessible for everyone.  It is critical that children be aware of what is going on with their bodies, so they can make healthy choices. It is critical for parents to know about the peak in brain development so they can properly guide and coach their adolescents instead of becoming fed up with them.  It is crucial for teachers to have this information about the brain so they can better understand their students and adjust their teaching so that the kids can more effectively learn.