How Does Alcohol Affect Teenagers

Many people would say that they have been affected by alcohol at one time or another. They've had a loved one die in a drunk driver accident, their family has been torn apart by an alcoholic member, or someone died of alcohol poisoning. Many people are unaware of the greater effects alcohol has on teens. There is an increase in illegal teen drinking throughout America, especially in the summer months. According to health professionals, the dangers of teenage binge drinking are not being publicized enough. The major effects on the adolescent brain are not taught to the kids by many parents or by other adults. Some teens may know the consequences, but choose to ignore them to keep enjoying their activities. Just fourteen grams of pure alcohol
can cause some damage to a teen's cognitive abilities. Immediate effects of alcohol to the teenage brain include blurred vision, slurred speech, slow reaction time, and impaired memory. The initial effects can lead to even greater consequences like impaired driving and loss of control over your own reactions to others. Driving irresponsibly can lead to the consequence of car accidents, not only injuring yourself, but whoever is involved. In 2005, 7,420 teenagers died in DUI crashes, according to stopteendui.com. Most crashes are in the summer and on the weekends, when many teens are careless and only thinking about having fun. Some other dangers of early alcohol consumption are drowning, fights, teenage pregnancy, and sexually transmitted diseases. Alcohol does not directly cause pregnancy and STDs, but teenagers who become intoxicated will not have total control of their cognitive skills, causing them to engage in activities that could lead to consequences. There are several factors that can change the way alcohol affects a teenage body, and they include how often and how much a person drinks, the age they began drinking, and the length of time they've been drinking, the person's age, gender, genetics, family alcoholism history, and their status of general health.
Generally, teenagers are less mature than adults mentally and developmentally. It takes a significantly less amount of alcohol for an adolescent to be affected rather than an adult. Mentally, some teens don't understand that the alcohol will have extra effects other than the few moments of excitement like the adults have already experienced. The earlier adolescents begin to drink, the harder the effects are on the body. The alcohol will build up on the liver and brain, eventually causing major health concerns associated with alcoholism. Boys can usually handle drinking more than girls, but that doesn't mean that the effects are any less. The general health status of an individual will also determine how alcohol affects your body. If someone is super skinny and doesn't eat much, but exercises excessively, they will more than likely have a very low tolerance for alcohol. They will not be able to drink very much before they are considered drunk. If there is an overweight teenager, he may be able to drink more than his friends do before his blood alcohol content goes up high. However, just because his body can physically handle more, that does not mean that his brain and
internal organs will not see the after effects. Here's how the teenage brain processes alcohol: it doesn't. It sees alcohol as a foreign object and struggles to metabolize it. Teens only get 14 pure grams of alcohol before they feel the effects. On an empty stomach, even smaller amounts of alcohol can cause a blackout or memory lapses. Duke University researchers of neuropsychology have concluded that adolescent drinking causes damage to the hippocampus (the part of the brain that helps you remember and learn). Drinking to the point of blacking out will cause adolescents to suffer from neurocognitive deficits.