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Academics
| Alcohol
and Learning |
New research shows that
alcohol, affects the ability of university students to learn and remember
new information. Even as little as two drinks can impair the ability
of those under 25 to learn a verbal or visual memory task for up to
28 hours after drinking.Five or more drinks can have longer-lasting
implications. Those who start drinking during adolescence have smaller
hippocampal memory areas than non-drinkers.
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Drinkers vs. Nondrinkers: Research Findings |
• Verbal and nonverbal
information recall was most heavily affected, with a 10 percent performance
decrease in alcohol users. Significant neuropsychological deficits
exist in early to middle adolescents (ages 15 and 16) with histories
of extensive alcohol use.
• Adolescent drinkers perform
worse in school, are more likely to fall behind and have an increased
risk of social problems, depression, suicidal thoughts and violence.
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• Alcohol
affects the sleep cycle, resulting in impaired learning and memory
as well as disrupted release of hormones necessary for growth and
maturation.
• Alcohol use increases risk of stroke
among young drinkers. |
Compared to students who
drink moderately or not at all, frequent drinkers may never be able
to catch up in adulthood, since alcohol inhibits systems crucial for
storing new information as long-term memories and makes it difficult
to immediately remember what was just learned. Additionally, those
who binge once a week or increase their drinking from age 18 to 24
may have problems attaining the goals of young adulthood - marriage,
educational attainment, employment, and financial independence. And
rather than "outgrowing" alcohol use, young abusers are
significantly more likely to have drinking problems as adults.
Alcohol has a negative effect on energy and REM sleep cycles. Impairing
the quality of your sleep impairs the quality of your ability for
remembering things.
According to a 1992 report from the CORE Institute, 41% of all academic
problems stem from alcohol abuse. Alcohol is associated with missed
classes and poor performance on tests and assignments, causing lower
GPA's. In general the more a student drinks, the lower his or her
grades. It is believed that a person's ability to think critically
can be impaired for up to 30 days following the consumption of alcohol.
Harvard student campuses report that 68% of non-binge drinkers had
their studies or sleep interrupted because of other students drinking.
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| References: |
Society for Neuroscience - Young
Brains on Alcohol
CORE Institute - The
Core Drug and Alcohol Survey
American Medical Association - Fact
Sheet from a Report on Alcohol’s Adverse Effects on the
Brains of Children, Adolescents and College Students |
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