Are the people around you starting to experiment with liquor?

Are you starting to get curious about it? What do you know about it? Do you have the information to make an informed decision on whether or not drinking is for you?

Alcohol has long-lasting effects even after its immediate repercussions. Sure, you’ve heard of the “good time” some people have when they are supplementing their experience with liquor. However, what do you actually know about it?

Alcohol has an onslaught of negative consequences: impaired motor skills, mental cloudiness, slurred speech, loss of inhibitions and slowed breathing. Of course, none of that sounds fun. Except, there are two consequences of alcohol that you may not have heard of.

1) The Blackout

I’m sure that, at some point, you’ve heard of someone referencing “blacking out”. That state of mind where you wake up the next morning and remember very little… if anything at all. Have you ever stopped to think what CAUSED this lapse in memory?

Maybe you’re under the impression that this disappearing act was because you were so intoxicated that you merely forgot what had happened.

That isn’t how it works.

A blackout is caused by the liquor making you incapable of forming memories at all.

It’s an actual episode of amnesia.

It’s a shutdown of the storing process that the brain uses to form memories.

Meaning, that the inebriation of too much alcohol intake inhibits your natural brain processes.

2. Depression

Alcohol is commonly known as a depressant. You may have heard the horror story of the crying drunk girl at a party – that is entirely normal when intoxicated. Alcohol, in general, brings your mood down. Often, after a night of drinking, people will find themselves to be emotionally down the following day.

The truth is, there’s an undeniable connection between alcohol and depression – even long-term. Furthermore, once depressed, many people turn to liquor for its sedative effects, thus continuing the nasty cycle.

Unfortunately, when people are talking about going to a party on the weekend with a six-pack, they rarely disclose the negative counterparts of alcohol. You’re more likely to hear about getting drunk and having fun in a rap song than you are to hear about becoming depressed. However, there is an entire underworld of alcohol abuse, depression and other harmful effects of drinking.

With all things in life, don’t follow the crowd. Make educated decisions on what is best for you. Do your research before jumping blindly into things.

Most importantly, be safe.

Written by Celina Dawdy