BIO103 Environmental Biology – Effects of Alcohol on Human Coordination
Introduction:
Alcohol is known to produce many chronic abnormalities that are attributable to parietal lobe dysfunction. The self becomes aware of the body being a distant object but it feels a strange attachment feeling (Miller et al, 1991). Considerable laboratory research indicates that different levels of alcohol consumption contributes to overall behavioural and cognitive functions and therefore the reason for carrying out this study is to test the effects of alcohol on human coordination. According to Allum et al (1998) Alcohol effects information received by brain receptors causing the working ones to compensate for the defective information processed by
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Although this is the case, the investigation was poorly set out. Only one standard alcoholic drink was consumed which, as shown in the data, isn’t enough to lose coordination unless the subject had extremely low tolerance to alcohol. Subjects were not discriminated by age gender and body weight which would have shown different results if these points were discriminated against and would have displayed a stronger correlation between the effects of alcohol on human coordination. The sample was not large enough to show a strong enough correlation between alcohol and coordination in the data therefore making the test inaccurate. Overall it seemed that as the subjects had more practice at the game, the better they became.
In a past investigation carried out by Patel et al (2010), three groups of adults were assessed at 0.00%, 0.06% and 0.10% blood alcohol concentration to assess if alcohol affected body coordination. Subjects were asked to rate their drunkenness on a scale from 1 to 10 for each group. Results had shown that their score had no effect on body movement coordination patterns but those who consumed a higher amount of alcohol experienced a more significant effect on their coordination due to blood alcohol concentration. In this experiment, the groups showed a larger correlation between effects of alcohol on human coordination and therefore more accurate
This pattern often encourages people to drink more to keep the buzz going." ( Net Biz Mentor ). When people get like that they usually get a little bolder and want to do normal tasks and routines like driving a motorized vehicle. The effects of alcohol result in poor coordination, slurred speech, double vision, decrease of self-control, lost of consciousness and maybe even death.
Alcohol impairs judgment, memory, concentration and coordination, as well as inducing extreme mood swings and emotional
?Alcohol?s effects are progressively more noticeable as the blood alcohol concentration increases. At a BAC of .02 to .05 percent the effects are almost entirely pleasurable. The drinker feels relaxed and sociable. There may also be some modest impairment of reasoning or memory and general reduction in caution. A BAC of .05 to .07 produces a state of excitement. The drinker begins to suffer from what may be a slight but nonetheless noticeable impairment of balance, speech, vision, reaction time, and hearing. Judgement and self-control are also effected. The driver?s behavior is apt to become more aggressive. In general, the drinker feels stimulated and highly capable. In reality his or her ability to safely perform tasks such as driving that require quick reactions, concentration, and good judgement has been significantly reduced.
As a college student, alcohol is a very real and prevalent temptation. It is a normal occurrence for a Friday night to be filled with friends, a bonfire, and alcohol out on the lake. Unfortunately, not many students know the effects of alcohol on their brain. I took a personal interest in this subject because alcoholism runs deep in my family. I want to know what effects my personal consumption of alcohol have on my brain and how they will affect my life if I continue to drink or choose to stop.
The Royal College of Psychologists warns that even normal amounts of alcohol can be a danger to the elderly because of balance issues; alcohol can exacerbate unsteadiness and increase the risk of falling
It is generally accepted that alcohol affects the nerve cell by preventing the production and propagation of electric impulses along a network consisting of axons and synapses. The brain functions much as an electronic system in which one nerve cell, acting as a current generator, communicates information to many other cells, which in turn receive impulses from many other areas. Some impulses are enhanced, others are blunted. Memory and conditioning appear to play an important role in integrating the impulses which are finally expressed as behaviors. Studies in the United States and England have shown that when alcohol becomes dissolved in the membrane of the cells, it fluidizes or disorganizes the membrane, which in turn leads to changes in the physical and biochemical characteristics of the latter. Chronic exposure to alcohol alters the composition of the membrane and its rigidity, so that alcohol
27: Alcohol-induced blackouts are the result of alcohol’s effect on which part of the brain:
Alcohol can cause alterations in the structure, and the consequences may be evident beyond adolescence. Even though alcohol appears to be a stimulant, really it is a central nervous system depressant, depressing the brains inhibition control center (“too smart to start”). Neuron connectivity is vital to every human. Connectivity can be slowed down by alcohol consumption, which leads the person to think, speak, and move slower (“too smart to start”). Long term effects include memory loss and continuity of poor judgement. The cerebral cortex works with the senses; when the senses are debilitated, information is forgotten and senses do not function properly. The hippocampus regulates a person’s memories. When consuming too much alcohol, or even just one or two drinks, the hippocampus will damage, and a person will struggle remembering minor and large details. Teenagers often gloat over not being able to remember the night before. Even though their night may have been an “awesome blackout” their hippocampus has already been permanently damaged. The person now, can not hold on to knowledge and learn the same as before. The cerebellum controls coordination, thoughts and awareness (“too smart to start”). On most occasions, people have problems with these skills when consuming alcohol. In grade school, D.A.R.E. representatives brought “drunk goggles” to school. Studies show that alcoholism in the cerebellum
Most of us have witnessed the effects of alcohol, whether it be slurring words, lack of balance, or lack of judgement. These physical signs occur due to the effect of alcohol in our brains and central nervous system. Although many of us have witnessed or experienced effects of alcohol, very few of us have knowledge of what exactly is happening to our body and brain when consuming alcohol. It has always been evident that alcohol has an effect on the brain, which can in turn impair the behavior and thinking processes of individuals. However, most of society is unaware of the chemical reaction that is occurring within their body and brains every time they consume alcohol. Alcohol affects brain chemistry by the altering levels of neurotransmitters. Alcohol increases the effects of the inhibitory neurotransmitters GABA in the brain, causing slower or sluggish movements and slurred speech that is a common occurrence with
Alcohol is classified as a depressant, known to slow the function of the central nervous system. The effects of long-term alcohol use impact the brain 's ability to function properly, while limiting the capacity for comprehension of information and processing of memories. Reports from the National Institute of Health have shown that the deficiency of Thiamine, or vitamin B1, is commonly seen with alcoholism, and can be linked to dementia-like symptoms associated with alcoholic encephalopathy and Wernicke-Korsakoff Syndrome (U.S. Natl. Library of Medicine). Excessive alcohol consumption is responsible for disturbances
Along with the central nervous system, the outer layer of the brain is also affected by alcohol. The main part of the brain that is affected is the frontal cortex. This part of the brain is in charge of conscious thought. When people drink alcohol, they tend to lose their conscious thought, or otherwise known as their inhibitions. Alcohol disturbs many parts of the brain, but another important area that is affected is the cerebellum. The cerebellum is located towards the back of your brain, and is in charge of controlling your balance, coordination, and your eye movements. When alcohol is consumed, the brain can misread the judgment of distances and heights. Throughout the course of a flight, the pilot is going to constantly be looking out the window to judge the distance and height of things. This is mostly important when the pilot is coming into land at the airport. If the pilot misjudges the correct distance to touchdown, everyone on the plane could die due to overshooting or undershooting. Pilots need their senses to be perfect while they are flying because they are in charge of potentially hundreds of
The effects associated with alcohol are produced by the ethanol in the alcohol. The severity of these effects is reflected by the concentration of alcohol in an individual’s blood, which is dictated by the amount of alcohol ingested, the volume of blood, the individual’s metabolism, and amount of time since ingestion. In large doses, alcohol acts as a depressant of the central nervous-system. A blood alcohol level of 0.1% affects some of the motor areas of the brain associated with speech, balance and manual dexterity. A blood alcohol level of 0.2% depresses all motor functions and the area concerned with emotions is depressed. At a blood alcohol level of 0.45% the entire section of the brain that handles perception is depressed and the individual becomes comatose. At a blood alcohol level of 0.7% the parts of the brain that control the heartbeat and breathing are depressed and the individual
In Jill Dombrauckas’s (2015) report, she discussed that the Pennsylvania DUI Association made a large amount of researches about alcohol’s effect on body systems. In one research, alcohol affects the central nervous system which means when the individual drink alcohol, the messages that are carried to and from the brain and the body’s muscles can be slowed delivery. For example, the incoming signals from the brain, like the painful sensory that will decrease the injury’s awareness. Also the signals from the brain to the muscles will lead the motor skills becoming insensitive.
In alcoholic beverage users, there was at least a ten percent decline. Significant neuropsychological deficits are
Many believe that alcohol affects women much more than it does men. This can sometimes be because men are much bigger than women are but at the same time, men usually metabolize faster when means that their bodies can break down the toxins much quicker. Studies have shown that women are more vulnerable than men are too many of the medical consequences of alcohol use. For example, alcoholic women develop cirrhosis, alcohol induced damage of the heart muscle (i.e., cardiomyopathy), and nerve damage (i.e., peripheral neuropathy) after fewer years of heavy drinking than do alcoholic men (National Institute on Alcohol abuse, 2004). Studies comparing men and women’s sensitivity to alcohol-induced brain damage, however, have not been as conclusive.