Hippocampus Drug Effects

Drinking has become a tradition amongst college students, and drinking is portrayed as a vital part of the college experience. Most incoming college freshman come into college with a preexisting tendency to drink, and the college campus life can be a significant influence on alcohol consumption and the rate at which alcohol is consumed. Binge drinking is so common that it is expected of a college student to drink once getting into the university. The reasons in which students decide to binge drink can vary from students

The problem with college drinking is not necessarily the drinking itself, but the negative consequences that occur from excessive drinking. Alcohol abuse takes an enormous toll on the intellectual and social lives of male students on campuses across the country. Almost sixty percent report drinking alcohol every day. Forty percent of college male binge drink in the past thirty days. Peer pressure get the good students and turn them into alcoholics. Severe Impairment such as speech, memory, attention, reaction time, balance significantly. Judgment and decision-making dangerously. You can loss of consciousness. Alcohol is abuse too much by college males.

Other studies have shown negative consequences of drinking alcohol. Alcohol is the most pervasively misused substance on college campuses. In a study among college students, 5.1% of respondents confided they had actually experienced suicidal thoughts. This is 6.1% of the total drinkers. A sample of 1.6% college students revealed that they had tried to commit suicide within the last year due to drinking and other drug use. Results show that suicidal thoughts can lead to elevated drinking as depression increases.

Students gain expectations to drink alcohol from each other, as they depend on it, pressure each other and face a new environment and a new social setting. When in college, a student does not have anyone looking after them and so they get free time and they do not know how to use it. They end up filling up their extra time, with going out to frat houses, bars, and or other house parties to drink. Students go from being in high school, where they have to be home by curfew and drinking is still sometimes and issues, to not having a curfew and not having someone wait until they get home that night to make sure they aren’t drinking.

Risk factors such as sex, race, and grades are also discussed and linked with increased drinking. The social aspects of drinking, such as peer pressure and ones perceived image of themselves are discussed as well, along with student opinions on why they think other students drink.

College DrinkingHarmful and underage college drinking are signifcant public health problems, and they exact an enormous toll on the intellectual and social lives of students on campuses across the United States. Drinking at college has become a ritual that students often see as an integral part of their higher education experience. Many students come to college with established drinking habits, and the college environment can exacerbate the problem. According to a national survey, almost 60 percent of college students ages 18–22 drank alcohol in the past month,1 and almost 2 out of 3 of them engaged in binge drinking during that same timeframe.2Consequences of Harmful and Underage College DrinkingDrinking affects college students, their families, and college communities at large. Researchers estimate that each year:DeathAbout 1,825 college students between the ages of 18 and 24 die from alcohol-related unintentional injuries, including motor-vehicle crashes.3Assault About 696,000 students between the ages of 18 and 24 are assaulted by another student who has been drinking.4Sexual AssaultAbout 97,000 students between the ages of 18 and 24 report experiencing alcohol-related sexual assault or date rape.4What is “binge drinking?” Many college alcohol problems are related to binge drinking. Binge drinking is a pattern of drinking that brings blood alcohol concentration (BAC) levels to 0.08 g/dL. This typically occurs after 4 drinks for women and 5 drinks for men—in about 2

techprogram/paper_40822.htm)." Some other effects that can happen from drinking is that students get in trouble with police, vandalism, get injured, or even worse, death. Over 1,400 students are killed annually because of their alcohol use, according to researchers at the Boston University School of Public Health. This survey also claims that over 600,000 students a year are assaulted by other students who have been drinking. Additionally, over 70,000 are the victims of sex assaults or date rapes in similar circumstances. These are very disturbing figures. Thirty-one percent of college students met criteria for a diagnosis of alcohol abuse and 6 percent for a diagnosis of alcohol dependence in the past 12 months, according to questionnaire-based self-reports about their drinking. Drinking heavily seems to bring out more difficulties in a person's life and can only continue the same way as an adult. One starts to rely on alcohol to solve problems and may continue throughout their life because their body becomes dependent on alcohol to make them feel good again.

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.

Alcohol can take a huge toll on adolescent brains as well. In the article, “Teen Drinking May Cause Irreversible Brain Damage” the reader is told that Susan Tapert took a close look into the nerve tissue in teens’ brains. She found that kids who binge drink had “a number of little dings”(4) in their nerve tissue. This shows that there is poor connection with the brain cells. The hippocampus was affected and looked different as well. This affects memory,

There are many definitions associated with alcohol and alcohol abuse in general that need to be clarified. Most college students think of alcohol as that cheap high they get to obtain on the weekends at social events called parties. Knowing what alcohol really is and what exactly it can do to your body in excessive amounts over time and in any one sitting is one of the main problems with why college students abuse alcohol. The social norm of binge or excessive drinking in college is prevailing over the social fact of what alcohol really is and what it can do to a person’s health! The actual definition of alcohol is a “liquid distilled product of fermented fruits, grains, and vegetables used as a solvent, antiseptic and sedative” (Drinking: A students Guide,

This not only causes problems for themselves, but also for those around them. They can even result to being intoxicated, unconsciousness, alcohol poising, and even death. By drinking too much in a little time period especially, during, drinking games and being peer pressured into drinking. Also, women are 1.5 times more likely to get rape with a low binge drinking rate, however seventy-two percent, of women, who are too intoxicated are unable to consent to sex. It seems there are 696,000 students between the ages of 18 and 24, who are being assaulted by other students, who been drinking. Also, they have been report of sleep and study disruptions, sexual abuse and other unwanted sexual abuse advances, and vandalism of personal property.

Alcohol and drug abuse has been an active habit among college students sense the 1960s. The immediate cause of this behavior was the youth’s need to rebel against the overly conservative American society. This rebellion led to a since of freedom for the young adults, which caused them to continue acting in these unintelligent manners. After a short period of time, late teens just did not belong if they were not participating in the mischievous acts. Substance abuse quickly became a way of life for many young adults. As a result, this inapt behavior still continues today.

Ecstasy is both a hallucinogenic, causing hallucination, and a stimulant drug. Ecstasy is the name given to methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA). It was first synthesized in 1912 by Merck chemist Anton Köllisch. Ecstasy appears to disturb the body 's ability to regulate its temperature and this can lead to serious problems with overheating of the body. Ecstasy can be swallowed as a pill or tablet or snorted like a powder. Users of ecstasy can experience a rush of good feelings, a high, and makes someone 's feelings much more intense, whether they 're good or bad feelings. Ecstasy’s effects usually last up to 6 hours.

Many psychiatric and psychoactive drugs that are available on the market, pharmaceutically or illegally, closely resemble neurotransmitters and are actually able to mimic it to the extent that it fools the receptors. Basically, these drugs hijack the neurotransmitters. Once these drugs are ingested, it enters into the brain, gets into the synapse and binds itself to the receptor. This then causes the inappropriate release of neurotransmitters and alter the breakdown and recycling of neurotransmitters or can be used to destroy particular neurotransmitters completely (Sapolsky, 2005, p. 14).