Physiology Of Drug Addiction :

It is shown in studies of the human brain that dopamine in released when that high is hit and that what makes people what to continue. “Dopamine is a compound present in the body as a neurotransmitter and a precursor of other substances including epinephrine.” People can begin to chase this feeling and want it again and again. It is shown that dopamine is released when someone does something good such as hit a homerun in baseball even when they make a big

“ We found that one high dose of alcohol caused significant loss of brain stem cells.” Says Dr. Brien. Loosing brain cells at an early age is a serious issue. Teens can lack social skills and develop social anxiety, as well as depression. The suicide rate in teens have gone up tremendously in the past few years, consuming alcohol in under aged teens is a huge factor. Under aged drinking has become an ongoing issue, parents need to sit down with their children and address the seriousness of drinking irresponsibly, because not only will it affect their bodies long term, but they also one day may subject their parents to having them bury their

“In Georgia, about 165,000 people aged 12–20 (13.3% of all people in this age group) per year in 2009–2013* reported binge alcohol use within the month prior to being surveyed.”

Because the first high is so pleasurable, many continue taking the drug in search of the first high they experienced. They try taking larger and larger doses to recapture a high that can never be obtained again.

MAIN POINTS/FINDINGS: The authors first looked at the premature aging hypothesis and its association with alcoholism. They reported that most studies found that as an individual ages the harmful neurological effects of alcohol become more pronounced and the brain is more susceptible to permanent damage or greater reduction in size of the cerebral cortex, corpus callosum, hippocampus, and cerebellum. There is also an association between neuropsychological and psychomotor deficits in older alcoholics. In terms of gender the review found evidence episodic memory tasks were performed better on by women across all varying degrees of drinking habits (non, light, moderate, and heavy) than men. Men performed better on visuospatial tasks, but only in the non and light drinker groups. fMRI data looking at gender differences in alcohol-related brain impairment showed inconsistent results and the authors suggested that further research is necessary in this area of study. Results of twin, family, and adoption studies showed that there are genetic risk factors that influence susceptibility to alcoholism, while

Drinking at a younger age affects the brain’s development that’s harmful for one’s health. The frontal lobe is used for emotional response and regulation which are essential, and the consumption of alcohol interferes with its development (“Procon”). Lowering the legal minimum drinking age leaves the youth open to brain development problems at an earlier stage in life. The risk for potential chronic problems are greater with the consumption of alcohol like an increased risk of addiction, poor decision making, memory loss, depression, violence, and increased risk of suicide (‘Procon”). The brain needs time to develop and

According to “College Drinking,” almost two out of three college students engage in binge drinking. Binge drinking is a pattern of drinking that brings blood alcohol concentration (BAC) levels to 0.08 g/dL or higher (“College Drinking”). Many parents, guardians, and psychologists believe that college students binge drink because they think drinking is an integral part of their higher education. Similar to peer pressure, college students drink because the rest of the student body drinks. Furthermore, almost sixty percent of college students ages eighteen to twenty-two binge drink on a regular basis (“College Drinking”). Binge drinking can result in several health and safety risks. Also, binge drinking could lead to car crashes,

People’s brains continue to develop until their early twenties. Alcohol is a depressant meaning it causes your brain to slow down. When the brain is developing

the brain, flooding it with the neurotransmitter dopamine. This produces euphoria, and the heightened pleasure can be so compelling that the brain wants that feeling back again and again. Unfortunately, with repeated use of a drug, the brain becomes accustomed to the dopamine surges by producing less of it. So the user has to take more of the drug to feel the same pleasure — the phenomenon known as tolerance.

B. Tie to the audience: Why: one study of college student of consumption found 50% of students drank at least 1-4 a month, threw my personal experience I drank 1-4 a day.

Lastly, the medulla is responsible for making sure body temperature is correct and it also controls teens regular breathing patterns. If one drinks too much alcohol in a cold environment, they could get hypothermia or even worse could die from it. Another thing that could occur as a result of alcohol is a teens breathing could slow down to such an extent that it is dangerous to their health. While all of these things are affected when an underage person drinks, the limbic area of a brain matures the earliest. The limbic area has to do with a teens emotions, puberty and feeling invincible. The brain tends to release dopamine when one has alcohol, making the body have a good feeling. This may make a teen think they are old enough and responsible

“The overstimulation of this reward system, which normally responds to natural behaviors linked to survival (eating, spending time with loved ones, etc.), produces euphoric effects in response to psychoactive drugs. This reaction sets in motion a reinforcing pattern that “teaches” people to repeat the rewarding behavior of abusing drugs ”(“Understanding Drug Abuse). Using addictive drugs floods the limbic brain with dopamine, taking it up to as much as five or ten times the normal level. A person with elevated dopamine levels now has a brain that begins to associate the substance with an outside neurochemical reward (“Your Brain on Drugs”). As a person continues to abuse drugs, the brain adapts to the overwhelming surges in dopamine by producing less dopamine or by reducing the number of dopamine receptors in the reward circuit. The result is a lessening of dopamine’s impact on the reward circuit, which reduces the abuser’s ability to enjoy the drugs, as well as the events in life that previously brought pleasure. The decrease in normal dopamine levels encourages the addict to keep abusing drugs in an attempt to bring the dopamine function back to normal, except now larger amounts of the drug are required to achieve the same dopamine high, an effect known as tolerance (“Understanding Drug Abuse ). That is what leads to the state of addiction, which leaves the person in a cycle of craving, using, withdrawal, and relapse.

~ Impaired brain development – teenage brains are still developing in which alcohol can be unsafe but it is even a bigger risk for children under the age of 15, too much alcohol can lead to learning and memory problems as well as difficulty with balancing

Dopamine, is a neurotransmitter that when released “attaches itself to receptors throughout the brain that in turn produce an intense flush of pleasure. Most of the time the brain releases only a small dose of dopamine, but certain substances and addictive experiences send dopamine production into overdrive.” (Alter 97) The release of dopamine is exploited in many ways, the first way is the build up of tolerance.

Have you ever dealt with the effects of drug addict? A drug is a person who is addicted to drugs or alcohol, which has a psychological effect when ingested or otherwise introduced into the body. The effects of drug use can vary depending on the person. According to “Causes and types of narcotic addiction: A Psychosocial View” in the Psychiatric Quarterly it says, “The causes of drugs stem from the manner of which you were introduced to it whether it be by abnormal curiosity, chance encounters with addicts and narcotic peddlers, or prolonged illness” (Ausubel). The effects of drugs can be have different effects on everyone differently depending if its for pleasure or for relieving pain Most of the effects of drugs occur in the brain, where it increases the level of dopamine at a specific site possibly giving the addict the pleasure they were feigning for (Robbins). As a child I didn’t know much about drugs except for what your parents and teachers at school tell you which is, “Just Say No.”