The Use Of Alcohol By Minors Starts At Home With Parents And Caregivers

The use of alcohol will have a significant impact on a person’s brain which causes other parts of the body to be affected. As an adolescent, alcohol can have a much more negative effect on the brain, since it is not fully developed.

There are many consequences of binge drinking. It causes a lot of health problems in an adolescent’s life, possibly short or long term. Feeling nauseated, having a hangover and memory loss are just a few of many things that are short term. In addition to short term effects, the long term effects are more severe and even deadly. One of the worst long term effects of binge drinking is the loss of brain stem cells. Dr Fulton Crews, mentioned that “The adolescent 's brain is much more sensitive to alcohol toxicity than adults’, including being vulnerable to cell death.”

“ 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

Underage drinking is very common in the United States. Alcohol is the most commonly used and abused drug in the United States, even more so than illicit drugs (Marijuana, Cocaine, etc…) and tobacco. “In 2012 the National Survey on Drug Use and Health reported that 24% of youth aged 12 to 20 years drink alcohol and 15% reported binge drinking. In 2013, the Monitoring the Future Survey reported that 28% of 8th graders and 68%

By avoiding alcohol before the age of 25 you could be saving many of your brain cells. People who drink before the age of 25 are putting their prefrontal cortex in danger. Your prefrontal cortex is the front part of your brain that helps you focus and stay organized. The legal age to drink is 21, but should be changed because people are killing their developing brain cells that they will not be able to get back. Drinking before your brain fully develops can cause irreversible brain damage. This essay will demonstrate how drinking before you are 25 can kill brain cells, damage your prefrontal cortex and get you to do things that you wouldn't want to do.

“Every year in the U.S., roughly 5,000 people under the age of 21 die from an alcohol-related incident including car crashes, homicides, suicides, alcohol poisoning and other related injuries” ( “11 Facts About Alcohol Abuse”). That is 5,000 more teens or young adults that could be saved from this plague in this society (11 Facts About Alcohol Abuse). Underage drinking and alcoholism is a huge problem in the United States, and as a society need to make a change with how everyone sees this problem. Adults and young teens take this topic too lightly, and it should not be taken lightly because of how many deaths there have been from poor decision making. There are many programs or events that could help this problem by fundraising, however people think this is not a very important problem. Underage Drinking and Alcoholism is a huge problem in the United States because it causes major health issues that can be very costly, personal life problems that can lead to more problems later in life, and major risks that have no benefit, but can put someone else’s life in danger.

Consuming alcohol at 18 years of age can interfere with the development of the young adult’s brain and studies show “physical changes in the brain and evidence of impaired problem solving and other cognitive functioning”. This results in influencing the child’s ability to reach their full educational potential. An article from Oct 2015 ‘15 Shots of Vodka Killed Our Daughter’ by Andrea Todd explains the death of 17 year-old Shelby Allen and is just one example of the influence alcohol has on young adults. Shelby was at a party where she and her 18 year old friends had decided to take shots. Her friends state that they wanted to see how many shots it would take for them to pass out. Eventually 15 shots later, Shelby’s body was unable to comprehend the toxicity of the alcohol and had died. This article is just one of the many stories where young adults are clearly unaware of the dangers of alcohol and its alarming consequences. Through surveying different age groups of societies we were able to identify that young adults where greatly more unaware of the health problems associated with consuming alcohol rather than adults. This alone indicates that older adults of 21 years and over have better knowledge on the dangers of alcohol and its impacts. The need to increase the drinking age to 21 years of age is indicated through health studies,

drinking can have harmful effects on a developing brain (“Dangers of Teen Drinking” FTC). As

During our lifetime, alcohol has become a very serious health problem throughout the United States. According to the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, alcohol has become the most widely used substance of abuse among America’s youth. Some interesting statistics presented by the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, in the year 2013, 8.7 million people (ages 12-20) reported that they drank alcohol, (2015). There is no getting around the fact. Young people drink, they are going to drink, and it would be impossible to make them stop drinking. We all know that they are going to partake in this activity. As children grow older, they tend to get a sense of maturity and independence. Seeking new activities and taking risks is what children live for. Underage drinking is one particular risk that attracts many young people. The big major debate currently going on is should the minimum legal drinking age be lowered?

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,

Underage drinking is a very eminent problem for Americans today. Some may not know that the human brain continues to develop until the age of twenty-five. Underage drinking can weaken neurological development, which could cause minors to make bad decisions, have memory loss, slower thought processes, and even acquire irreversible brain damage. Drinking when your body and mind are not fully developed can leave damaging effects on a person’s social abilities, neurological abilities, and overall health.

Impairment of the central nervous system results in an array of behavioral problems including hyperactivity, Attention Deficit Disorder (ADHD) and impaired language, as well as difficulties learning and understanding social skills (Thomas, 2008). In addition, prenatal exposure to alcohol disrupts the development of major regions in the central nervous system such as the hippocampus, which contributes to memory (Thomas, 2008). The exposure to alcohol during development in the womb, consequently damaging the central nervous system and the hippocampus, makes the child’s learning experience more difficult due to the fact that their learning and their ability to memorize has been impaired.

Twenty-five percent of all calories consumed are used by the neurons in one’s central nervous system to transmit the electrical impulses that control one’s life. The brain’s development is key to one’s ability to function their life. Many things can affect brain development, one main factor is alcohol consumption in adolescence. (counterclaim), although this may be true, research suggests that the legal drinking age should not be lowered because the human brain does not fully mature until age 25, teens are more reckless drinkers than adults, and a lower drinking age would lead to an increase in driving fatalities.

Alcohol has been severely damaging young individuals health both mentally and physically. Even though alcohol can be harmful at any age it is especially dangerous for teens as their brains are still developing and cannot cope with alcohol the same way as an adult can. When consumed

As I was browsing through numerous websites that explained the major effects of alcohol on the teenage brain, I was amazed. The brain undergoes vigorous changes throughout teenage adolescence, and alcohol abuse can seriously injure long-term and short-term growth processes. Frontal lobe development and the refinement of pathways and connections continue until the age of sixteen, and a high rate of energy is used as the brain matures until the age of twenty. Damage from alcohol at this time can be long-term damages. Not only that, these damages are generally irreversible.