Neurological Journal: "alcohol Shrinks Your Brain"

[maklelan]

Article here. Apparently drinking alcohol increases the normal shrinkage of your brain. The more you drink the faster your brain shrinks. Women experience more shrinkage even at limited levels of consumption, while men see it first with heavy drinking. My dad and I used to get into it about whether or not drinking was totally healthy. Checkmate. Ha ha.

[J.S. Mill]

Article here. Apparently drinking alcohol increases the normal shrinkage of your brain. The more you drink the faster your brain shrinks. Women experience more shrinkage even at limited levels of consumption, while men see it first with heavy drinking. My dad and I used to get into it about whether or not drinking was totally healthy. Checkmate. Ha ha.

I wouldn't gloat just yet:

"However, the study did not demonstrate that the smaller brain volume actually impaired memory or mental function, notes James Garbutt, M.D., professor of psychiatry at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill."

[maklelan]

I wouldn't gloat just yet:

"However, the study did not demonstrate that the smaller brain volume actually impaired memory or mental function, notes James Garbutt, M.D., professor of psychiatry at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill."

I read that part, and when I emailed my dad I pointed it out. I'm still going to have fun with him for a bit, though.

[thesometimesaint]

J.S. Mill:

Suppose you are getting ready to board a airplane. You look out the terminal window and see a person frantically removing bolts and rivets from the plane you are about to get on. You ask a nearby airline representative to look and see if it is safe to remove bolts and rivets from a plane preparing to leave with you on it? He answers "Sure go right ahead and get on. The plane has more than enough, and it will never miss them them anyway.".

Have a nice relaxing flight.

[maklelan]

J.S. Mill:

Suppose you are getting ready to board a airplane. You look out the terminal window and see a person frantically removing bolts and rivets from the plane you are about to get on. You ask a nearby airline representative to look and see if it is safe to remove bolts and rivets from a plane preparing to leave with you on it? He answers "Sure go right ahead and get on. The plane has more than enough, and it will never miss them them anyway.".

Have a nice relaxing flight.

I freak out enough on airplanes when I know nothing's wrong. I don't need that kinda stress.

[thesometimesaint]

maklelan:

I used to love to fly before it became such a hassle at the airports. One of the top things on my "Bucket List" was to learn how to be a pilot. But seeing someone do that to a plane would freak me out too.

[Hoops22]

Does this explain why my grades were so bad in college?

[buraianto]

J.S. Mill:

Suppose you are getting ready to board a airplane. You look out the terminal window and see a person frantically removing bolts and rivets from the plane you are about to get on. You ask a nearby airline representative to look and see if it is safe to remove bolts and rivets from a plane preparing to leave with you on it? He answers "Sure go right ahead and get on. The plane has more than enough, and it will never miss them them anyway.".

Have a nice relaxing flight.

Now imagine that the plane is filled with snakes.

[thesometimesaint]

buraianto:

I live in a section of the country that has 5 different types of poisonous rattle snakes alone. I wouldn't deliberately get on any plane full of snakes, where someone had seriously compromised its structural integrity, or where the pilot used alcohol to excess.

[bluebell]

Now imagine that the plane is filled with snakes.

[saemo]

Now imagine that the plane is filled with snakes.

Craptastic!

I wouldn't gloat just yet:"However, the study did not demonstrate that the smaller brain volume actually impaired memory or mental function, notes James Garbutt, M.D., professor of psychiatry at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill."

So drinking alcohol is actually making your brain more efficient!

[Doctor Steuss]

So drinking alcohol is actually making your brain more efficient!

Survival of the fittest. Drinking only kills the weak brain cells, leaving the strong ones to thrive.

Thatâ??s why when youâ??re drunk, everything you say is brilliant.

[Hoops22]

Survival of the fittest. Drinking only kills the weak brain cells, leaving the strong ones to thrive.

Thatâ??s why when youâ??re drunk, everything you say is brilliant.

[maklelan]

Thatâ??s why when youâ??re drunk, everything you say is brilliant.

But that's only while you're drunk, and it's often unintelligible to people who aren't drunk. I guess that would make it kinda like the gift of tongues.

[saemo]

Survival of the fittest. Drinking only kills the weak brain cells, leaving the strong ones to thrive.

That's why when you're drunk, everything you say is brilliant.

Reminds me of:

"Beauty is in the eye of the beer-holder."

[maklelan]

The Simpsons where Bart goes to Duff Gardens and puts on "Beer Goggles" is one of the funniest television episodes ever made.

[Doctor Steuss]

Reminds me of:

"Beauty is in the eye of the beer-holder."

Ha! Fantastic.

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Back to the OP. Wouldn't a smaller grey thingy in your noggin increase the risk for brain injury (since there's more room for it to slosh around from jostling and impacts)?

[maklelan]

Ha! Fantastic.

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Back to the OP. Wouldn't a smaller grey thingy in your noggin increase the risk for brain injury (since there's more room for it to slosh around from jostling and impacts)?

I'm sure there has to be some kind of averse effect, but no one has found it yet. Accelerating brain shrinkage can't possibly be benign.

[J.S. Mill]

J.S. Mill:

Suppose you are getting ready to board a airplane. You look out the terminal window and see a person frantically removing bolts and rivets from the plane you are about to get on. You ask a nearby airline representative to look and see if it is safe to remove bolts and rivets from a plane preparing to leave with you on it? He answers "Sure go right ahead and get on. The plane has more than enough, and it will never miss them them anyway.".

Have a nice relaxing flight.

Your argument by analogy doesn't work. Bolts and rivets are necessary to the function of an airplane. An extra .8% of brain size is not necessary to the function of a mind. In fact, there's not a meaningful correlation between brain size and intelligence after you control for other factors. People with encephalitis aren't smarter than people without it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Encephalitis

http://www.pnas.org/content/97/9/4932.full

[saemo]

Ha! Fantastic.

taken from the dear husband's supply of beer shirts...the newest is, "I've tried polygamy." I ask him to please not wear it when he is with me.

Back to the OP. Wouldn't a smaller grey thingy in your noggin increase the risk for brain injury (since there's more room for it to slosh around from jostling and impacts)?

Maybe it is why I have migraines.

[Calm]

I'm sure there has to be some kind of averse effect, but no one has found it yet. Accelerating brain shrinkage can't possibly be benign.

I can think of a few body parts where if any shrinkage was involved, people would be running around in panic. Interesting that this isn't happening with brain shrinkage....perhaps they feel they can do without thinking better than certain other body functions.

[maklelan]

I can think of a few body parts where if any shrinkage was involved, people would be running around in panic. Interesting that this isn't happening with brain shrinkage....perhaps they feel they can do without thinking better than certain other body functions.

Alcohol is still accepted despite the billions of people that have died as a direct result of its consumption. A little brain shrinkage isn't going to scare anyone away.

[J.S. Mill]

People die from alcohol when they misuse it. Big deal -- people die from water when they misuse it.

[maklelan]

People die from alcohol when they misuse it. Big deal -- people die from water when they misuse it.

Actually most of the people who have died because of alcohol had absolutely nothing to do with misusing it, or even consuming it at all. It's clear you've never lost an innocent loved one because of the proliferation of alcohol. There are millions in this country alone who do think it's a big deal.

[thesometimesaint]

J.S. Mill:

Which .8% of your brain to do you want to lose?