2024-04-25 16:01:45
The results are published in the journal Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research.
As the researchers note, memory impairment is a fairly common consequence of alcohol consumption. In order to find out the reasons, the researchers conducted an experiment with 79 volunteer students between the ages of 18 and 22.
They all wore sensors on their wrists that monitored their level of alcohol intoxication and had to fill out questionnaires every morning about whether they had consumed alcohol the previous day and whether they remembered the events of the evening.
During the month-long experiment, 486 episodes of drinking were recorded, of which amnesia occurred after 147 episodes. 69.3% experienced “alcohol blackout” at least once during this period. experiment participants.
After comparing all the collected data, the authors of the study were able to identify three main factors that influence the loss of memory after drinking – the speed of alcohol intoxication, its duration and the maximum value.
“The results support the view that how a person drinks is important in predicting the risk of alcohol-related memory impairment,” the researchers said.
According to the researchers, a sudden increase in alcohol intoxication scores increases the risk of memory impairment by a factor of 2.69. Peak blood alcohol concentration increases the risk of blacking out by 2.93 times.
However, the greatest effect is the duration of intoxication: the risk of temporary amnesia increases 4.16 times with long-term alcohol consumption.
At the same time, the authors of the study admitted that the representativeness of the obtained results is not ideal.
First, they had a very small sample of subjects, the majority of which consisted of Caucasian (86.1%) girls (55.7%).
Second, the experiment only lasted a month and fell just in time for St. Patrick’s Day (which is associated with alcohol consumption) and then the Easter weekend (when many students go home to drink less).
It is also noted that in some cases, students may not have realized they had a blackout and apparently did not record it on the questionnaire.
2024-04-25 16:01:45