Thursday, August 20, 2015

What It's Like to Be a Blackout Drunk

... Once there's a certain level of booze in your blood, your brain stops forming memories entirely. As Hepola explains in her book: "The blood reaches a certain alcohol saturation point and shuts down the hippocampus—the part of the brain making long-term memories." So you can try as hard as you like to remember what happened, but it will be futile because there's absolutely nothing there. Zilch. 
    "It's simple: The recorder in your brain has shut down," Hepola tells me. "Blackouts were the scariest, craziest part of my drinking, and in all those years I never knew what was happening. That blind spot on its own is just stunning to me. And I've been really amazed at how many people—many of whom I considered smart, educated friends—did not know the difference between blacking out and passing out. They thought that blackout meant unconscious and asleep on the couch instead of being up and around and moving and functioning."...Read complete article here.

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