-1740653386.jpg "Henri Sannier: “I have a rare disease, but I wage war on a daily basis”")
During this holiday season, many people are going to drink alcohol. Sometimes without moderation, at the risk of experiencing a “black out”, a fairly frequent phenomenon of memory loss.
The French are the biggest alcohol consumers in Europe, after Lithuania. During this holiday season, a number of people will consume it. It sometimes happens, during a drunken evening, to forget certain events. This is called a “black out. It is not a loss of consciousness, on the contrary. The person talks, does things, but will forget what they have been through. This is a fairly common phenomenon. According to a study published in 2016 in the journal Alcoholism Clinical & Experimental Researchnearly 50% of young adults (under 25) have already experienced it.
Partial or total forgetting
There are two forms of “blackout”. The most frequent corresponds to “partial” amnesia, the forgetting of certain details or of part of the evening. Sometimes, it happens to remember, later, these “forgotten” memories. The second form of “black out” is more severe since it corresponds to a total oblivion of the events. This memory loss is usually permanent. Memories cannot be recovered. The “black out” can happen when you start drinking quickly and/or in large quantities. It can appear when the blood alcohol level reaches 0.15 to 0.20 g/l of alcohol in the blood.
Women more prone than men
However, some people are more vulnerable than others. In 2004, a study published in JAMA Psychiatry already demonstrated a genetic predisposition involved in neurotransmission and in the metabolism of alcohol. There are other risk factors: fatigue, alcohol consumption on an empty stomach, a history of head trauma or the simultaneous consumption of benzodiazepines (Valium for example) or cannabis. In addition, women, of the same weight and build, are more prone to “blackouts” than men.
The hippocampus, a particularly affected brain region
Memories related to lived events are called episodic memory. It works on three stages: encoding, storage and retrieval. In the event of a “black out”, it is the encoding and consolidation processes that are altered by alcohol. In fact alcohol, as a chemical substance, is classified in the category of tranquilizers. It inhibits nerve cell activity and some brain regions are more sensitive than others. The hippocampus, which plays an important role in the processes of consolidating information in long-term memory, is one of them. So if you want to remember your end of year celebrations, drink in moderation!
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