The importance of the brain cannot be overstated. Without it, we would just be lumps of flesh. Damage it, and we malfunction. It determines everything we do, keeps us alive by monitoring and running our body, stores our memories, triggers our emotions, allows us to speak, determines how smart we are, and so much more. This critical organ needs to be protected and never abused in any way. A common way that our brains get abused is through the use of alcohol and street drugs. The focus here is on alcohol and the developing teenage brain. The fragile developing brain goes through many transitions between birth and early adulthood. Nothing should interfere with its evolution into the beautiful mechanism that determines our present and our future. Damage anywhere along the path to maturity should be strictly avoided.

Healthy brain development is critical. The impact of alcohol use as an adolescent, or even earlier, prepares the brain for cognitive problems and the inability to function adequately as an adult. A little fun can have big consequences. It turns out that alcohol has the power to alter the nervous system. That alteration is the neurotoxic effect of alcohol, and there is nothing good about that. Some parts of the brain frequently mentioned in the research literature that are impacted by alcohol are the cerebral cortex, the limbic system, and the cerebellum. What difference does that make? A lot, actually.

The cerebral cortex is the top layer of the brain. You need it to think, speak, remember things, get information from the environment, to pay attention, to be conscious, to solve problems, to plan, to learn, to physically move all of your body parts, to talk and many, many more things. You need the limbic system to help you survive. The limbic system is key for memory, to regulate and process emotions, to be motivated in pursuit of goals, and even to process smells. The cerebellum allows you to coordinate your movements, helps keep you upright, helps you learn and remember motor skills, like learning to ride a bike, and it also works with the cerebral cortex. There is, of course, much more to this.

My point is that these areas, along with the rest of the brain, are developing and evolving all through adolescence and long into the early twenties. What have researchers learned about the brains of adolescent drinkers? Are their brains different from the kids who don’t drink? The answer is yes. The hippocampus is an essential part of the limbic system for memory. The drinker’s hippocampus is smaller (Less volume), and so is the prefrontal cortex (important for personality, planning, making decisions and choices, appropriate social behavior, etc). Shrinking brain structures can turn your brain from an eight-cylinder car engine into a motor scooter. The ability to pay attention, to process and remember information, memory in general, organization, being able to multitask, self-control, being able to adjust to a changing situation, and more, requires a fully developed, healthy brain with all its parts functioning. The greater the quantity of alcohol consumed, and the longer the time period it has been used, the greater the impact and alteration of that teenager’s brain. That can determine future success and quality of life as an adult.

It should not be a surprise that researchers find that an impaired brain during adolescence can predict future problems with substance abuse and addiction. Add that to the issues reported above, and you have an adult with a future that can be pretty rocky. That may be avoided if parents can teach their children from the beginning that alcohol is a very bad thing to be avoided. Parents should pay attention to how they model their own alcohol use. Children can learn more from watching what you do than from what you say. You are a role model. By the way, marijuana is just as bad as alcohol. Any chemical in a developing brain will alter its development.