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Hazelden Publishing
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- Hazelden Publishing
- 15251 Pleasant Valley Road
- P.O. Box 176
- Center City, MN 55012-0176
- Business hours:
- 7am - 6pm (Central Time)
- Monday - Friday
- 800-328-9000
- 651-213-4200
- 651-213-4590 fax
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Hazelden Publishing
Protecting You/Protecting Me
Impact on your brain
A Guide for Parents
Why we worry about children using alcohol
Exposure to substances that inhibit cell growth has some impact on the adult brain, but these same substances can have a devastating effect on the developing brain.
Random havoc
Most other drugs are predictable; they have specific receptors in the brain. We know which receptors they will use, and therefore, we can predict their impact on the neural function in specific regions of the brain. Alcohol, on the other hand, doesn't have a specific receptor in the brain. It selects receptors at random, acting on one receptor in one part of the brain and on a different receptor in another part of the brain. It is also random in its behavior in brains, affecting people differently.
The great imposter with a pass key
Alcohol can choose any receptor it wants because it has a "pass key." It combines with water molecules that form part of the receptors, changing the shape of the receptors so it can enter, virtually at will... altering the brain's processes "at will."
Global havoc
Alcohol affects most of the brain, compromising memory, abstract thinking, problem solving, attention, and concentration... and altering motivation, emotions, awareness, thinking, movement, breathing, consciousness, and more.
Prankster
Alcohol plugs into the brain's massive network of switches to activate and deactivate neural functioning and turns brain cells on or off. It affects channels in the brain cell membranes that permit calcium and other chemicals to provide energy to electrically fire off messages to other cells. No other drug turns brain cells on and off at the rate alcohol does.
Interceptor
Alcohol seeps directly into neurons to prevent the messages that a neuron receives from being translated into instructions inside the cell.
Trickster
Alcohol combines with lipids (fat molecules) that form channels in the surfaces of brain cell membranes, temporarily changing their structure and function.
Thief
Alcohol reduces the level of serotonin in the brain. Serotonin is known as the brain's peacekeeper, assisting in learning and problem solving. It enables our drives to live in harmony. It is connected to cells in every part of the brain, the only neurotransmitter that is. If not impeded by alcohol (or other drugs that act on serotonin receptors), the brain receives gentle, rhythmic pulses of serotonin. One of serotonin's most important roles is to act as a brake on impulses. Too much or too little can affect cognitive and emotional functioning.
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