Binge Drinking and the Brain

(SOUND)

YOUNG ADULTS: “I’ve been drinking since I was eighteen.” “I drank about ten drinks, I’d say.”

MARIO RITTER: New studies are looking at the damage that heavy use of alcohol can cause in young people. Christopher Cruise has our story.

CHRISTOPHER CRUISE: The National Institute on Drug Abuse says forty-two percent of young adults in America have taken part in what is known as binge drinking. The experts define that as drinking four to five drinks within about two hours.

Tim McQueeny is a researcher in the Psychology Department at the University of Cincinnati in Ohio. He is studying how binge drinking affects the brains of young people.

TIM MCQUEENY: “The peak years of alcohol use are during the years when the brains are still developing, especially eighteen to twenty-five when substance use, such as binge drinking, is most prevalent.”

Assistant professor Krista Lisdahl Medina is researching the subject with him.

KRISTA LISDAHL MEDINA: “We looked at a very high resolution picture of the brain, where we can actually measure what’s called cortical thickness. So this is a measure of basically how thick their brain matter is.”

The researchers say binge drinking is linked to a loss of thickness in the pre-frontal cortex. They explain the many jobs of this part of the brain.

TIM MCQUEENY: “Regulating somebody’s emotions and controlling behaviors.”

KRISTA LISDAHL MEDINA: “Decision making.”

TIM MCQUEENY: “Controlling attention.”

KRISTA LISDAHL MEDINA: "The ability to inhibit responses.”
TIM MCQUEENY: “Considering consequences.”

KRISTA LISDAHL MEDINA: “Monitoring your environment.”

TIM MCQUEENY: “Acting appropriately.”

KRISTA LISDAHL MEDINA: “And, again, that very important ability to inhibit your impulses to do things.”

A team of American and Canadian scientists is also trying to measure the health effects of binge drinking by students. Dr. Michael Fleming is a researcher at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago. He says they studied cases of alcohol-related injuries and blackouts.

MICHAEL FLEMING: “A blackout is a true period of amnesia. It’s a transient acute memory loss that can last from a couple of hours to longer, depending on how much you drank. So we wanted to know whether that put students -- in particular, college students -- at higher risk for injury.”

The research showed that as blackouts increased, so did the rate of physical injuries. Dr. Fleming says one in four students harmed themselves while drinking.

Many colleges and universities around the United States try to educate students about the dangers especially of binge drinking. Amanda Long works with campus alcohol programs at the University of Maryland. She says the programs there begin even before students arrive at the university.

AMANDA LONG: “We start off by asking them to complete a national three-hour long educational program. It is really just a look at alcohol, how it affects students, how it can be a detriment to their progression as a student.”

At some schools around the country, students are required to use online resources like a program called eCHECKUP TO GO. San Diego State University in California administers that program. Doug Van Sickle is the project director.

DOUG VAN SICKLE: “The program gives the student a personalized feedback about their use of alcohol and how it affects goals and aspirations that are important to them. Career and life, relationships, self-esteem, health and fitness, those kinds of things.

The program does not try to scare students with numbers about alcohol-related injuries or deaths. Instead, the students learn things like how much weight they can gain from alcohol and how much money a night of drinking can cost. Doug Van Sickle says this method really works with college students.

Mary Glasgow magazines,an imprint of scholastic.

 

Lesson 6.1.2.Addicts

Ex 1. Discuss what you think it means to be an 'addict'.

Ex 2. Read the article opposite about different types of addicts and decide which person you think has the most serious problem.

Ex 3. Read the following sentences and decide which person (Becci, Janine, Tony Benn or Anne) each one refers to. One of the sentences does not refer to any of them.

1. Her/his addiction led to crime.

2. She/he became out of touch with the rest of her/his life.

3. She/he was addicted to getting things she/he never used.

4. She/he feels her addiction is a substitute for love.

5. She/he needs it to help her/him work effectively under pressure.

6. She/he is receiving professional treatment.

7. Her/his addiction may have had serious physical consequences.

8. She/he isn't convinced she/he should give it up.

Ex 4. Find words or phrases in the text with the following meanings.

· the exception, the unusual person (para. 1)

· a desire (para. 2)

· to compensate (para. 2)

· to change from solid to liquid (para. 2)

· to destroy (para. 3)

· to realise what is happening (para. 3 )

· to stop being under control (para. 3

·	· to make people worried ( para. 4 )
·	· to fall down (para. 4)
·	· too much (para. 4)
·	· very difficult and painful (para. 4)
·	· fashionable (para. 5)
·	· to come to an end (para. 5)

Are you hooked?

1. No one likes to admit they’re an addict. They are sad creatures ruled by deadly substances such as tobacco or alcohol. But there are others less damaging to the health. Like it or not, large numbers of us are addicts. Addictions can be chemical (caffeine), emotional (shopping), physical (exercise) or downright strange - such as picking your spots! You’re the odd one out if you don’t have at least one everyday addiction. What do you do when you feel under pressure, bored or depressed? Get lost in the world of TV? Go shopping? Eat one bar of chocolate after another?

2. Becci has been a chocaholic for ten years. ‘I just get an urge for it - a need,’ says Becci. ‘I really don’t know why, it’s just so delicious. People say that chocolate can make up for lost passion - I don’t know about that, but I love the way it melts in my mouth.’ Every day, Becci gets through several bars of her favourite Cadbury’s chocolate (the one with the soft caramel centre is the best). But it’s not only the bars she goes for - hot chocolate drinks and chocolate cakes are also essentials. Towards exam time, Becci feels she has to increase her intake to cope with all the work. ‘If I get up late, I’ll have chocolate for breakfast, then more and more during the day. I am addicted. It’s like smoking, I suppose, but I have no plans to give it up. If I like it so much, why should I?’

3.Addiction to exercise can ruin your life, Janine learnt to her cost. ‘I was swimming at least fifty lengths a day, I jogging to the gym and doing three j aerobic classes a week. At home, I used an exercise bike and keep-fit videos. My husband said that I didn’t have time for him, and he was right. But I couldn’t believe it when he left me. Finally, I came to my senses, I wanted to get fit but it all got out of hand and my addiction ruined my marriage. Now, I’m seeing a counsellor and gradually reducing the amount of exercise I do.’ Well-known 4.Member of Parliament, Tony Benn, just can’t live without his favourite drink. He has on average t eighteen pints of tea a day and his I addiction has raised concern about his health. When he collapsed recently, j some people blamed his excessive tea drinking. Mr Benn has calculated that, j. over the years, he has drunk enough tea (around 300,000gallons) to displace an [ ocean-going liner. If he ever tried to I stop, he would find it agonising.

5.Anne shopped for thirteen hours a day without leaving her living room - she was addicted to TV shopping. When she got home from her job as a nightcare worker at 8.30 a.m., Anne would immediately tune into a satellite TV shopping channel and buy everything in sight. Her home was soon an Aladdin’s cave of household goods and trendy clothes she didn’t need. When her cash ran out, she stole money from the elderly patients in her care and was charged with theft. ‘It seemed so easy,’ she says. ‘I didn’t realise I’d become so addicted.’ Anne’s family have now removed her satellite receiver.from Best magazine.

(First Certificate Gold coursebook Richard Alkham).

Ex 5. Discuss the following questions.

1. What advice would you give to the four addicts (and their families) in the article?

2. Would you say you were addicted to anything?