The effects of heavy drinking may last days
Binge drinking teenagers are still at risk of absent-mindedness and forgetfulness days later, a study says.
A team from Northumbria and Keele universities compared 26 binge drinkers with 34 non-bingers in memory tests, and found the drinkers fared worse.
They told the British Psychological Society conference that binge drinking could be harming developing brains.
A spokesman for the charity Addaction said drinking at dangerous levels was putting some young people at risk.
Binge drinking is already known to affect people's memories of past events.
In this study, the scientists looked at students aged 17 to 19 - a period when the brain is still developing.
Binge drinking was defined as at least eight units a session for a man and six for a woman once or twice a week.
The researchers said the binge drinkers studied consumed, on average, 30 units in just two sessions.
'Storing up problems'
The teenagers were tested three or four days after their last drinking session, so that their bodies would be free of alcohol.
They were asked to answer questions about how often they forgot to carry out tasks they intended to do, such as meeting with friends.
They were shown a video clip of a shopping trip after being given a couple of minutes to memorise a set of tasks prompted by various cues in the film, such as remembering to text a friend at a certain shop, or to check their bank accounts after seeing a person sitting on a bench.
"Although from their own reports they appeared to have good memories, they didn't perform as well in the video test.Dr Thomas Heffernan, from the University of Northumbria and who led the study, said: "We found no differences between binge drinkers and non-binge drinkers in the self-reporting questionnaires, but when it came to the video the binge drinkers recalled significantly less than the non-binge drinkers.
"The binge drinkers recalled up to a third less of the items, a significant difference."
He said it was possible that the pre-frontal cortex or hippocampus regions of the brain were being impaired.
Dr Heffernan added: "There is evidence that excess alcohol and binge drinking in particular damages parts of the brain that underpin everyday memory.
"Not only may these teenagers be harming their memory, if their brains are still developing they could be storing up problems for the future."
A spokesman for the charity Addaction said: "While official figures show fewer young people are drinking overall, a small group of young people is drinking earlier in life and at dangerously high levels.
"Many of these young people are still at primary school and are drinking more than twice the recommended limit for adult women, with uncertain consequences for their future development." QUESTIONS:
Write in few lines in which way binge drinking may affect teenager´s health .
Find synonyms in the text for the following words or expressions:
corroborate-
statistics,numbers-
get along,do with something-
to remember, to keep something-
generally speaking-
damaged or weakened-
Some other interesting articles on drinking:
Binge-drinking 'well-established' in north-west England
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/8631099.stm
Romanian street sign warns drivers of 'drunk pedestrians'
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/romania/7405695/Romanian-street-sign-warns-drivers-of-drunk-pedestrians.html
Powers to curb under-age drinking come into force
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8486406.stm
Binge drinking comes to France
Drink spiking
Children & alcohol: Britain's deadly cocktail
World Drinking Map
Alcohol and safer drinking
The Alcohol Quiz
VOCABULARYAlcohol Abuse and Alcoholism Glossary of Terms
SONG
Artist(Band):Starsailor
Don't you know you've got your Daddy's eyes
And your Daddy was an alcoholic
But your mother kept it all inside
Threw it all away
I was looking for another you
And I found another one
I was looking for another you
When I looked round you were gone
Stay by my side
And the pipe dream is yours now
Stay by my side
And the singer won't get in our way
Don't you know you've got your Daddy's eyes
And your Daddy was an alcoholic
But your mother kept it all inside
Threw it all away
I was looking for another you
And I found another one
I was looking for another you
When I looked round you were gone
Stay by my side
And the pipe dream is yours now
Stay by my side
And the cynics won't get in our way
Don't you know you've got your Daddy's eyes
And your Daddy was an alcoholic
But your mother kept it all inside
Threw it all away
I was looking for another chance
To see your blue eyed problem
CLICK ON THE FOLLOWING SITE TO LISTEN TO THE SONG:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UA6C_0ERHww
The Alcohol Quiz
VOCABULARY
Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism Glossary of Terms
SONG
Alcoholic
Artist(Band):Starsailor
Artist(Band):Starsailor
Don't you know you've got your Daddy's eyes
And your Daddy was an alcoholic
But your mother kept it all inside
Threw it all away
I was looking for another you
And I found another one
I was looking for another you
When I looked round you were gone
Stay by my side
And the pipe dream is yours now
Stay by my side
And the singer won't get in our way
Don't you know you've got your Daddy's eyes
And your Daddy was an alcoholic
But your mother kept it all inside
Threw it all away
I was looking for another you
And I found another one
I was looking for another you
When I looked round you were gone
Stay by my side
And the pipe dream is yours now
Stay by my side
And the cynics won't get in our way
Don't you know you've got your Daddy's eyes
And your Daddy was an alcoholic
But your mother kept it all inside
Threw it all away
I was looking for another chance
To see your blue eyed problem
CLICK ON THE FOLLOWING SITE TO LISTEN TO THE SONG:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UA6C_0ERHww
And your Daddy was an alcoholic
But your mother kept it all inside
Threw it all away
I was looking for another you
And I found another one
I was looking for another you
When I looked round you were gone
Stay by my side
And the pipe dream is yours now
Stay by my side
And the singer won't get in our way
Don't you know you've got your Daddy's eyes
And your Daddy was an alcoholic
But your mother kept it all inside
Threw it all away
I was looking for another you
And I found another one
I was looking for another you
When I looked round you were gone
Stay by my side
And the pipe dream is yours now
Stay by my side
And the cynics won't get in our way
Don't you know you've got your Daddy's eyes
And your Daddy was an alcoholic
But your mother kept it all inside
Threw it all away
I was looking for another chance
To see your blue eyed problem
CLICK ON THE FOLLOWING SITE TO LISTEN TO THE SONG:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UA6C_0ERHww
