Heavy Drinking: A Trap at Any Age

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For many people, the culture of binge drinking that begins in high school or college extends into young adulthood and beyond. At least one in six adults binge-drink four times a month.[i] These adults face significant risk for both brain damage and addiction.

In a surprising study conducted by my colleague Dr. Peter R. Martin at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, the brain scans of heavy drinkers showed the same pattern of neurological damage as those of alcoholics.[ii] Because of this damage, heavy drinkers can be as impaired in their daily function as addicted drinkers—with no awareness of their deteriorating cognitive abilities.

The definition of heavy drinking requires far less alcohol than most people imagine. Men averaging only 100 drinks a month and women only 80—less than three drinks a day—had significant impairment in their memory, learning, reading, and balance. Because these drinkers appeared to still be functioning normally, they did not recognize their need for medical help.

Even apart from the possibility of short- and long-term brain damage, there are good reasons to avoid heavy drinking and intoxication. The abuse of alcohol and other drugs plays a major role not just in traffic fatalities, fires, and drowning accidents, but in assaults, murders, suicides, and the physical and sexual abuse of children. Because high levels of alcohol and other drugs can compromise the moral function of the brain, intoxication has played a key role in some of the most devastating events of history. For example, we know anecdotally that many war crimes are committed by people who are drunk or high—or both.

In many ways, medical research is just catching up with the collective wisdom of the world’s major religions about drinking and intoxication. Despite the fact that many cultures consider drunkenness acceptable within limits—it is all right to be drunk at a party, but not behind the wheel—the sacred texts of most religions forbid drunkenness altogether.