Blackouts Caused By Alcohol

Definition

A blackout is an amnesia-like period which is preceded by excessive drinking. It is not passing out or losing consciousness. The drinker will appear to be normal and will seem to be functioning appropriately. Later, however, the drinker will not remember periods of time during or after drinking. A blackout may last just a few minutes or several hours. Some drinkers may report, for example, not remembering how they returned to their room from a party, or they may not recall conversations with friends during the evening.

Significance

The exact cause of blackouts is not known. The simple explanation is that alcohol seems to disrupt the storing of information in long term memory.

Blackouts are very serious. Most drinkers do not have blackouts. Those people who do have them mistakenly assume that everyone does, but this is not the case. Most people who have a first blackout avoid having another because they decide that if excessive drinking is going to cause them to forget what they did, they do not want to drink that much again. Having multiple blackouts is an indication of a possible, and likely, problem.

Solution

The only way to avoid blackouts is to reduce or eliminate drinking. Check out beerboozebooks.com for more information