Alcohol Abuse Advice

How Alcohol Deprives Drinkers of Social Caution and Appropriate Judgment

When people talk of alcohol, they commonly think of either rubbing alcohol, the active ingredient in an alcoholic drink, or the additive that makes gasoline into gasohol. But chemists generalize its meaning to include almost any carbon-hydrogen compound with at least one hydroxyl group (symbolized as -OH) in its molecular structure. Categorized by the number and placement of the -OH groups, and the size and shape of the attached carbon molecule, alcohols are fundamental to organic chemical synthesis. The chemical industry produces and uses many different kinds of alcohols.

Techniques for producing the first alcoholic beverages, beer and wine, were developed millennia ago by various Middle Eastern and Far Eastern cultures. The word alcohol is of Arabic derivation. Ancient Egyptian papyrus scrolls exist with directions for making beer from dates and other natural foods. The alcohol in these drinks was ethyl alcohol. Pure alcohol could not be made at that time; it was always mixed with the water, flavorings, and plant residue from the original fermentation. Almost all the ethanol produced was used for drinking, consumed as is perhaps after filtering or allowing the sediment to settle.

Fermentation is the oldest kind of alcohol production technique and possibly the oldest chemical technology in the world. When honey, molasses, or grains mashed up in water and undergo fermentation. Wood and starches can also be fermented, although their complex molecules must be broken down somewhat first. They always give small amounts of other larger alcohols (collectively called fusel oil) in addition to ethanol. Fermentation has been developed to an advanced technology and provides much of the fuel ethanol for addition to gasoline.

The process of distillation was discovered sometime after the first century A.D. Purer ethanol distilled from crude fermentation mixtures was then available for consumption, medicinal, and chemical uses. Eventually people learned to make methanol (wood alcohol) by destructively distilling wood but ethanol and methanol were the only alcohols available before the modern era. The discovery and understanding of the alcohols as a group of chemical compounds has only happened in the last century. In 1926 the first industrial process for generating methanol was developed and since then many different alcohols have been made by direct chemical synthesis (the making of chemical compounds from simpler ones). The industrial processes that generate and consume alcohols change to keep up with modern technology and discoveries, but the alcohols continue to occupy a central place in the science of chemical synthesis.

There are a number of different forms of alcohol, most of which are considered to be deadly poisons. The one form of alcohol that can be safely ingested by humans is ethanol, and even that’s a matter of dispute among experts. Consuming any alcoholic beverage introduces a certain amount of pure ethanol into a system not readily designed to process it in large quantities. The average healthy liver, for example, can process only one ounce of ethanol per hour, which is a very low amount for a heavy social drinker to ingest.

Very often an important question arises as to how does alcohol actually make users feel intoxicated. The answer lies in the nature of ethanol and our body’s central nervous system. When one takes his/her first drink of an alcoholic beverage, 20% of the ethanol reaches his/her bloodstream through his/her stomach. On average, the brain receives its first jolt of ethanol within 30 seconds of ingestion. It may not be much of a hit, but it does start a chain of events which leaves one feeling intoxicated. Since ethanol molecules are very small, they can pass through the barrier between the bloodstream and brain quickly. Once the ethanol molecules reach the area of the brain responsible for controlling the central nervous system, a number of things happen.

When ethanol, a depressant, comes in contact with a specific neurotransmitter called Gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA); it causes the reaction time between neurons to slow down. Essentially, one’s brain’s brakes become failed and the “conductor,” GABA, is now too impaired to call for help. This is the very beginning of feeling intoxicated. Meanwhile, the rest of the ethanol has had time to reach the small intestine and is now entering the bloodstream. More ethanol molecules arrive in the brain and continue to depress or slow down the normal functions of the central nervous system, including the areas of the brain responsible for social caution and good judgment. This is why many people lose their inhibitions and become the life of the party while intoxicated. The ethanol has effectively neutralized the brain’s natural “don’t do that” switch.

While the brain tries to deal with this new intoxicated sensation, the liver is working overtime to metabolize or convert the ethanol into a harmless form of sugar. A healthy liver can process only a certain amount of ethanol per hour, so the drinker becomes even more intoxicated as the excess continues to flow through the bloodstream and into the brain. More ethanol in the brain means more possible damage to the central nervous system. As the drinker’s level of unmetabolized ethanol rises in his or her bloodstream, the depressing effects become more pronounced. When an intoxicated drinker’s blood alcohol count (BAC) reaches a certain percentage, generally around .07 to .09 percent ethanol levels, then driving is considered illegal or seriously inadvisable.

As long as the ethanol remains unmetabolized by the liver, the central nervous system will still be impaired and the drinker will still feel intoxicated. This process of elimination of the ethanol from the system could continue for hours, depending on the initial amount of alcoholic beverages consumed. It is possible to consume enough ethanol to cause death, either by compromising the central nervous system beyond repair or by choking on vomit after the natural choking reflex has been suppressed. BAC readings of .50 or more are generally considered fatal. Eventually the level of ethanol in the bloodstream should be reduced significantly and the neurotransmitters of the central nervous system will fire at their normal rate. A recovering drinker should no longer feel intoxicated within 24 hours or so of his or her first drink. Dehydration and other factors may create a painful sensation but at least the drinker’s central nervous system is no longer too impaired to do its job properly.

 

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