Very Popular Drink Linked to Memory Boost

The drink may help consolidate new memories.

The drink may help consolidate new memories.

Alcohol can enhance memory for things learned just before drinking, new research finds.

For the research, 88 people learned a series of words.

Half then drink around 4 UK units of alcohol.

This is around 2 standard drinks in the US.

When tested the next day, those that drank alcohol after learning could remember more words.

It is thought that alcohol may help to block out new information, so helping you retain what you have just learned.

Professor Celia Morgan, who led the research, said:

“Our research not only showed that those who drank alcohol did better when repeating the word-learning task, but that this effect was stronger among those who drank more.”

Professor Morgan continued:

“The causes of this effect are not fully understood, but the leading explanation is that alcohol blocks the learning of new information and therefore the brain has more resources available to lay down other recently learned information into long-term memory.

The theory is that the hippocampus — the brain area really important in memory — switches to ‘consolidating’ memories, transferring from short into longer-term memory.”

The study’s authors were quick to point out that alcohol has a limited positive effect when set against the damage to mental and physical health.

For example, one recent study found:

“Even moderate levels of alcohol consumption are linked to long-term brain damage and declines in mental skills, new research finds.

Moderate alcohol intake means around 14 to 21 UK units per week (in the US this is between 7 and 10 standard drinks, which are 12 oz of beer, 5 oz of wine etc.).

The study also found no support for the idea that low levels of alcohol intake are beneficial for the brain.

The conclusions come from a British study of 550 healthy men and women followed over 30 years.”

The study was published in the journal Scientific Reports (Carlyle et al., 2017).

Alcohol’s Long-Term Effect On Your Happiness May Surprise You

Could giving up alcohol make you happy or miserable?

Could giving up alcohol make you happy or miserable?

Long-term happiness is not much affected by normal alcohol intake, new research finds.

So, giving up won’t necessarily make you miserable.

However, alcohol does make people feel happier in the short-term.

All those little bouts of happiness, though, don’t add up to a measurable difference in the long-term.

The only exception to this situation, the researchers found, was people with an alcohol problem, who became less satisfied with life over time.

The conclusions come from a study which looked at people’s happiness over more than a decade and linked it to their alcohol intake.

A second study had drinkers track their happiness levels moment-by-moment on their iPhones.

Both studies included tens of thousands of individuals.

The study’s authors conclude:

“…while iPhone users are happier at the moment of drinking, there are only small overspills to other moments, and among the wider population, changing drinking levels across several years are not associated with changing life satisfaction.”

The study was published in the journal Social Science & Medicine (Geiger & MacKerron et al., 2016).

 

Get free email updates

Join the free PsyBlog mailing list. No spam, ever.