Alcohol and Brain Fog: Clear Your Mind During Recovery

According to a 2021 study in Scientific Reports, heavy drinking could lead to loss of brain volume. The researchers found that people with alcohol use disorder had less brain matter than people without AUD. The affected brain regions controlled skills like attention, language, memory, and reasoning. By changing your brain, alcohol can therefore lead to worse memory and impaired judgments, among other changes. Tiffany graduated from the University of Cincinnati with her BA in psychology. She then went on to work at a community mental health agency where she gained experience in helping the severely mentally disabled population. While there, she earned her master’s degree in social work and became independently licensed in Ohio with supervisory designation.

The severity of these alcohol withdrawal symptoms isn’t limited to just physical symptoms. Abuse can cause brain fog by inhibiting the energy metabolism of our brain’s neurons. When alcohol isn’t metabolized properly, less glucose is available to fuel neurotransmitters like glutamate and GABA. An alcohol use disorder causes brain damage due to malnutrition and inflammation caused by an overabundance of toxic metabolites such as ammonia, acetaldehyde, and free radicals. The symptoms of brain fog can include confusion, difficulty concentrating, and short-term memory loss. Brain fog does not have an official test so your healthcare provider could help from there.

Can Alcohol Cause Brain Fog?

The best thing would be not to drink any more alcohol so your neurotransmitters can go back to normal quickly. Dual diagnosis treatment is the best approach to tackle these issues. Comorbidity is a repeated theme within addiction treatment, considering the symptoms alcohol brain fog of mental health are influenced by substance use and vice versa. Your body is working hard to clear out excess alcohol toxins while you battle intense alcohol cravings, so it makes sense that your ability to think clearly will be impaired during this time.

• For example, patients with Wernicke’s encephalopathy may be too confused to find their way out of a room or may not even be able to walk.
• Holding a degree from Howard College, Brittany completed her addiction studies education at the renowned ICDS Institute.
• In fact, two reports appearing side by side in the American Journal of Psychiatry contradicted each other on the question of gender–related vulnerability to brain shrinkage in alcoholism .
• According to the CDC, binge drinking is defined as consuming four or more alcoholic drinks for women or five or more alcoholic drinks for men on the same occasion.

That number jumped to four or five years for those who had 18 drinks or more per week. The researchers observed that alcohol consumption was linked to various types of cardiovascular problems, including stroke—a potentially fatal blockage of blood flow to the brain. “Chronic drinking can really alter a person’s personality,” said Pagano. “I’ve seen cases where I wouldn’t recognize a patient based on how they’re acting.” Brain damage can also be caused by cirrhosis of the liver, another common complication of long-term, heavy drinking. After the first few days of recovery, you will start to notice that the brain fog seems to lessen.

Inside Summer 2021 Generations Journal

My journey of recovery brought this once homeless, shame-based, traumatized, insecure young man to a life far beyond anything I could have ever imagined. I discovered self-worth, the joy of helping others, the gifts of parenting and grandparenting, and most importantly the ability to live a meaningful and purposeful life with integrity. We help our clients establish skills that improve resilience, self-confidence, and a deeper connection with the gifts of recovery. Compared with nondrinkers and light drinkers, moderate to heavy drinkers have a 57% higher risk of dementia. Alcohol Research & Health is the quarterly, peer–reviewed journal published by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. Each issue of AR&H provides in–depth focus on a single topic in the field of alcohol research.