Blackouts: Causes, Side Effects, and Prevention

1The prefix “hyper-” always indicates higher than normal levels of a substance, whereas the prefix “hypo-” indicates lower than normal levels. Thus, hyperinsulinemia refers to higher than normal insulin levels in the blood, whereas hypoglycemia refers to lower than normal glucose levels in the blood. Neuropathy, in addition to other factors (e.g., vascular disease in the penis or altered hormone levels), also may contribute to impotence, which is a common and troublesome complication in diabetic men. The nerves that control erection are part of the autonomic nervous system, which controls numerous vital processes that occur without conscious efforts (e.g., breathing and the contractions of the gut necessary for proper digestion). Several mechanisms may contribute to alcohol-induced increases in triglyceride levels.

• It is characterized by memory impairment during intoxication in the relative absence of other skill deficits.
• Some studies suggest that alcohol may have detrimental effects on certain aspects of retrieval [2].
• For instance, diazepam (Valium®) and flunitrazepam (Rohypnol) are benzodiazepine sedatives that can produce severe memory impairments at high doses (White et al. 1997; Saum and Inciardia 1997).
• This speculation was based on the observation that acute alcohol exposure (in humans) produces a syndrome of memory impairments similar in many ways to the impairments produced by hippocampal damage.
• When doses of alcohol are small to moderate (producing blood alcohol concentrations [BACs] below 0.15 percent), memory impairments tend to be small to moderate as well.
• In fact, many people who have blackouts do so after engaging in a behavior known as high-intensity drinking, which is defined as drinking at levels that are at least twice as high as the binge-drinking thresholds for women and men.
• Many impotent diabetic men also have lower than normal levels of the sex hormone testosterone in their blood.

Sleep and brain health

Alcohol disrupts the theta rhythm in large part by suppressing the output of signals from medial septal neurons to the hippocampus (Steffensen et al. 1993; Givens et al. 2000). Given the powerful influence that the medial septum has on information processing in the hippocampus, diabetes and alcohol blackouts the impact of alcohol on cellular activity in the medial septum is likely to play an important role in the effects of alcohol on memory. Indeed, in rats, putting alcohol directly into the medial septum alone produces memory impairments (Givens and McMahon 1997).

Drinking Alcohol And Diabetes: Effects On The Body

On average, students estimated that they consumed roughly 11.5 drinks before the onset of the blackout. Males reported drinking significantly more than females, but they did so over a significantly longer period of time. As a result, estimated peak BACs during the night of the last blackout were similar for males (0.30 percent) and females (0.35 percent). As Goodwin observed in his work with alcoholics (1969b), fragmentary blackouts occurred far more often than en bloc blackouts, with four out of five students indicating that they eventually recalled bits and pieces of the events.

Blackout effects on your body

This potentially beneficial effect was observed in both men and women, regardless of age. The alcohol amounts administered in those studies were usually between 0.5 g/kg (gram per kilogram body weight) and 1 g/kg, leading to blood alcohol levels (BALs) between approximately 0.03 and 0.1 percent2 (McDonald 1980). Those doses are equivalent to approximately 2.5 to 5 standard drinks.3 Interestingly, studies of acute alcohol exposure in nondiabetic people have yielded quite variable results, noting decreases, increases, or no changes in glucose levels. The hormone insulin, which is produced in the pancreas, is an important regulator of blood sugar levels. In people with diabetes, the pancreas does not produce sufficient insulin (type 1 diabetes) or the body does not respond appropriately to the insulin (type 2 diabetes).

• As in the previous study, students reported engaging in a range of risky behaviors during blackouts, including sexual activity with both acquaintances and strangers, vandalism, getting into arguments and fights, and others.
• Other possible causes of blackouts include syncope, epilepsy, and stress.
• Vomiting can lead to dehydration and a reduced blood volume, which, in turn, increases the levels of certain stress hormones in the blood called catecholamines.
• Neural activity returned to near-normal levels within about 7 hours of alcohol administration.

Diabetes and alcohol consumption

Those enzymes are secreted directly into the gut to ensure effective food digestion. Two of the hormones (i.e., insulin and glucagon) are potent regulators of blood sugar levels. Both hormones https://ecosoberhouse.com/ are produced in areas of the pancreas called the Islets of Langerhans, which, quite literally, are “islands” of hormone-producing cells in a “sea” of digestive enzyme-producing cells.

Types of Blackouts

• In fact, approximately 50% of college students who consume alcoholreport having experienced an alcohol-induced blackout (Barnett et al., 2014; White et al., 2002).
• However, with larger amounts of alcohol, serious hypoglycaemia can occur.
• A recent animal research paper showed that alcohol can cause retrograde memory impairments.
• Interestingly, in those under 65, the study revealed that greater exposure to nighttime light pollution was linked to a higher prevalence of Alzheimer’s than all the risk factors analysed.
• This information will enable researchers to statistically control forthe direct effects of alcohol consumption and examine factors that influencealcohol-induced blackouts over and beyond the amount of alcohol consumed.
• The main function of your liver is to store glycogen, which is the stored form of glucose, so that you will have a source of glucose when you haven’t eaten.

Alcohol prevents your liver from doing its job

• And with the majority of the world’s population exposed to light pollution, this could become an important risk factor when it comes to Alzheimer’s disease.
• This can lead to dependence and addiction, which can cause a person to become unable to function normally without alcohol in their system.
• Also, because short-term memory remains intact, use ofecological momentary assessment with smart phones might also be useful forgathering information about the drinker’s experiences while he or she isin a blackout state.
• The second barrier to understanding the mechanisms underlying alcohol’s effects on memory was an incomplete understanding of how alcohol affects brain function at a cellular level.
• Alcohol slows down activity in the brain and throughout the body and can cause numerous effects from a feeling of relaxation to drowsiness and decreased coordination.