By Kelsey Casselbury
Just a single drink is enough to shift your ain toward the first stages of addiction
For anyone who enjoys a tipple or two, you know the feeling—you relax with that first glass of wine or whiskey after a long day of work. It goes down quickly, and you instantly reach for the bottle for a second glass. It seems practically irresistible, but have you ever considered why that is?
When you take those first few sips of alcohol, a shift occurs in your ain. D1 neurons that are informally known as part of the “go” pathway in your ain switch on, and these are the neurons that encourage you to, as its moniker suggest, keep on going. There's another type of neuron (D2 neurons, in case you were interested) that are “no-go pathways;” these tell you to stop doing what you're doing. Large amounts of alcohol make those D1 more excitable, so they activate with less stimulation. It will also cause cravings for alcohol. This neuron activation is the first stage of addiction—some people's ains can resist it, and some cannot.
This ain shift is in addition to the other processes that are going on in your ain while you drink a glass of alcohol. It increases the release of dopamine, a neurotransmitter that controls the ain's pleasure and rewards center, which makes everything feel really good. But, of course, nothing good lasts forever. The effect of dopamine wanes over time—whether it’s a period of days or several months—as you continue drinking until your ain doesn’t react the same way, but your body still craves that oh-so-wonderful feeling. You continue to drink in an effort to reel it back in, and addiction takes hold.
Alcohol consumption affects another neurotransmitter in your ain, too; one known
as Gamma-Aminobutyric Acid (GABA), which slows down your responses. That's why your speech becomes slurred and you don't move as fast—and it's just one big reason why you should never get behind a wheel of a car after drinking. Combine that drive for dopamine's pleasurable feelings with the slow reaction times of affected GABA transmitters, and you have a recipe for poor decision-making.
So, next time you're relaxing with that beer bottle
or Champagne flute, take a minute to consider what's going on in your ain and ask yourself—
can you truly stop at one drink?
