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When 'Just Say No' Isn't Enough: Try Science

Thursday, December 4, 2008 General News
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WASHINGTON, Dec. 3 Teens are fascinated by their brains,the way they work, change, and even "freeze" sometimes. The AmericanAssociation for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) recommends that parents,teachers and caregivers use that fascination to engage middle and high schoolstudents this holiday season in a discussion of why they shouldn't drinkalcohol.
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"Parents need every tool they can find to convince their teens not todrink alcohol, particularly during the holiday season," says Shirley Malcom,head of the Education & Human Resources Directorate at AAAS. "Science is sucha tool, and it is providing new insights on alcohol's effects on the maturingbrain."
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Scientists used to believe that human brains finished developing beforeadolescence. But according to The Science Inside Alcohol Project, an alcoholeducation effort of the AAAS that is funded by the National Institute onAlcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), new and ongoing brain research showsthat important brain regions and their interconnections are still developingwell into a person's twenties.

The brain is made up of more than 100 billion neurons, each making tens ofthousands of connections. Alcohol can damage or even kill neurons, perhapsaltering development of those parts of the adolescent brain that are stillforming. Research suggests that alcohol can cause teens to:

Make bad decisions. The prefrontal cortex, which is involved in planningand decision-making, does not completely mature until after the teen years.Using alcohol can harm a teen's ability to reason and weigh options instead ofjust doing something because it is fun or feels good.

Develop a tolerance for alcohol and drink more over time. When adolescentsdrink on multiple occasions, their brains develop tolerance to alcohol,requiring more alcohol to obtain the same effects as previously. Thisencourages higher levels of use, potentially leading to alcohol abuse and evendependence. The highest rates of abuse and dependence on alcohol have beenreported among youth in their late teens and early twenties, followed by 12-17year olds.

Take risks they usually would not take. Connections between regions of theprefrontal cortex and the ventral striatum, an important part of the brain'sreward system, are important in regulating impulsive behavior and are stillmaturing during adolescence. Alcohol can affect those connections, makingteens more likely to do impulsive things they later may regret -- likedrinking and driving or having sex.

Harm their memories. The hippocampus, or the area in the brain that storesmemory, is still maturing during adolescence. Research shows that ingestingeven small amounts of alcohol can make teens less likely to recall somethingthey learned earlier or remember what they did while drinking.

Cause problems with medications. Medication for attention deficitdisorder, bipolar disorder or other problems with the brain may react badlywith alcohol. For instance, if a teen takes Ritalin and drinks alcohol it mayincrease the effects of Ritalin, affecting the ability to perform tasks thatrequire complete concentration. For those taking lithium for bipolar disorder,drinking alcohol, particularly in large quantities, can impair judgment,thinking and motor skills.

The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is theworld's largest general scientific society, and publisher of the journal,Science. For more information on the nonprofit AAAS, please visithttp://www.aaas.org.

SOURCE AAAS
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