Every day millions of internet users examine Google life’s most difficult questions,expansive and small. Our writers answer some of the commonest queriesAlcohol is a very simple molecule with incredibly complex effects. Although I already knew a bit approximately the neurobiology of alcohol, I just spent an afternoon reading a dense journal article that described roughly 50 different neural mechanisms it affects. After which I felt like I needed a drink. It’s widely known that alcohol reduces stress temporarily, or many people exhaust it for just that purpose. It reduces stress by increasing the uptake of a neurotransmitter called GABA,the brain’s primary inhibitory molecule. (And by “inhibitory” I don’t mean that it makes you feel inhibited. Quite the opposite, of course.) By sending more GABA to your brain cells, and alcohol works much like common tranquillising drugs such as Valium and Xanax. That’s why you start to stumble and slur if you drink too much. But alcohol acts on many other neurotransmitters too. Related: Why are drugs illegal? You asked Google – here’s the answer | David Nutt Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com