Statistics suggest that frequent alcohol consumption changes the brain’s physiology and functioning, although the degree of healing following years of abstinence remains uncertain.
Latest neuroimaging findings have demonstrated that chronic alcoholism can affect the cerebellum, which plays a vital role in managing motor activity, concentration, and expression. It can also lead the prefrontal cortex to reduce and degrade, eventually weakening judgment abilities and social conduct. Studies have also found disruption to the white matter of the brain that binds these areas.
The question arises, however, whether such significant harm may be repaired following alcohol abstaining. Researchers have examined the impact of abstinence on alcohol-dependent people’s minds by comparing participants suffering from years of alcohol dependence and those who do not drink or drink minimally.
Scientists have studied differences in brain volume in initial and prolonged abstinence in one group of subjects. Several of these experiments have shown that years of alcohol refraining can cause brain areas to return to their original volume and restore synaptic connections between various regions.
Most of this regeneration happens in the system most negatively affected by chronic alcoholism—a front cerebellar circuit that controls decision-making, logic, and problem-solving abilities. However, some studies have found sustained injuries in some places.
Many former alcohol addicts have shown irreversible damage to the hippocampus, a brain region that controls long-term memory and spatial navigation and only partially resolves white matter lesions. The remarkable thing is that even those who have spent decades throwing off their brains’ stability can continue to recover and regain the brain’s standard structure by stopping alcohol use.
Changes that can happen in your brain after you stop drinking.
The frontal lobe regeneration
The brain’s frontal lobe, responsible for many vital tasks, including thought, behavioral regulation, memory, and muscle coordination, is struck hard when you drink too much.
Years of substance dependence can inflict significant damage to this region of the brain, leading to a wide range of problems, including memory loss and the failure of the addict to act rationally in social and monetary areas of life.
Although early recovery people may still suffer from these symptoms and the inability to absorb vast quantities of information, new cell development may gradually begin to restore the damage as time progresses.
Dopamine levels begin to normalize
Dopamine levels tend to normalize. Alcohol addiction causes a dynamic deficiency of dopamine in the brain. Dopamine release is activated as you engage in things that you find pleasurable, such as consuming sweets or playing sports. It tells the brain what behavior to replicate and, ultimately, crave.
Alcohol consumption overloads the brain with dopamine while also reducing dopamine receptors throughout the brain. When you avoid drinking for the first time, loss of dopamine and reduced receptors will lead to feelings of depression and hopelessness.
Motivation Returns
As described above, early recovery will imply coping with mood and general mental well-being, but as your brain and body continue to improve, you may feel increased enthusiasm for healthier behaviors in your life.
This ensures that you will engage in new activities that improve your morale and promote brain cell development, such as physical exercise.
Serotonin production increases
Although the short-term impact of alcohol can increase serotonin, a chemical that enhances feelings of pleasure and well-being, the long-term effects of heavy alcohol consumption often include a reduction in serotonin development, leading to an increased risk of depression.
When you stop drinking, the development of serotonin will gradually return to normal. If you begin to develop depressive symptoms during recovery, you will need treatment.
Know someone who needs help? Visit United Recovery Project now
If you or anyone you know is dealing with addiction, this is the time to find treatment. At United Recovery Project, you’ll find a team of caring, experienced experts ready to mentor each client through 12 steps and beyond. By structuring therapy to meet specific needs, including recognizing co-occurring conditions, United Recovery Project promotes a healing and balanced well-being climate.
Here, our clients face their addictions head-on and use the leverage to restructure their lives by high responsibility and life skills that promote long-lasting sobriety. We specialize in chronic relapse therapy and agree that you can bring an end to alcohol addiction with the right resources. For more information about how we can assist, please contact us at 888-960-5121.
