Alcohol Abuse

© Thomas Hawk

A new study shows that Nalmefene helps alcoholics who can’t quit, or aren’t ready to quit, to reduce their consumption.

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© Erik J. Gustafson

A Canadian study shows that raising the costs of the cheapest alcohol by 10% cuts alcohol related deaths by as much as a third.

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© Jenny Kristine Nilsson

Though alcohol helps you to fall asleep, it disrupts total REM sleep and causes sleep disruptions in the second half of the night. In summary – it does more harm than good.

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Reversing alcohol induced liver damage: Researchers gain a better understanding of how the metabolism of alcohol damages the liver, at the cellular level, and say their study findings may help doctors narrow their therapeutic focus.

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Your brain heals quickly once you stop drinking and after a couple of weeks people start to see big improvements. Researchers say alcohol treatment needs to be at least this long to take advantage of this return of function.

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AA study - Researchers say that while attending meetings improves your recovery odds, it’s helping others in the program that really makes the difference.

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People trying to reduce their alcohol consumption may want to pay attention to their glassware. Researchers at the University of Bristol say that people drinking alcohol out of curved glasses drink about twice as fast as people drinking alcohol out of straight-sided glassware.

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Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center say having gastric bypass surgery raises a person’s risk of developing an alcohol abuse problem by 50%.

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Harvard University Medical School researchers say that an extract taken from the kudzu root may help alcohol abusers drink less.

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In a recent study, the common anti smoking drug varenicline (Chantix) helped heavy drinkers reduce consumption by 36%.

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It won’t work once you’re dependent, but a new study says that for heavy and binge drinkers who haven’t yet crossed that line, recording the amount consumed each day is an effective way to cut down.

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Heavy drinkers given Nalmefene to take as needed reduced the amount they consumed by 66%.

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Researchers at Yale University School of Medicine say that compared to moderate drinkers, heavier drinkers show less activation in areas of the brain which modulate risk management.

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© Biology Corner

Want to understand why you have such a hard time staying sober? Researchers at Harvard Medical School say they have the answer based on the results of a recent brain imaging experiment – The very areas of the brain you need most to maintain abstinence are the areas most damaged by excessive alcohol use!

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Researchers say that college students who posted pictures or references of intoxication on their facebook pages were far more likely to meet the criteria for problem drinking than students who did not.

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