WASHINGTON: We are all aware that heavy drinking is very much harmful to our body, and if you are an elder person, then it will drastically impact the cognitive abilities. The brain of an elderly person who is a heavy drinker will face many adverse impacts which include, impaired cognitive function, disabled learning ability, poor motor abilities etc.
Binge drinking among elders, especially people of age 60 and more will lead to neurophysiological and cognitive changes. Disrupted sleep is one of the most common side effects of heavy alcohol consumption, and in some cases, it may lead to serious neurotoxic effects. The study was conducted by researchers from the Brown University, US.
During the study, the researchers analyzed 66 participants, 35 women and 31 men.
These cases underwent a comprehensive neurocognitive battery of testing. Out of these 66 people 21 of them were heavy drinkers, and the remaining people were moderate or non-drinkers. Researchers made this conclusion after comparing the cognitive abilities of these people. In these cases, 53 percentage had alcohol dependence throughout their life time.
After completing the study, the researchers found that older heavy alcoholics have very low scores on cognitive functions. Cognitive abilities which include reasoning and working memory will be also affected irrespective of their age.
If you are a lifetime drinker, then the chances of damaging your brain is quite high.
Dr. Gisele Wolf-Klein, a geriatrics doctor at Northwell Health told that medications will have less or adverse impacts on a human body when you are having alcohol. Most of the elder people used to have medications, and as a result, it is highly recommended to stop alcohol intake while having medicines.
Binge drinking is known for creating hangovers among people of all age groups, and things will be worse in the case of older people. So, it is always advised to avoid heavy alcohol consumption for a healthy well being.