Doctors told about the amazing property of alcohol

The experts were able to detect a positive effect of alcohol on a person’s memory.

Researchers from Exeter University have shown that alcohol actually improves memory, including at home.

According to the results of the experiments, people who consume alcohol after the training, remember the material better than those who did not drink at all.

It is considered that alcohol negatively affects our ability to store memories. But usually we are harder to remember information received after intoxication. In this case, despite the fact that alcohol really inhibits anterograde memory, it is, at the same time, improves retrograde memory — people remember best the information received to the use of alcohol.

The study authors decided to make their research more realistic by placing the subjects in a more natural environment and allowing them to decide how much they want to drink.

The study involved 88 people aged 18 to 54 years (mean age 23 years), most of which were men. First, the volunteers were at home, had to memorize words that look real but contain extra letters (e.g., frenzylk from the word frenzy, rage). After psychologists confirmed that the subjects coped with the task, half of them were given two hours to drink as much alcohol as they see fit. After the break, the participants performed another task memory images, after which they were allowed to continue to drink.

The next morning, scientists have measured the amount of alcohol in the blood of the volunteers and asked them to say how much they drank yesterday. On average, the total dose of alcohol per person amounted to 82,59 grams (about a Cup of vodka), and the average for a two-hour break – 53,38 grams. Then, all subjects took a memory test. While a control group who drank soft drinks, remembered about the same number of words before a two-hour break, and the next morning, the test group, it increased significantly (p < 0.008). This effect was more pronounced in those who drank more consistent with past results. In the case of images, the researchers found significant differences only in the control group, which the next day he remembered less pictures.

Thus, the study confirmed that alcohol improves the ability to remember information received the day before not only in the laboratory with controlled doses, but when used at home. While the precise explanation for this phenomenon is not. Psychologists suggest that this may be due to the relief from consolidation, as well as alcohol’s influence on the processes occurring in the brain during sleep.

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