E220: The Hippocampus and Alcohol: Blackouts, Memory Deficits, and Learned Associations

Sober Powered: The Neuroscience of Being Sober

Gillian Tietz, MS, CPRC

Science, Self-improvement, Education, Health & Fitness, Mental Health

4.9 • 1.2K Ratings

🗓️ 24 May 2024

⏱️ 22 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The hippocampus is an important part of the brain, which is unfortunately very vulnerable to alcohol. It is most well-known for its role in blackouts, but damage to the hippocampus from our drinking can cause problems with everyday memory too, like telling someone the same story over and over again. The hippocampus has a lesser known, but very important role in learned associations. Associations are cues in the environment that help us predict an alcohol reward, so they cause cravings to drink. In this episode, I’ll describe how alcohol damages the hippocampus to cause blackouts, impair our memory, and form associations with alcohol. You’ll learn how this damage persists in sobriety and how long it takes for the hippocampus to heal. Sober Powered Skills Bonus Episode: 3 Ways to Improve Hippocampus Function https://www.soberpowered.com/skills What to listen to next E211: the anticipation of a drink E218: in the moment craving vs constant craving E196: how the brain recovers in sobriety E210: the brain heals a lot in 90 days (unless you relapse) E191: going back and forth makes your cravings stronger Sober Support: Community & Meetings: Living a Sober Powered Life https://www.soberpowered.com/membership Anger Management Program https://www.soberpowered.com/anger Sober Powered Skills (bonus episodes with practical application and coping skills) https://www.soberpowered.com/skills Weekly emails on Thursdays https://www.soberpowered.com/email Free resources https://www.soberpowered.com/free Thank you for supporting this show by supporting my sponsors. Learn more: https://www.soberpowered.com/sponsors If you enjoyed this episode please consider buying me a coffee to support my work https://www.buymeacoffee.com/soberpowered Sources are posted on my website Disclaimer: all of the information described in this podcast is my interpretation of the research combined with my opinion. This is not medical advice. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	The hippocampus is an important part of the brain, which is unfortunately very vulnerable to alcohol.
0:07.6	It's most well known for its role in blackouts, but damage to the hippocampus from our drinking can cause problems with everyday memory too,
0:16.8	like telling someone the same story over and over again.
0:20.1	The hippocampus has a lesser known but very important role in learned associations.
0:26.5	And remember, associations are cues in the environment that help us predict an alcohol reward.
0:33.0	So they cause cravings to drink in sobriety.
0:36.0	In this episode, I'll describe how alcohol damages the hippocampus
0:40.0	to cause blackouts, impair our memory, and form associations with
0:45.3	alcohol. You'll learn how this damage persists in sobriety and how long it takes for
0:50.6	the hippocampus to heal. And before we dig in I'd like to say a thank you to my
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