So we're going to talk about the blackout, why we have them, the dangers, our experiences and how they affect our brains in the moment and in the long term.

If you're listening to a podcast called Sober Awkward, then it's likely you're interested in finding out about the effects

of alcohol. Well, we're hoping so. If like Hamish and I, you've ever got three sheets to the

wind blackout wasted and wondered why one minute you're in a London bar ordering tequila shots

and the next you're waking up in a bunk bed in a run-down motel in Madrid with twigs in your

hair wearing one shoe, then we hope this episode will make you think twice about over-drinking. Yeah, I've been there, Vic. I've gone out with good intentions, then predictably spiraled into oblivion, only to wake up to reels of myself and Instagram doing the macarena down the high street wearing nothing but my underwear. In the moment, I look like I'm having fun, but am I really? Am I

having fun when I can't remember it? Good question. My mum always says it's been a good night on

the tiles if you can't remember it. I used to agree like a nodding dog when she said that quote.

I respected her stamina, quite honestly, and her dedication to the cause. But I understand alcohol

a little bit more now.

I grasped the risks and dangers of partying

and not being totally in charge of your actions,

which I very often wasn't.

Not being compass mentists when roaming the cobbled streets of London town in my youth

meant I was vulnerable and perhaps zapping a few brain cells along the way. You might have been taken and carved up by Jack the Ripper. Yeah, I'm not that old Hamish. Jack the Ripper was a bit before my time. Oh, sorry. The Yorkshire Ripper, mind you. Yeah. So today you're getting the sober, awkward guide to what's really happening when you enter the blackout. If you are considering giving up booze, this might get you thinking about your lovely brain. And if you're already sober,

then this is going to be yet another reason to stay on track. Yes, I don't have that many

brain cells left Hamish. So I definitely want to take care of the ones that I do have left

over from my boozy days. Do they have names? Dave and Tony. Right, just the two of them.

Yeah, just two. So the science behind this is very fascinating. When I say blackout, I don't mean

passing out or losing consciousness. I actually mean the moment you've had one too many flutes of

Sparkley and you seem to slip into a kind of wide awake coma. It's just after that part of boozing when you feel

like you're having the best night of your life and you feel invincible and accept that disastrous top-up

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