Brain damaging habit 9 of 10: Cigarette smoking and Alcohol consumption

Smoking is a damaging habit for the brain and other organs in the body. On autopsy, chronic smokers are found to have a thinner brain cortex than non-smokers. This part of the brain is essential for memory, language, perception and a host of other functions of the brain. A thinner brain cortex is associated with mental decline. These effects can also be reproduced in passive smokers, that is, people who stay with active smokers and end up unintentionally inhaling the polluted air.
Alcohol consumption affects the body in many ways and has long lasting damaging effects on the brain even after it has left the body. Chronic alcohol use is associated with impaired memory and a slowing in reaction time. People who have been consuming large amounts of alcohol for extended periods of time run the risk of developing serious and persistent changes in the brain that persist well after the person achieves sobriety.

Quit cigarette smoking and alcohol consumption.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

ON TRAVELLING FROM CHIPATA TO CHADIZA

This is a first for me....on a hot and sunny afternoon like today, I never knew that a taxi could accomodate 7 people. Three people in front, with one having the gearbox in between his legs. We at the back are jam-packed between the doors, bedraggled by our own 'armpit grease' on a long winding dusty gravel road. But the master says "Occupy till I come."
Read more

TAKE NOTHING FOR GRANTED

Image
What is it about Friday that makes us all tired? Or makes me tired? It was 1:30 pm by my watch and had only been in theatre for slightly over 4 hours. I was helping the anaesthetist pack the instruments after our last scheduled case when the attending surgeon came in. Seemed like our day wasn’t done yet. The anaesthetist too was tired but he gets paid anyway and I don’t. Am a student though and need to maximise every opportunity to learn too… I had the option of leaving and going to have lunch and rest (am human too) or staying back to learn some more..…this never ending internal conflict, this duel loyalty idea, at times just takes a toll. The patient was a 5-day old female neonate born with an imperforate anus-simply, the bottom end was closed. Sadly, this malformation doesn’t usually occur in isolation but is associated with heart, urinary, tracheal and oesophageal defects among others. Quickly, my thoughts were drawn to think of the little’s girl’s future outlook. Here I was in...
Read more

WHERE IN LIES YOUR HOPE FOR TOMORROW?

Image
Sometime ago whilst on the hospital ward, I was challenged by woman whose son was due for surgery later that night. The 17 year old boy had a massive tumour on his right arm that was roughly the dimensions of a 5 litre container. She asked me to ponder on a series of questions for which I had no immediate answers. “If indeed God is after our own good, why has He chosen me amongst all the women to have a child who has this misfortune? What future does He have planned for my son because he hasn’t been able to go to school all his life? Why does evil seem to be selective on whom it befalls?” I cant remember my exact responses but one thing was true. This was a woman in distress. Sadly, I went out to look for her on the ward the following day but never found her. This later reminded me of an experiment. The Norwegian Field Rat (mbeba yaku Norway) is known for its endurance. The University of California Berkeley once conducted an experiment to determine how long the rat could endure. The...
Read more