Have you ever gotten so drunk that you completely blacked out and couldn't remember
anything from the night before? Well today i'm going to be doing just that, and we're going to
look the science behind why we get blackout drunk and how we might be able to get those memories
back! So if you're interested to learn more about this topic, or you just want to see me get drunk,
hit that like button and share a couple of your best drunk stories in the Comments
section down below and if we get a few good ones maybe i'll even share some of mine!
So apparently i'm not allowed to get blackout drunk on YouTube or they won't show the video
to anybody... so i'm still going to do it... I'm just not going to post that footage right here,
right now... but it's happening!
Hey there guys, I'm Jesse Crowe, The Travelling Scientist and after spending
years studying pharmacology, I'm here to help you live smarter, happier and healthier lives.
Why does alcohol sometimes cause blackouts? You're drunk... but you can still walk around, you can
still make conversation, you can even still hook up! ...you just might not remember it the next day
...gotta love those times
This is because alcohol interrupts the translation from short-term to long-term memories.
Let's do a quick recap on memory.
First there is sensory memory, what we learn from our environment, and this can last just a few
seconds. For example, there's an obstacle there, i'm going to avoid it and then forget about it.
If the information is important, it'll get encoded to short-term memory, like somebody's name
and this can last for a few minutes...but then when you go to address them later,
you forget the name because it was just a short-term memory...
Don't you hate when you forget somebody's name like that? Happens to me all the time!
...but that's okay, we don't care about that person anyway. Now, important short-term memories
can get translated into long-term memories which can last for hours, days, months, even years, but
alcohol will interrupt that translation from short-term memory to long-term memory.
So why does alcohol do that? Well let me explain. If you watched my video on "How the Brain Works"
which... I bet you didn't, but you still can, it's just up here. If you watched it,
you would know that memory formation occurs in the Hippocampus, which is largely impacted by
alcohol! Now the precise mechanism is complicated, but basically, alcohol suppresses the Hippocampus,
thereby preventing the translation of short-term memories into long-term memories. So alcohol
doesn't cause us to lose our memory, rather it prevents those memories from forming in the
first place! Your body is just on autopilot, and your short-term memory is still working, which is
why drunk people can still make conversation and still fight each other... although very poorly!
So how much do you need to drink to become blackout drunk? ...Asking for a friend,
obviously. Excellent question! A study published in 1971... and... Yes I realise that's nearly
50 years ago, but it characterised the impact of alcohol on memory formation
as "dose-related" i.e some alcohol equals some memory loss, more alcohol equals more memory loss!
...Apparently it took thousands of dollars of research to figure that out...I
could have told them that!
A number that is often referred to is a blood alcohol concentration of 0.16,
what is scientifically referred to as "sloppy drunk".
That's legitimately what it says, that's actually what they wrote in this research paper here.
You can reach sloppy drunk by having four or five drinks in relatively quick succession...
or just by downing a cheeky bottle of wine! ...don't mind if i do ;)
Is there a way to get my memories back? So there's two types of alcohol-induced memory loss,
brownouts and blackouts, and the more you drink,
the more likely you are to move into blackout territory!
A brownout involves partial or fragmented memory loss,
when you can't easily remember what happened, but certain things can trigger your memories
to return like retracing your steps or talking with people from the night before.
A Blackout involves complete memory loss that cannot be recalled under
any circumstances... unless...
State-dependent memory formation could potentially
bring back memories from a blackout. The concept is that people might be able to remember events
that occurred when they were intoxicated if they returned to that EXACT state...
So if you're desperate to remember what happened last night when you were blackout drunk,
return to the exact same location, drink the exact same drinks
and it's possible that your memories could just come flooding back...
or they might not, there's no evidence that this will actually work, but please try it
and let us know in the Comments section down below. This is science that needs to happen!
So how do I avoid getting blackout drunk? Drink slower, drink less, drink water and eat food!
These four scientific strategies will work to slow the absorption of alcohol into your bloodstream,
thereby reducing the likelihood of you becoming blackout drunk! So in conclusion,
alcohol causes memory blackouts by inhibiting the hippocampus
to prevent the translation from short-term to long-term memories.
The faster you drink, the more likely it is to occur, and the more likely you are to do something
stupid... and not remember it. Sometimes you can bring back your memories with certain cues, but
this doesn't always work, and to stop this from happening, drink slower and drink less alcohol.
Or drink as much as you want to get blackout drunk, see if I care!
Anyway, that's all for today guys, thank you so much for watching! If you enjoyed this video,
click the Like button down below, and yeah let us know some of your best blackout stories in the
Comments section down below! Finally, next week's video is going to be about... something else...
so make sure you Subscribe for more Travelling Science every single week,
and i'll see you guys next Science Sunday. Cheers!
Look, I don't condone drinking, if recreational drugs were tools, alcohol would be like the
sledgehammer! It's very destructive... but if you are going to drink, then enjoy it! do it right!