It's now Monday morning. I'm tired, aching and have a dull pain in my stomach, and I'm positive that these are lasting effects from Friday night. In all honesty, I'm not surprised. My hangover lasted all day on Saturday and when I awoke Sunday afternoon, I still didn't feel 100%. This, combined with my almost complete lack of memory from the night in question, gives an adequate explanation to why I'm feeling out of sorts.
Due to my deficient memory and subsequent illness from this Friday night binge, I thought I'd educate myself with the finer details of the effect that alcohol has on our bodies. Was I shocked? Did finding out about the consequences of excessive alcohol consumption horrify me to vow to never let another drop of such poison touch my lips again? No. It made me think, "lawl, I'm gon' die" and excited me to begin my next blog. So, prepare your minds, as we examine the true workings of the most commonly used drug of our generation.
"From the first sip, alcohol is absorbed into the bloodstream and reaches the brain. Although you won't be aware of it, there is an impairment of brain function, which deteriorates further the more you drink. Cognitive abilities that are acquired later in life, such as conduct and behaviour, are the first to go. Early on you will experience mild euphoria and loss of inhibition, as alcohol impairs regions of the brain controlling behaviour and emotion. Most vulnerable are the brain cells associated with memory, attention, sleep and coordination. Sheer lack of mass means that people who weigh less become intoxication more quickly, and women will feel the effects faster than men. This is also because their bodies have lower levels of water."
Basically, we revert back to a child like state. Our concern for others feelings is thrown out the window and we can no longer control the need to bite our lips and act with composure. However, we still have the knowledge and wisdom of the world, gained throughout our lives, which can only be grounds for disaster. And surely enough, this runs in conjunction with the beginning events, that my memory still possess', from Friday night.
On entering the pub with my trusted accomplice, we had comfort in knowing that our friends were already there and had an area in which we could gather. Many of the people already settled in said area, we were unfamiliar with, so we kept ourselves to ourselves and didn't make a fuss about having to stand. We'd had a couple of drinks and being the lightweights that we are, or due to our "sheer lack of mass", we were beginning to feel the effects. Therefore, when some uncouth individuals found it necessary to take up a generous amount of space that we could quite easily have sat in, out of plain spite, we felt no quarrels in expressing how boorish their actions were. With our "loss of inhibitions" and "impairment of brain function" or more so, judgement, we also proclaimed that they were clearly doing it because they were fat and ugly and quite frankly jealous of us. It's shamefully textbook.
"The Government advises men to drink no more than three to four units a day and women no more than two to three. The alcohol is absorbed through the stomach and small intestine and if you are not used to it, even small amounts of alcohol can irritate the stomach lining. This volume of alcohol also begins to block absorption of essential vitamins and minerals."
One shot of vodka is equivalent to one unit. By this point, I had had three doubles, equalling six units and I can safely say that the others of the group had also exceeded the advised alcohol limit. In other words, we were all more than sufficiently inebriated and it was time to leave for the yet-to-be-explored Venue Bar.
"When alcohol has been carried to all parts of the body, including the brain, it dissolves into the water inside cells. The effect of alcohol no the body is similar to that of an anaesthetic - by this stage, inhibitions are lost and feelings of aggression will surge."
I must again, reluctantly admit, that our actions follow this description without falter. Staggering along, we made our way down the high street to our destination. My memory of this journey is faint, but I do recollect our arrival, or rather, our attempted arrival.
As I had previously visited the bars website, which informed me that it was £3 entry, to be told that we had to pay £5 was simply unacceptable. During my sobriety I am not an outwardly violent person, and even with the help of alcohol, I don't think it had yet reached a stage of fuelling my "feelings of aggression". Therefore, it was up to someone else to argue with the bouncers and it was my usual partner in crime who arose to the challenge. But her attempts were in vain and we ended up declaring, rather abrasively, "Fine! We'll go Treaty instead! Nur nur nur!" So we did a 180, walked up the road, and paid £5 to get in somewhere else.
It is from this point onwards that my memories are few and far between. Amongst glimpses of faces from the past, a regrettably consumed Sambuca shot, and requesting "Give it to me Baby" by The Offspring, there's not many other moments I recall.
"There are different levels of memory loss related to alcohol abuse. The first is fragmentary memory loss. This occurs when a person drinks excessively and does not remember the events of that time period until someone else provides clues or prompts: "Do you remember what you did last night?" Blackouts are the next level of memory loss. The person will not be able to recall any of the events, even if prompted with cues. This is because the brain was not able to complete the process for making a memory. The person loses a gap of time and will not get it back."
I would describe my level of memory loss as "fragmentary". Although I haven't had many informative conversations of what occurred from here on in, my phone helped me out with one instance.
It is a ritual for most to check ones phone the next morning to see if any messages were sent the previous night and I am not one to deviate from the norm. To my relief, I had not sent any texts of concern. The only person I tend to text is my boyfriend, and as I was with him, there was no need. However, I noticed that I had a saved message, which read "Right boob cab". After reading this, it triggered a specific memory.
I was engaged in conversation with my friend on the subject of saving money for a cab home. Astonishingly, after consuming a copious amount of alcohol, we came up with an ingenious idea. We decided to put X amount of money in our bras and, to ensure we did not forget, to save the location of said money in our phones. Considering our level of intoxication, I think that that was quite impressive. Although, at this present moment, I still have no recollection of how much money it was or whether I in fact used it. If I didn't, its whereabouts will stay forever unknown.
Despite this, we did get a cab home and I ended up staying at the boyfs. Again, my memories are cloudy and I'm going to assume that we fell asleep as soon as our heads hit the pillow.
"Alcohol dehydrates virtually every part of the body, and is also a neurotoxin that causes brain cells to become damaged and swell. This causes the hangover and, combined with low blood-sugar levels, can leave you feeling awful. Cognitive abilities such as concentration, coordination and memory may be affected for several days. Generally, it takes as many hours as the number of drinks you have consumed to burn up all the alcohol. Feelings of nausea result from dehydration, which also causes your thumping headache."
Upon awakening the next morning, I didn't initially feel too bad. The main reason for this is most likely because I was still drunk, and had not reached the phase detailed above. Having been stirred by my boyfriends' mother telling us that it was gone seven o clock, and he had to go to work, we had to condense our morning cuddles and tea, not to mention actually getting ready, into less than half an hour. As we had overslept, we were graciously offered a lift. I'm extremely thankful for this, as it was pissing it down with rain; I'm pretty sure at this point I owe his mum a lot of petrol money.
Once home, I went back to sleep until half past twelve. What followed was the dreaded hangover, which had now decided it was the perfect time to strike. Unlike all the the other stages of alcohol consumption, I must now disagree with the following statement:
"Generally, it takes as many hours as the number of drinks you have consumed to burn up all the alcohol."
Unless I consumed over twenty four units, this is remarkably incorrect. If I had knocked back that many, even after three days, I think I'd still be in a damned pitiful state. Don't get me wrong, how I wish it was true. My life would be so much more pleasant if my hangovers only lasted a few hours instead of the more frequent entire day. But alas, I must continue to dream.
And there we have it. The ins and outs of the affects alcohol has on our vulnerable bodies. It raises questions about what kind of reality we live in. I'm not going to act like I've just enlightened you of the terrifying facts that were, until now, unbeknown to you. Everyone knows that damage is caused when we drink excessively, even if it's not the specifics. Yet we continue to contaminate our brains with this toxic drug with little remorse. We dismiss the knowledge that we're harming our bodies and replace is with fears of embarrassment and judgement from others...
But fuck it, who's up for another round?!
References:
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/what-alcohol-really-does-to-your-body-516050.html
http://ezinearticles.com/?Alcohol-and-Memroy-Loss&id=1711939
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