That alcoholism is harmful to the individual for several reasons is not news to anyone. The question is: did you know that a major problem derived from excessive and constant consumption of alcohol occurs in the functioning of the brain? Especially in the cognitive sector. The good news is that this can be avoided.
A recent study published in Alcohol and Alcoholism revealed that abstinence from alcohol offers very significant improvements in relation to cognition. This is already noticed within a few weeks, more specifically in 18 days of alcoholic detox. Just over two weeks is enough to notice improvements.
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Among the cognitive problems derived from alcoholism, we have memory loss, lack of attention and many others. These difficulties are directly related to the higher relapse rate and higher alcohol consumption.
In the study, carried out by Bernard Angerville and his colleagues, 32 participants could be considered alcoholics while another 32 were used as "healthy samples". The group that had a drinking problem underwent a detox treatment that lasted between five and nine days. Healthy samples were selected online, but provided they had no history of mental, neurological or any other serious condition.
All survey participants completed studies on sociodemographic information, substance use, and Brief Evaluation of Alcohol-Related Neuropsychological Impairments (BEARNI) which concerns a brief assessment of neuropsychological impairments related to alcohol.
For this, neuropsychological assessments were performed with tests of episodic verbal memory, functional verbal memory, executive functioning and visuospatial skills. Participants diagnosed with excessive alcohol use had to undergo tests with eight days and 18 days of abstinence.
The results showed that approximately 60% of the patients had some cognitive difficulty within eight days of alcohol abstinence; however, among those who struggled, 63% showed improvement in these points after reaching a normal level of functioning with about 18 days of sobriety.
Among different aspects, we had the following results:
- Restoring Flexibility: 100%;
- Visuospatial recovery: 67% of the participants, who initially had difficulties, recovered normal levels after 18 days;
- Functional and episodic memory: 60% and 63%, respectively.
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