To some people, you may seem like this after one too many drinks (hilarious, life and soul of the party).
And to others, you’ll just seem a bit like this.
But there’s a reason for that, and it’s because of the way that alcohol reacts to receptors in our brains.
Writing for The Conversation, Dr Ian Mitchell of the University of Birmingham explained the reason for those drunken acts of stupidity that we always regret in the days after.
Dr Mitchell explained: ‘Alcohol impairs the activity of the brain circuits that make us feel anxious and, at higher doses, alcohol inactivates a second set of brain circuits that control fear so threatening stimuli no longer seem quite so scary.
‘Alcohol also compromises our ability to compute risk so that situations we would normally shy away from may now seem quite inviting.’
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And when it comes to getting a little bit rowdy after a few, it seems this happens because ‘alcohol can corrupt our ability to understand the intentions of others’.
‘The brain contains specific circuits, which connect parts of the prefrontal cortex, amygdala and temporal parietal junction that handle our social cognitive abilities,’ he writes.
‘Alcohol also impedes our ability to accurately interpret emotional expressions in the face.
‘As we drink, we have a tendency to erroneously assume that some facial expressions of negative emotions are happy, and we find it particularly difficult to identify sad and angry faces. This leaves us prone to making embarrassing social errors.’
Dr Martin also stressed that while the effect of alcohol will wear off the next day, the long-terms effects of it certainly won’t.
‘Chronic heavy drinking can lead to brain damage and irreversible cognitive impairments, especially poor memory function, and psychiatric problems including depression, psychoses, anxiety and suicide’, he added.
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