Teen drinking leads to affective disorders

Addicted to alcohol in adolescence, teenagers in adult life increases the risk of affective disorders such as anxiety and depression. Such conclusions did the researchers from Loyola University / USA /, analyzing the behavior of laboratory rats

According to the study, laboratory rats, adolescents who received large doses of alcohol, experienced a change of hormone production in response to external stress. Such changes contribute to the development of affective disorders in the future. According to scientists, alcohol abuse in youth interfere with the normal signaling connection in the brain that are important for healthy brain functioning adult.

Usually students try alcohol at the age of 13 years, the peak consumption of alcohol is between 18 and 22 years, and then begins to gradually decline, experts say. 36 per cent of young people aged 18 to 20 years reported at least one episode of drunkenness in the past 30 days. Biologists have focused on the analysis of long-term effects of alcohol on the production of the stress hormone corticosterone / equivalent of human hormone cortisol / rats. As the body of animals and humans produces hormones as a consequence of reactions to physical or psychological stress. Chronic exposure to cortisol and other stress hormones associated with depression, cardiovascular diseases and other health problems.

Observations showed that rats that received alcohol during adolescence had a significantly higher corticosterone surge, when they received alcohol in adulthood. These rodents also had lower baseline corticosterone than rats who were sober during adolescence. According to neurologists, the effect of alcohol during puberty is constantly changing system in which the brain activates the stress hormones.