Hey guys, how hearty did you party at the Mifflin Street Block Party this weekend? No more than a 12-pack?
Bad idea. Drinking even that much can hurt you.
Nope, I'm not talking about ending up paralyzed falling off a balcony like Jason Gratzl-although those things do happen to folks who get so bombed that they're falling down drunk.
I'm talking about burning your brain cells.
Now in the interest of honesty, I have to tell you that I've burned a few brain cells myself. Quite a few. In fact, I burned a few just last night.
But it's different for most of you.
The human brain essentially rewires itself from about the ages of 15 to 23, which is the age of many undergraduate and graduate students. It's the second most significant period of brain development in a person's life, second only to the growth spurt during infancy.
And binge drinking between those ages can do some serious damage.
In that period, the prefrontal cortex is being developed. That's a large brain center right behind your forehead. It's known as the center for ethical decisionmaking. It may involve rule-making skills, working memory and spatial skills.
Some think that the conscience emanates from the prefrontal cortex.
Drinking can impede its development, leaving some areas underdeveloped or leaving some of the wiring unconnected.
There's no name for this phenomenon yet, because this discovery is relatively recent. But it's a phenomenon similar to fetal alcohol syndrome.
Fetal alcohol syndrome occurs when the brain of a baby is damaged by alcohol in the womb, the result of a woman drinking while she was pregnant.
The child is likely to be retarded, have a short attention span, exhibit poor judgment and have an impaired memory. And it's a permanent disorder-the damage can't be undone.
So when you drink from now on, take a six-pack-and share it with a friend or two.
Give your brain a break, and save it to help you through the rest of your life.
Eric Newhouse, the projects editor of the Great Falls (Mont.) Tribune, was associate editor of the Daily Cardinal in 1965. He won a Pulitzer Prize for explanatory journalism in 2000 for a 12-part series of stories entitled \Alcohol: Cradle to Grave.\
