I have good news for you today. I used to think that cellular damage to the brain from alcohol abuse was largely permanent. Afterall, I was taught in medical school that the brain doesn’t regenerate, neurons don’t divide in adulthood.
A report has just come out demonstrating that the brain can repair itself once exposure to the toxin ceases.
Alcohol is a neurotoxin. Those with a drinking problem will have a thinning of the cortex, the crucial outer layer where the bodies of the neurons reside. One would think that a thinned cortex means fewer neurons. The cortex is where higher brain cognitive functions reside.
This research team used a special magnetic resonance imaging to measure cortical thickness in several areas of the brain and found thickening began to occur quickly after stopping drinking. In fact, while improvement continued over the 7.3 months of the study, most was gained in the first month.
The team used a number of non-drinkers as controls for change in cortical thickness over the same period of time. These individuals did not have cortical thickening. The team also found that those who smoked, had high blood pressure or high cholesterol repaired as a slower pace.
I must admit that I am surprised by these findings and pleasantly so. The brain is notoriously difficult to heal. That it could regenerate so quickly after cessation of toxin exposure speaks well for alcohol cessation improvement in all the other areas of the body damaged by alcohol exposure. The moral of the story here is that if you have an alcohol problem, simply stopping the toxin will permit at least your brain, if not your entire body, to begin a healing process. Those of us who do integrative medicine stress: 1. Proper nutrition, 2. Detoxification, 3. Reduction of stress, as the first ingredients to recovery. This study sure supports detox, as getting the poisons out of your body should be of huge help for all your organs if the brain can come back so quickly.
Terri and I are teetotalers. We don’t consume any alcohol, but that is part of our spiritual path. I have encouraged patients through most of my years of practice to limit drinking to no more than 2-3 drinks per week for health reasons.
To Your Excellent Health!
Robert Jay Rowen, MD
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S074183292300263X?via%3Dihub
For sure this is wonderful good news!