Weekend science: how alcohol gets your body drunk - Earth.com

Weekend science: how alcohol gets your body drunk

03-11-2017

In celebration of the weekend, today’s Video of the Day explains the science behind how alcohol gets your body drunk. The clip comes courtesy of the American Chemical Society’s Reactions series.

The key ingredient in alcohol that really gets the party started is, of course, ethanol. Ethanol binds with two different receptors in the brain: GABA receptors and NMDA receptors. When ethanol binds to GABA receptors, it inhibits your behavior by slowing down neural message firing, which makes you feel more relaxed. When ethanol binds with NMDA receptors, it makes you feel tired and causes lapses in memory.

But that still doesn’t explain how alcohol gets you turnt all the way up. That occurs because ethanol causes your brain to release the stimulants norepinephrine, adrenaline, and cortisol, which then increases your heart rate. For more details, simply hit play!

By Rory Arnold, Earth.com Staff Writer

Source: American Chemical Society

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