Alcohol is a sedative that affects the central nervous system and brain, causing mood swings, anxiety, depression, memory loss, and impaired judgment. It disrupts neurotransmissions, leading to excessive release of endorphins and serotonin, causing confusion and emotional instability. The amount and frequency of alcohol consumption and genetic makeup affect the connection between alcohol and mood swings. Early identification of alcohol abuse can reverse some of the damage to the brain.
Alcohol is often thought of as a stimulant because of the sense of euphoria a person feels after a drink or two. Nothing could be further from the truth, however. Alcohol is indeed a powerful sedative that causes chemical changes in the central nervous system and brain. There is a direct relationship not only between alcohol and mood swings, but also between alcohol and anxiety, depression, memory, concentration and judgment.
The human brain is made up of approximately one trillion nerve cells known as neurons. Neurons communicate with each other via electrical and chemical neurotransmitters, allowing messages to be sent throughout the body. The messages serve to maintain cognition, heartbeat, lung function, mood, and countless other processes. The relationship between alcohol and mood swings comes into play if the transmission of these critical signals is slowed down, blocked or interrupted. Alcohol impairs the ability of neurons to direct bodily systems at the correct rate and adversely affects an individual’s cerebellum, cerebral cortex, and limbic system.
The latter two areas largely regulate memory, emotion, behavior, judgment, and the recognition of social cues. Alcohol’s role in mood swings is the result of a straightforward cause and effect scenario where the intoxicant slows down or interrupts messages to necessary parts of the brain. Consuming too much alcohol not only makes you forget names, dates or numbers, it also makes your cerebral cortex and limbic system forget how to react and behave. This loss of cognition and emotional control might be temporary, but in the case of long-term alcohol abuse, it can sometimes be permanent.
A link between alcohol and mood swings is further exemplified by liquor’s influence on endorphins and serotonin. The former is a substance in the brain that aids relaxation, and the latter is a neurotransmitter that plays an important role in controlling emotional peaks and valleys. The disruption of neurotransmissions caused by alcohol forces the brain to function without feedback from all parts of it. It attempts to compensate for this “blind” state by sending a signal that releases excessive amounts of serotonin and endorphins. The body and mind are confused by this massive release, causing a person under the influence of alcohol to seem sometimes ecstatic one instant and violently angry the next.
Researchers believe the connection between alcohol and mood swings depends in part on how often you drink. The amount of alcohol consumed on a regular basis is another factor, as is one’s genetic makeup. Alcoholism and alcohol intolerance are inherited traits, and if the abuse is identified early, some of the damage inflicted on the brain can often be reversed.
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