Drug Use
Addiction- Addiction is a condition of being addicted to a particular substance, thing, or activity.
What is the connection between addiction and the brain? The human brain wants us to keep doing things that we need or enjoy. Drugs that people use or misuse excite the parts of the brain thay make you feel good. Once you take a drug, your brain gets used to it and then you need to take more of the drug to get the same good feeling. Soon, your brain and body feel normal with the drug, and sick or not normal without the drug.
This reminds me of some research I read about alcohol affecting brain development, especially in the teen years while bodies (brains) are still developing.
ReplyDeleteI recommend teens read this short article: https://www.sciencenewsforstudents.org/article/alcohol-can-rewire-teenage-brain
Two quotes that struck me from the article are:
"this damage showed up in that part of the brain linked with learning and memory."
"teens who drink heavily lose more white matter in their brain over time than do teens who don’t, Faden says. White matter acts a bit like the brain’s superhighway system."
Most of us know a few adults who have a noticeable amount of brain damage from drinking too much and too often. The thing is we will never know what they might be like with a non-damaged brain.