Drinking!

[MarkyP05]

Why can i not remember much of the night before after drinking, i am in (near) perfect state and (too) not hungover, it usually happens when i drink more than i should,. Is their any relationship between acholoic intake and memory recall?

[Hippy]

As a recovering alcoholic I can categorically say that there is such a relationship. You might lose a few hours of the nighjt before, I have lost whole weeks, and in sober reflection I can tell you it is scary. What was I doing in that time? What sort of a person was I? Why did friends change their attitude towards me?

Others may give you a physiological or pharmaceutical reason as to why it happens, I have the subjective experience. However scary I found it, this was not why I stopped drinking, for me that moment was a single sentence spoken by a friend. Nothing profound, just a "You seem to be drinking rather a lot" sort of comment, but I knew it was true and that I needed to seek help in quitting drink and becoming sober.

I am not suggesting that everyone should quit drink. Not everyone gets or is likely to get addicted to the stuff. Not everyone has an addictive personality. However the general effects of alcohol are the same for all, it is just that the alcoholic can't stop.

[Betty Boop x]

Yes there is definatly a link between drinking alcohol and memory recall.  I'm sure many people who get drunk experience it, i know i certainly have!

In a magazine of mine recently there was an article called 'drunken amnesia', here are some quotes from the article that explain it.

'Normally, we take in memories and store them, so they can be retrieved at a future date. . .Drunken amnesia occurs when you're so drunk, and your memory is so impaired or hazy, that certain events or conversations aren't stored at all.'

'There are lots of triggers that lead to a memory blackspot.  Binge drinking is the first culprit.  Scientists believe downing lots of booze in one night, followes by several days of abstinence, can mean that we put our bodies through repeated alcohol withdrawal, playing complete havoc with our blood sugar levels.  A major sympton of imbalanced blood sugar level is memory loss and confusion, so it's only natural that binge drinking can eventually affect our short term memory.'

'Total blackouts - not remembering anything after a certain point - used to only be associated with alcoholics, but are becoming more common in ordinary drinkers. Social drinkers can experience 'en bloc' blackouts.  These are like editing a whole scene out of a movie and dropping it on the cutting room floor.  There's nothing you can do to get this memory back.'

[Betty Boop x]

Hope my previous answer helps explain it a bit.

Personally i find it quite scary when i wake up after a night out and i can't remember certain bits about it.  It seems to be happening more and more.  It's like what one of the quotes below said - parts of the night are missing and however much you try you just can't remember them.

I will remember certain things that happen, but then can't remember leaving a club or how i got home or things that happened that other people will tell me about the next day, when you think about it anything could happen! Luckily i have reliable friends and we always help each other if one of us gets too drunk.

It doesnt stop me drinking but i don't like it when i can't remember things that i had done the night before, but i am very sure i am not the only one  . . . . .

x

[Peter Pedant]

Technically it is called altered state learning.

You remember what happened when you get drunk again.

You're drinking too much

you should listen to the cntrinbutors and cut down....

[stevie21]

"We discussed that last night?"

"You don't remember? You were completely sober - you only had 3 drinks. You didn't appear even slightly drunk".

That's a frequent conversation I have. My memory goes after the tiniest amounts of alcohol.
Predictably, I rarely remember getting home from pubs/clubs but just because I don't remember it doesn't mean I'm totally out of control. I'm as daft/drunk as every other person, it's just that they remember it the next day.
In saying that, I think I'm in the minority - for a lot of people this type of memory loss would be quite shocking. For me, remembering anything is quite shocking.


Peter Pedant - I think that's part of the answer (context dependent memory) but only a very very small part. I think the main problem is with forming the memories, rather than recalling them.

[theleeroy55]

if you dont remember it, it didnt happen

[LordyGeordie]

For me i personally find there are a few factors which contribute to whether i forget things the next day. chiefly if i'm tired. if i've had a busy day at work and i go out on a friday night even if i've only had a few drinks i can lose whole sections of the night. after particulalrly heavy nights this can also carry through until the next morning and i've had conversations the morning after the night before which i cna't remember.

also for some reason if i've been drinking lager this tends to make me forget things as opposed to beer which doesn't. weird.

[apex204]

I normally find my memory stops recording as soon as I get home, and my boyf tells me this is because I feel somewhere safe and familiar and my body goes onto autopilot. I've cut down on drinking heavily recently after I found a picture of me on my boyf's mobile, me curled up on the bathroom floor. I have no recollection of that at all!

[scotty]

Alcoholic amnesia does exist. It used to happen to me when I drank Diamond white cider, after a 4 bottles my memory would go completely, I wasn't  drunk in the least, but couldn't remember anything. I switched to Strongbow, and am now capable of drinking 10 -12 pints without any trouble !!  I think you should remember the old saying " you can't run a marathon without training " I.E if you drink regularly you will learn to be able to drink more .For me ,  far too many rugby tours have passed under the bridge, and if you "train " correctly , you will learn to drink and remember !