Alcohol Culture Homework Assignment: Health, Brain, and Society

This homework assignment on alcohol culture covers several key areas. It begins with a summary of the provided materials, highlighting surprising facts about alcohol's harm, which is considered more dangerous than cocaine or heroin, affecting not only the consumer but also their families and society. The assignment defines "Alcohol Culture" as the social behaviors surrounding alcohol consumption and discusses strategies to reduce alcohol-related deaths and illnesses. The assignment classifies alcohol as a depressant and explains its effects on the brain, including impacted neurotransmitters (glutamate, GABA, dopamine) and brain regions (Nucleus Accumbens), leading to intoxication, poor memory, and slurred speech. The assignment concludes by describing two health conditions caused by heavy alcohol use: alcoholism, which can lead to a craving for alcohol, and liver diseases like fatty liver, alcoholic hepatitis, and cirrhosis.

Running head: ALCOHOL CULTURE
ALCOHOL CULTURE
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

1ALCOHOL CULTURE
Question 1:
Alcohol is termed as the most harmful drug and when its impact is considered on the
drinkers, it has been found that alcohol consumption is dangerous than the consumption of
Cocaine or Heroin (Patton et al., 2014). The impact is not limited on the consumer itself; it also
affects the family, friends and the society where the alcohol addict resides (Callinan, 2014).
Alcohol is in fact a psychoactive and toxic substance that produces dependence propensities and
its consumption can contribute to approximately 3 million deaths per year in a global scale. The
groups of people who are more prone to alcohol-related death are the disadvantaged and
especially vulnerable populations.
In Oregon, the rate of deaths related to alcohol causes are nearly as twice as the average
death in the nation. In the category of alcohol related deaths, the state of Oregon ranks the fifth
worst as per the new data provided by Trust for America’s health. Jolene Park, in her engaging
talk in Tedx Talks mentions about the term ‘Gray Area Drinking’ and whilst sharing her own
experiences she says that it is relatively easy for people in the Gray area to stop their drinking
habit but it is very difficult to maintain such stature if the addict does not nourish their nervous
systems consistently.
Question 2:
Alcohol culture is the set of social behaviors and traditions that surrounds the
consumption of beverages which contain alcohol since it contains ethanol that is a recreational
drug and also acts like a social lubricant (BBC Three, 2017). Alcohol culture exists truly in
social environments that have high visibility and also high social influence.

2ALCOHOL CULTURE
Question 3:
There are corporate wellness which provides training programs and coaching for people
who struggle with gray area drinking, anxiety and stress. Jolene Park in her Tedx Talks discusses
about the boosting of some neurotransmitters with the help of exercises and meditation that
would help an addict to calm their nerves and help them reduce their drinking habits (Tedx
Talks, 2017).
Question 4:
Alcohol is classified as a depressant that helps in the slowing down of some vital
functions that result in unsteady movement, slurred speech and more. For most people alcohol
helps in giving a stimulant effect, but it is actually a toxic as well as a psychoactive substance
that produces some dependence propensities.
Question 5:
Alcohol blocks the chemical signals between the neurons and it leads to immediate
intoxication, poor memory or slurred speech. Alcohol impacts on the excitatory neurotransmitter
glutamate, the inhibitory neurotransmitter GABA and also increases the release of dopamine.
Alcohol affects the Nucleus Accumbens by enhancing the release of dopamine; it blocks the
glutamate receptors and the GABA receptors.
Question 6:
Chronic Alcohol consumption causes the disease of Alcoholism and alcoholism is such
kind of a disease that leads to other diseases and it is unique since this disease makes the body to

3ALCOHOL CULTURE
crave the substance that exacerbates the disease. Alcohol poisoning also leads to the
development of Liver Disease that usually starts with a fatty liver disease; however, prolonged
drinking leads to alcoholic hepatitis or Alcoholic Cirrhosis.

4ALCOHOL CULTURE
References:
BBC Three. (2017). Alcohol - Britain's Most Harmful Drug | Drugs Map of Britain [Image].
Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZzxoLN25FAw&t=202s
Callinan, S. (2014). Alcohol’s harm to others: Quantifying a little or a lot of harm. The
International Journal of Alcohol and Drug Research, 3(2), 127-133.
Patton, R., Deluca, P., Kaner, E., Newbury-Birch, D., Phillips, T., & Drummond, C. (2014).
Alcohol screening and brief intervention for adolescents: the how, what and where of
reducing alcohol consumption and related harm among young people. Alcohol and
alcoholism, 49(2), 207-212.
Tedx Talks. (2017). Gray Area Drinking | Jolene Park [Video]. Retrieved from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvCMZBA7RiA