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Just a few drinks can change how memories are formed

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Re: Just a few drinks can change how memories are formed

#111

Post by alexis_fr »

ajcodez wrote: post #90
soared wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Honest question - Do most adults need to retain new information very often?(excluding the typical HN audience who are constantly learning/innovating/reading/etc)

Another question - do you benefit more from social ties formed while drinking or preservation of memory and early mornings?

Understated. That’s the most important part of events that include alcohol: a good part of society is built around alcohol-as-a-socialisation-tool, and that may advance yout career and sentimental life, even though alcohol itself is counterproductive to this effect.

Re: Just a few drinks can change how memories are formed

#112

Post by snikeris »

dzhiurgis wrote: post #102
kyleblarson wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The term I've heard to describe things like this (marathons, mountaineering, etc) is type 2 fun. Type 1 fun is actually fun while you're doing it, type 2 fun takes a couple of weeks to forget the suffering and to decide that it was in fact fun.

Eat eggs and bacon for breakfast and it's type 1 fun. Have some porridge and you'll feel great entire morning :)

I regularly eat eggs or porridge (cream of wheat) for breakfast. I feel better on the eggs days. Could be the choline.

Re: Just a few drinks can change how memories are formed

#113

Post by aedron »

rconti wrote: post #9

I know everyone is recommending the book Why We Sleep, but I'll pile on and say that I found it to be a fantastic read, and the consequences of alcohol consumption are devastating. Stats like 40+% reduction in retained information from just a few drinks the night after learning new facts. Or the night BEFORE learning new facts. And how the ill consequences occur even if you abstain for several DAYS after learning new…

It's this kind of thing... Trying not to sound preachy, but it just doesn't make sense that people, especially people who work with their brain, drink alcohol 'because it's fun'. Sorry, but that is stupid. No better way to put it. You have an incredibly complex and sensitive instrument, and you choose to bang it around a bit because it causes a funny effect. What more can you really say. There are loads of ways to have fun in life, alcohol is not necessary. Sorry for the blunt truth.

Re: Just a few drinks can change how memories are formed

#114

Post by maroonblazer »

kaoD wrote: post #107
maroonblazer wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Would such a program be necessary? I stopped taking LSD and psilocybin because of the negative effects it had on me. No program required.

As a non-user I'm curious, what kind of negative effects? If you don't mind sharing.

Your classic "bad trip" effects. Extreme paranoia. Manufactured negative thoughts about what others are thinking about you, etc. I once read someone say that a bad trip is as close to what it feels like to experience psychosis as one can get without actually be clinically diagnosed psychotic. My empathy towards psychotics has increased significantly since then.

Also, really bad nausea.

Re: Just a few drinks can change how memories are formed

#115

Post by teddyh »

kyleblarson wrote: post #29
hamandcheese wrote: post #13

> They make people nauseous or they give people hangovers, so why do we find them so rewarding? Why do we remember the good things about them and not the bad? Is this not generally true? I like to hike, but a lot of times climbing a mountain is absolutely miserable, and I might be sore for some time afterword. Yet I always remember it as a great experience. Or with past relationships, I have to try to remember the ba…

The term I've heard to describe things like this (marathons, mountaineering, etc) is type 2 fun. Type 1 fun is actually fun while you're doing it, type 2 fun takes a couple of weeks to forget the suffering and to decide that it was in fact fun.

Also applicable to gaming:

http://dwarffortresswiki.org/images/4/40/FunComic.png

Re: Just a few drinks can change how memories are formed

#117

Post by randomdata »

usrusr wrote: post #99
drawkbox wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Taking that further, it has also probably had a considerable effect on population numbers. Alcohol probably adds to the birth rate.

I'm not sure how well that hypothesis would hold up in a quick comparison of alcohol consumption per capita vs birth rate. Space aliens looking at those numbers might even mistake alcohol for a mild contraceptive.

A prevailing theory is that humans started engaging in agriculture, which was less efficient than hunting and gathering in the start, because of the desire to consume alcohol. It is difficult to argue that agriculture has not had a dramatic effect on population numbers.

Re: Just a few drinks can change how memories are formed

#118

Post by imgabe »

usrusr wrote: post #98
imgabe wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would posit that enough adults drink often enough that society is generally structured to allow people to function with whatever impairment occasional drinking creates, since that would be the baseline capability for the average person. That doesn't mean you couldn't benefit from doing better than that, though.

And yet I don't see myself surrounded by highly successful ascets. Maybe the typical winners are those who by chance happen to be somewhat immune to the negatives than others while still cashing in on the positives (see ajcodez post)? I do wonder occasionally who a parallel universe abstinent-me would be today. Would I have retained that deep focus excitability I had as a young teen? From a personal perspective it's…

I think you're right that there probably is some variance among individuals in that some are more negatively impacted than others.

I think also "success" depends not only on individual performance, but also social connections. You can only get so far working on your own. At some point you need to be able to get along with other people, and alcohol does facilitate that to some extent.

Re: Just a few drinks can change how memories are formed

#119

Post by cblum »

hamandcheese wrote: post #13

> They make people nauseous or they give people hangovers, so why do we find them so rewarding? Why do we remember the good things about them and not the bad? Is this not generally true? I like to hike, but a lot of times climbing a mountain is absolutely miserable, and I might be sore for some time afterword. Yet I always remember it as a great experience. Or with past relationships, I have to try to remember the ba…

My experience is of course anecdotal, but that’s not how I feel about alcohol.

I got drunk twice in my life. Once intentionally to see what it was like, and once by accident (thought I was having a couple beers, turns out they all had double the usual alcohol content so I was having twice what I thought I was having). Both experiences made me feel so bad that they were sort of traumatizing.

I’m not talking about the hangover (though that was awful too). The feeling of being drunk feels terrible to me. I feel like I’m losing control of myself. My face feels numb. People say that’s how it is, and I don’t understand how they can look forward to that.

Re: Just a few drinks can change how memories are formed

#120

Post by cblum »

dkarl wrote: post #5

All drugs of abuse — alcohol, opiates, cocaine, methamphetamine — have adverse side effects. They make people nauseous or they give people hangovers, so why do we find them so rewarding? Why do we remember the good things about them and not the bad? This seems like a weird question, at least in relation to alcohol. The pleasurable experience of alcohol is not only remembered but enthusiastically attested to by people…

I probably have an “unusual reaction” to alcohol, since I don’t find it great. I’ve only gotten drunk twice in my life and it felt horrible, even kind of traumatizing. Not just the hangover, even the feeling of being drunk is very unpleasant to me.
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