So, yesterday in STEM my classmates and I talked one on one with eachother about project topics and how to improve our research, in an activity called speed dating. During our speed dating activity we shared suggestions with each other while we talked one one one for four minutes. We exchanged ideas to help each other improve our research topics and help one another with their projects. Overall, the activity was extremely helpful for me because we opened each other's eyes to new ideas we could tie into our projects and all the possibilities we had to create a really awesome project. The ideas and feed back people gave on my research topic helped me understand some aspects of my topic that I would have never even thought to incorporate in my project. When I was the one giving advice I told my classmates to look into many aspects of their topics and to try not to focus on one specific topic. I tried to help them get a broader understanding of all the possibilities people had in their topic.
In a particular conversation with a fellow STEM Capstone student (John) the subject of lowering the drinking age and seeing how components of that debate could tie into my project,came up. He brought to my attention that not all countries have the same drinking age and he encouraged me to research the laws per country and how it affected various aspects related to underage alcohol use. So, here I am blogging about the different laws and their effects around the world. As someone who is opposed to teenage and under age drinking, I started to think how lowering the drinking age in the United States from 21 to 18 or even 16, would be a terribly bad idea. Every one knows the typical view from people who want to reduce the legal drinking age , " if you lower the drinking age to 18, like the Europeans did, the kid's will have less of an urge to experiment heavily with alcohol," well here are a few statistically proven facts that prove the European model of letting kids drink when they are sixteen to avoid heavy binge drinking, does not work.
- Lowering the drinking age would be medically irresponsible because of the of the interference alcohol creates with the developing frontal lobes that are essential for planning, organization, and emotional regulation. When alcohol interferes with teen brain development the potential chronic problems with alcohol later on in life such as risky behavior, memory loss, and even an addiction to alcohol later on in life, increase dramatically.
- If the drinking age was reduced from 21 to 16 or 18 like it is in Canada and most of Europe, kids would have legal access to dangerous environments such as bars and night clubs. During their teenage years, kids should not be subjected to such an environment, and really no one should be subjected to the atmosphere of a bar or a night club.
- Since Ronald Reagan passed the law stating the legal drinking age in all states is 21, in 1984, the amount of intoxication fatalities in teenagers from 16-21,has significantly decreased. In 1980, before Reagan had passed the law stating the legal drinking age in every state was 21, there were 3,500 intoxication fatalities. In 1993, 9 years after Reagan passed the law, there were 1500 intoxication fatalities in teenagers from 16-21, and in 2004, 20 years after passing the law, there were 1400 intoxication fatalities. Therefore, one can clearly see what increasing the legal drinking age did for the intoxication fatality rate.
- Even though the stereotype is often said to be " if you lower the drinking age, perhaps kids will have less of an urge to rebel and drink illegally and underage," recent studies have proven that statement totally incorrect. Recent studies have shown 28.3 % of American teenagers ages 16-17 have drank at least one drink in their teenage years. 20 % of 15- 16 year olds have had at least one drink before and 3.7% of 12-13 year olds have had at least one drink in their life. Now lets compare that to countries who use the European model of having the legal drinking age at 16 or 18, to prevent kids from being rebellious. In France 43 % of 15 year olds, underage might I add, have drank at least one or more drinks in their life compared to America's 20% and in Germany 90 % of 15 year olds drink, while still underage, compared to America's 20%. In America the percent of teenagers who abstain from alcohol until they are legal to drink is 41%, in Germany the percent of teenagers who abstain from alcohol use until they are of legal age is 7 %. In Germany 50% people who binge drank were underage, and only 10.8% of people who binge drank in America, were underage. These proven statistics just go to show that using the European model of letting kids drink at a younger age to introduce them to alcohol to make them less eager to rebel and drink illegally, does not work and the American model is clearly an acceptable age to allow teenagers to start drinking. Well we could still lower the amount of underage drinking and binge drinking to 0 %, but you get my point. European teens are not immune to the affects of drinking on teenage brains just because their drinking age is lower than other countries, their brains are at just as much risk as American teenage brains regardless of the law.
Some other topics that came up in our speed dating activity was how to address my issue of obtaining original evidence of how alcohol structurally and mentally affects neurodevelopment, here are some ideas people gave, feel free to give me some feedback on how I could get data to prove my project topic correct. This is a touchy subject for many teenagers so getting accurate, relevant data would be quite tough in a high school setting.
- anonymous surveys asking whether kids have drank in the last year and what their grade point average was and even add in some questions from a memory test to see if the alcohol does in fact affect teenage memory like many health professionals predicted it would. (Jamie, Eric, Makayla, Shannon, and Lauren)
- ask the local hospital for random, anonymous cat scans or MRI's of teenage brains associated with heavy alcohol use or even moderate alcohol use. ( Gabi, Maria, Evan A, and Jillian)
- interview/ survey someone who is willing to share their experience with teenage alcohol use and how it affected the rest of their teenage years, and their adult life.
- contact bigger hospitals such as Fletcher Allen Medical Center or Massachusetts General Hospital to see if they had any anonymous records or information on teenage alcohol use and the effects on the brain.
Overall the speed dating activity was extremely helpful for me to get a broader sense of my project topic and the vast sub topics I could incorporate into my final project.
Sites used for statistics and evidence:
http://www.conductunbecoming.ie/?p=65
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2167463/Uks-teenage-girls-biggest-binge-drinkers-Europe.html
http://drinkingage.procon.org//view.answers.php?questionID=1610
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So I am trying to connect my stem project to the global studies capstone project which focuses on global issues instead of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Along with studying how alcohol scientifically and medically effects the brain, I am going to try and focus on the debate on whether the drinking age should be lowered from 21 to 18, which i believe should stay at 21 or even be increased to a higher age. I mentioned tying my project into global studies in my speed dating post and now i am trying pursue that idea.http://www.edinformatics.com/news/teenage_brains.htm
Before I get really involved in researching my project topic ( and yes I have finally picked a topic), how alcohol affects neurodevelopment and the adolescent brain, one would need to know about the developing teen brain in general. While the brain is still developing during your teenage years into your early twenties and it is the human's most complex organ, the adolescent brain development is a very simple process. There are two stages to brain development, one being a growth spurt and the other part of the process being the pruning and chunking of the neural connections. The adolescent brain's growth spurt does not occur during adolescence, it actually occurs during utero and within the first eighteen months of life. During this time the brain grows at a rapid pace and produces millions of brain cells. The second part of the developing process occurs when a person is 10-13 years old and it is when the brain organizes and cleans out neural pathways that the brain no longer uses. For example, if a kid is involved with sports and academics the brain keeps the neural connections used to preform the tasks demanded by sports and academics, but if that same kid does not use neural connections involved with music, the brain disposes of them. This is why people tend to be really good at something they do all the time because they have an interest in that area, the brain makes room for the neural connections that are used the most. The "pruning" process makes way so our brains can become much more efficient and faster in transmitting signals through the maze of now organized neural connections. By disposing of neural connections that have no use to the adolescent brain, there is more room for along chain of nerve cells required for complex problem solving used during adulthood. Brain development starts from the back and works it way to the front so the pre frontal cortex responsible for complex reasoning and important decision making, does not fully develop until people are well into their twenties. Since the pre frontal cortex is still developing in the teenage years, teenagers may make impulsive which possible cause impulsive drinking in the teenage years. That is not to say that adolescents can use that as an excuse to why they drink, because everyone has the power to say no, no matter if your brain is developing or not, but the developing brain does put adolescents at risk for making risky decisions. Conversely to that idea, when the neural connections get pruned away the surviving ones get better at transmitting signals so teens have better execution, impulse control, and a sense of maturation, so teen brains are still developing structurally but at the same time we are mentally and emotionally maturing. Also, during the adolescent years white matter, or nerve tissue along with the hippocampus are still developing and cortical areas continue to thicken, so all developing areas are going to be more sensitive to alcohol's toxic effects. Links used: io9.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Sept. 2014. <http://io9.com/ the-neuroscience-of-why-teenagers-behave-the-way-they-d-1474948786>. NCANDA. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Sept. 2014. <http://ncanda.org/>. NL Bio. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Sept. 2014. <http://nlbio.wikispaces.com/ HOW+ALCOHOL+AFFECTS+THE+BRAIN>. NPR.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Sept. 2014. <http://www.npr.org/templates/story/ story.php?storyId=122765890>. PBS.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Sept. 2014. <http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/ frontline/shows/teenbrain/interviews/todd.html>. PBS.ORG. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Sept. 2014. <http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/ frontline/shows/teenbrain/view/>. Preventing Substance Abuse Together Chesterfield Safe. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Sept. 2014. <http://chesterfieldsafe.org/ForParents/UnderageDrinking.aspx>. www.mentorfoundation.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Sept. 2014. <http://www.mentorfoundation.org/uploads/Adolescent_Brain_Booklet.pdf>. While this blog has been focused on explaining and researching the effects of alcohol on the brain, drugs while a different substance, still have substantial effects on the human brain and not just adolescent brains, every brain that comes in contact with a foreign substance. Drugs are chemicals that affect the brain by interfering with the way neurons normally send, receive, and process information. Some drugs such as marijuana and heroin activate neurons because the structure of the drugs mimic that of a neurotransmitter. The similarity in structure that the drug has fools receptors and allow the foreign substance ( the drug) to attach and activate neurons. Even though the drugs act like the brain's own chemical signals, they don't activate neurons in a manner that a natural transmitter would and that leads to abnormal brain functions being transmitted through the brain. As a society people need to be educated on how both alcohol and drugs, even in the smallest doses can have damaging and toxic effects on the human brain. The human brain is the most complex organ in our bodies and it needs to be treated with extreme care. People need to be taught on the truly detrimental effects of foreign substances on the brain and learn to act in a way that ensures a long and happy life. Feel free to comment on this post or post any links on more information for this project, the more information the better! drugabuse.gov. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Sept. 2014. <http://www.drugabuse.gov/ One thing everyone reading this blog should know is I am in love with the city of the Boston. My goal for the future is to work in one of the hospitals in Boston, especially Massachusetts General Hospital due to its reputation of being the number one hospital in the world for psychiatry. So, if anyone comes across any resources from the Boston area hospitals about how alcohol affects the teenage brain, it would be greatly apprieciated if youcould share that information with me. Also, if you know any contacts from the Boston area that could help me with this project, it wold be great if you could give me some information on them so I can contact them to get some helpful insight on this project. I really want to make a difference in the lives of teenagers and hopefully through this project I can start to do so. One possible topic for my research project is the effects of alcohol on neurodevelopment (or the teenage brain) in adolescence. This research topic would allow me to be involved in a division of psychiatry that I could potentially be involved with later on in life. If I do choose to research this topic I will be using resources from the top psychiatry and addiction hospitals on the east coast such as Massachusetts General Hospital, Duke Medical Center, Boston Children's Hospital, Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center, and Fletcher Allen Medical Center and other organizations such as NCANDA( the national consortium on alcohol and neurodevelopment in adolescence.) Surveys are starting to show that 72% of high school seniors have used alcohol in their life. Alcohol is very harmful to the developing adolescent brain because it effects teens' cognitive abilities, brain development, and teenage drinking has been proven to create anatomical abnormalities in teenage brains with problematic alcohol use. Alcoholism in teens is a growing and pressing problem that sometimes falls under the radar, and through this project I hope to gain more information to help the problem now and in the future.
Survey facts: NCANDA. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Sept. 2014. <http://ncanda.org/> The picture above depicts how alcohol affects the anatomical structures of the brain and the effects on the mental capacity of someone who is a heavy drinker during adolescence. Even though the heavy drinker was sober in this trial, one can see that there is limited memory activity in the male that is a heavy drinker versus the male who does not drink. The cerebrum in the brain is responsible for short and long term memory and alcohol has clearly affected the cerebrum in the heavy drinker and that is why he has little to no memory or brain activity during the trial. Our brains are our control centers, it controls all of our body systems such as our muscular, respiratory, and our digestive system, and it functions as our control center because of chemical and electrical signals that are transmitted from cell to cell. Electrical signals serve as communicators within the cells but the chemical signals serve as communicators between the different cells, and this chemical signals are called neurotransmitters. The gap that allows the neurotransmitters to travel from cell to cell is called the synapse and when the neurotransmitters travel they each bind to a protein receptor specific to the neurotransmitter. When the neurotransmitter and receptor protein bind together the receiving cell's behavior changes electrically and chemically causing the cell to either to perform an action or prohibit that action from happening and when alcohol reaches the synapse, the normal connection between neurotransmitters and receptor cells are disrupted. So they neurotransmitters in a teenager's cerebrum are affected by alcohol because they are not allowed to travel to other cells and communicate and work together to provide the person with any memory.
In any person's brain, alcohol kills brain cells that do not regenerate, but since teenage brains have not developed until the age of twenty five. Many important neurotransmitters and brain cells are killed along with the brain and central nervous system being depressed. The brain tissue contracts when it comes in contact with alcohol and it disrupts the communication between nerve cells by acting like a receptor so the neurotransmitter is not binding to a receptor that would allow it to have memory. If a neurotransmitter binds to a neuron and it sparks a positive reaction it is called an excitatory reaction and when the neurotransmitter binds with a neuron and it sparks a negative reaction it is called it an inhibitory reaction. Alcohol suppresses the excitatory nerve pathway but increases inhibitory nerve pathways which causes people to be sluggish. Alcohol affects the neurotransmitter GABA and glutamine which increases the amount of sluggishness even more. Since teenage brains are not fully developed, the effect of alcohol on the central nervous system is multiplied because the development of the brain is damaged more than a developed brain. NL Bio. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Sept. 2014. <http://nlbio.wikispaces.com/ HOW+ALCOHOL+AFFECTS+THE+BRAIN>. Preventing Substance Abuse Together Chesterfield Safe. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Sept. 2014. <http://chesterfieldsafe.org/ForParents/UnderageDrinking.aspx>. What my project is about: another possible research topic: Topic # 1: Alcoholism in Adults9/20/2014 A possible research topic I am interested in pursuing for my STEM seminar is alcoholism in adults. This research topic would allow me to focus on psychiatry and addiction medicine but the topic of alcoholism in the elderly and older adults would allow me to broaden my horizon in the effects of alcohol on the body in different age groups. I want to focus on alcoholism and how it affects older adults and their bodies. Alcoholism is defined as an addiction to the consumption of alcoholic liquor or the mental illness and compulsive behavior resulting from alcohol dependency. In older adults/ aging adults bodies, the tolerance for alcohol decreases and older people generally experience the effects of alcohol more quickly which puts them at risk for falls, car accidents, and other injuries that result form drinking. The elderly and older aged men and women are considered to be alcoholics if they have three or more drinks a day or seven drinks a week. Over time, drinking too much in the elderly or older aged people changes the normal balance of chemicals and nerve tracks in your brain associated with judgement and control over your behavior . Alcoholism is typically thought of have to have affected middle aged adult but people fail to recognize how it affects the elderly and their aged bodies and brains. Alcoholism in adults has been proven to cause a link in alcoholism in the parent's children. Alcohol dependence/ abuse in parents has been shown to cause alcohol abuse in their children during their teenage years. Degree of exposure to alcohol in your family environment was shown to to be highly related to later life alcohol use, alcoholism, time in jail, and sociopathy. We need to cure and prevent alcoholism in all age so we can reduce its domino effect on America's future. I hope that through this project people begin to realize that no matter how old or young someone is , alcohol can take over someone;s life at any time. Health care professionals are starting to research and perform clinical trials to try and cure and prevent alcoholism, and I hope to be part of that some day.
The British Journal of Psychiatry. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Sept. 2014. <http://bjp.rcpsych.org/content/149/5/584.short>. Hi, my name is Mia Steupert, and I am a senior at Rutland High School. I am participating in Rutland High School's STEM concentration research project/seminar. This blog will serve as a place for anyone to view my blog posts and keep up to date on my progress for this research project. Enjoy and feel free to comment on the posts with information regarding my topic or any information on the topic, thank you!
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