do you enjoy video games, perhaps the many versions of Zelda! CLICK on the picture
Here are a couple things I am reading today:
“Long derided as mere entertainment, new research now shows that organizations using video games to train employees end up with smarter, more motivated workers who learn more and forget less.”
“Alcohol, to an adolescent, is often seen as a rite of passage. Many teenagers view alcohol (as well as other drugs) as a gateway to adulthood, but are often blissfully unaware of the damage that it can cause to their bodies. A new study of the effects of excessive alcohol and other drugs in adolescents has shown that both alcohol and marijuana overuse can cause serious detrimental effects on the development of the teenage mind.”
“Many studies have suggested that genetic differences make some individuals more susceptible to the addictive effects of alcohol and other drugs. Now scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory provide the first experimental evidence to directly support this idea in a study in mice reported in the Oct. 19, 2010, issue of Alcoholism: Clinical Experimental Research.”
8 Comments
scoletto · October 20, 2010 at 3:55 pm
Dr. Freberg –
I read the article on heavy alcohol and adolescent brain development. To be honest, this scared me! Adolescents everywhere as young as age 14 are beginning to binge drink and smoke marijuana as if there are no consequences. But I wonder what do these doctors consider “heavy alcohol and drug use”? Also, are the consequences far greater for a younger teen than an older one nearing the age of 21? I read that the effects of heavy use can be recovered if one were to abstain from the drugs – for how long? And do the effects once one starts again continue just as harshly? Thank you for posting this article! It really opened up my eyes (aka scared me – I will be thinking about this every single weekend now).
Laura Freberg · October 20, 2010 at 4:46 pm
Hi, Shelby. I’m sorry you found this article frightening. Researchers don’t always agree on definitions of moderate or heavy drinking. You can find more information from a report by the Department of Justice about rates of American drinking: http://www.udetc.org/documents/drinking_in_america.pdf
According to this report, the 7 percent of the adult population that binges frequently (5 or more times per month) drinks 45 percent of the alcohol sold in the US and consume on average 24 or more drinks per week. That’s a lot.
Personally, I think the best advice is “moderation in all things” and “listen to your body.”
clwarren · October 21, 2010 at 10:26 am
I just read the article about “our response to alcohol is in our genes.” I LOVE that they now have actual proof via experimentation that this belief is valid! Although the article is very hard to understand (without any background in biology…besides biopsych, of course) I took in the majority of what the article was talking about. The perfect combination of nature and nurture has always been an interesting topic for me. Maybe even if a person is predisposed to alcoholism through genetics, their environment would be able to offset that disposition? The more we know about this topic the better we can help those who are suffering from addiction. I know from personal experience how heartbreaking addiction can be, and it would be amazing if it could be medically treated or biologically corrected. I definitely plan on passing this article along to others who I know would love to read this! :]
kxtran89 · October 21, 2010 at 4:38 pm
I can finally tell my mom that playing video games is not just a waste of time! While growing up, many of the “older” adults always told people my age that playing games is pointless. “You could be reading a book or playing outside instead”, they always said. But now, studies have shown that playing video games can help improve memory and retention. Not only that, video games can be designed to train employees if done in the proper fashion. I always believed this to be true, because most of the games that I play, “Metal Gear Solid”, “Final Fantasy”, “Call of Duty”, just to name a few, all require well thought out strategies. Also, you’re going to need more than one try to beat the levels. These games require you to memorize where things show up in a particular level, and to strategize for the “random” factor in games. In a sense, you’re brain is actually working hard to beat these games. It nice to know that there’s finally some evidence to show that playing video games isn’t just a big waste of time.
V i x · October 21, 2010 at 7:44 pm
As the one and only video game expert of my family, I always learn more and not forget. And of course, drugs and alchohol are bad (I am so glad I never did those things in my entire life). I wish people would read your blog more often, and if they do, I hope they’ll learn.
Rebecca · October 21, 2010 at 8:46 pm
I read the article titled, “our response to alcohol is in our genes” and I found it very interesting. To me, this article sheds some light on how my dad didn’t become a heavy drinker or even an alcoholic. He was adopted along with his non-biological younger brother by a family who did tend to consume a lot of alcohol and smoke. My uncle is now an alcoholic, and yet my dad barely drinks at all. I have always wondered how two boys growing up in the exact same environment could have turned out to be so different, and this article explains one possibility. Genetic predispositions can contribute to an addictive lifestyle. For some reason, I have always thought that the environment you grew up in or lived in had the most impact on dictating the individual you eventually became, but this article has definitely made me think twice. I look forward to reading more about this topic in the future.
mkorp · October 24, 2010 at 12:45 pm
Dr. Freberg,
I just read the article regarding heavy alcohol use and its effects on adolescents brain development. This article frightened me and certainly gave me something to think about. It is incredible that they are able to connect drinking to a lack of attention and focus stemming from the frontal lobe.
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