OF2-5/17/07 7:25AM ALCOHOL AND TEEN AGERS' BRAINS orig bdcst OF4-7/6/06 9:25AM
Young people drink to have a good time with friends and enjoying the BUZZ that goes with it. But researchers now tell us that the price teenagers pay for drinking one too many is not only the risk of doing something stupid and dangerous and waking up with a splitting headache. Older people get that too. But I'm talking about something more insidious that can affect teenagers brains for the rest of their lives.
"Heavy drinking during the teen years can exact a toll that lasts long after that buzz wears off." said Aaron White/Duke University.
Toren Volkmann is 27 years old and a recovering alcoholic. He started drinking as a teenager as so many do and for the usual reason.
"I think teenagers view alcohol and I certainly did as something that's very glamorous." said Toren Volkmann.
Volkmann now is being told that he may have suffered brain damage. Duke University researcher Aaron White.
"The brain is developing during adolescence. Whenever a brain is developing its vulnerable to the disruptive effects of alcohol. Pregnant women don't drink for that reason." said White.
The effect that alcohol has on the adolescent brain is worse than on someone who is older says White.
"Adolescence is the most important period of life for learning. Its not the time you want to be blocking the ability of the brain to change with experience and that's exactly what alcohol does." said White.
Parents try to get their kids NOT to drink until a certain age and then not TOO much afterwards. They wound try harder if they KNEW says Toren Volkmann
"I think the average family definitely does not understand the true realities of addiction and the propensity for anyone to become addicted that starts at a young age, and that's definitely what caught us off guard." said Volkmann.
The Osgood File. Charles Osgood on the CBS Radio Network.
The Osgood File. May 17, 2007 |
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