Ever hear a friend talk about wanting to get black-out drunk?  A new research study (Hingson, Zha, Simons-Morton, and White, 2016) shows that blacking out is the best predictor of a range of alcohol-related problems such as hangovers, missing class, getting behind in school, experiencing an alcohol overdose, arguing with friends, and doing something that was later regretted.  In other words, in this study, students who experienced an alcohol-induced blackout in the last 6 months were more likely to have other alcohol-related problems.  This was true even after the researchers statistically controlled for drinking levels.

Blacking out in the last 6 months was the second strongest predictor of getting into trouble with the police.  It was also the second strongest predictor of getting hurt or injured. The strongest predictor of both of those problems was use of 3 or more drugs.

Alcohol-related blackouts are periods of amnesia where the brain fails to store short-term memories.  Blackouts can result in periods of fragmented or complete memory loss. Consuming large amounts of alcohol, particularly if consumed rapidly, and on an empty stomach can cause blackouts. During a blackout, a person can still speak, walk, drive, have sex, or do practically anything that a sober person could do; except the person will not remember anything that they have done during the blackout.

his new research reveals that getting black-out drunk may not be as much of a fun pursuit as you think!

Source:

Hingson, R., Zha, W., Simons-Morton, B. and White, A. (2016), Alcohol-Induced Blackouts as Predictors of Other Drinking Related Harms Among Emerging Young Adults. Alcohol Clin Exp Res, 40: 776–784.