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Does Drinking While Studying Help?

Not for your health, but for your memory, Cheers!

By Sylvia AdkinsPublished 3 years ago 4 min read

Many people are confused about the idea of drinking while studying. Especially while taking online classes, at the ease of their home, students take their teas and coffees while taking an online class. However, many questions if I can drink and take my online class.

There are multiple opinions about drinking while studying. Scientific reports suggest that alcohol has a memory-boosting effect, especially when you drink alcohol after learning any information. Alcohol helps to store this information in your brain for later.

Many students, while preparing for exams, prefer group studying and sitting in large social gatherings. In these group study gatherings, classmates prepare for exams together to enhance learning and possibly have a good time.

Prolonged Hangover or Study Advantage

People can also turn study time into drinking time. This has led some to question whether alcohol improves test and exam performance or is simply a faster way to fail a test by a prolonged hangover and memory impairment. If you have a prolonged hangover and cannot finish your assignments, you can get help from online tutors using Scholarly Help, Chegg, and Brainly. The link takes you to reviews on academic writing services.

While some research has found benefits of drinking alcohol on memory and problem solving, other research on alcohol has demonstrated that alcohol is involved in memory impairment. Regular alcohol consumption can also affect a student’s motivation to study, health, and GPA.

Some people claim that drinking while studying is a good idea. Alcohol gives students a small advantage in creative problem-solving when their blood alcohol level is about 0.075%.

Others argue that drinking alcohol can impair one’s memory. The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism claims that alcohol is involved in memory impairment, and impairment increases with increased drinking. This memory impairment is associated with poor learning and academic performance in school.

Beer and Education; A historical perspective

The answer to the question of drinking while studying isn't always as straightforward as one might think. Since the beginning of history, people have been making and drinking beer.

In fact, there is evidence of wine fermentation in the homes of the people who built the oldest temples in the world, dating back 12,000 years. Of course, drinking beer did not harm their ability to develop stone-building principles.

But on a practical level, excessive drinking while studying will negatively affect your brain’s ability to absorb and retain information while studying. However, you may find that a little beer while studying can have surprising benefits.

Many Students Prefer Studying While Being on Substances

It's no secret that many students use alcohol to excel while studying. Everyone remembers the classic episode of Saved by the Bell, full of caffeine pills. Similarly, many students use caffeine to take advantage of while studying. Caffeine provides a mild stimulant and may also affect the release of dopamine in the brain.

Students believe that caffeine intake while studying helps them focus and maintain concentration. This caffeine can be found in energy drinks, alcohol, and coffee, and even some students take caffeine pills.

Similarly, some college students get into the habit of taking non-prescription ADHD medications. These types of drugs can have short-term benefits, such as memory boosters.

Students take these drugs to focus more on their studies. However, the subsequent crashes as an aftermath of this drug may often result in losing the intellectual gains obtained while using such substances.

Four Benefits of Drinking While Studying

Drinking while you study is linked with enhancing your brain's ability to recall learned facts later. Whether you believe it or not, a little alcohol while studying can boost your memory and help you remember the facts better than studying without alcohol.

Drinking alcohol while studying provides an intellectual and social lubricant. Drinking during group studies can help you socialize better with peers and prevent barriers to exchanging ideas. However, it is essential to note that drinking alcohol in large amounts can result in a hangover later and impair your ability to learn, focus, and recall the learned facts later. Only a small amount will help.

Drinking beer can enhance our creative and problem-solving skills. Drinking beer reduces inhibitions and fears, thus promoting your creative and problem-solving behavior.

Drinking while taking your exam is linked with an increased speed of taking the exam. You will answer more quickly; now, whether your answers are right or wrong is another question.

Drinking Improves Recalling Previous Learning

Celia Morgan, a researcher from the University of Exeter, UK, in a journal Scientific Reports, suggests that alcohol is associated with improved learning probably because alcohol consumption stops the brain’s ability to store new information after drinking and frees down your brain’s resources to firmly store the information learned before drinking.

In her research, Prof. Celia Morgan claims, "Our research not only showed that those who drank alcohol did better when repeating the word-learning task, but that this effect was stronger among those who drank more."

Theory of Hippocampus

This theory promotes mild drinking after learning sessions. This theory suggests that the part of the brain associated with learning and memory, the hippocampus, after drinking, switches to consolidating the memories and transfers them from short-term memory to long-term memory.

However, she and her team have also pointed out that their research has a limited scope. And the weighted consequences of prolonged drinking on memory are destructive rather than constructive, and they do not promote excessive drinking.

Risks of Drinking Too Much

Drinking too much can cause your hippocampus to shrink. It can impair your memory and can hinder your brain from learning and storing new information.

An overdose of alcohol can cause a prolonged hangover. Common symptoms of a hangover are:

  • Drowsiness
  • Sweating
  • Headache
  • Audio and Visual Sensitivity
  • Fatigue
  • Dizziness
  • A spike in your blood pressure or pulse

Hangovers can worsen your performance in class and in your exams. Therefore, besides the mild benefits of alcohol on memory, you should avoid drinking in excess before or during your exam.

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