It’s a feeling of dread that’s familiar to most people: You wake up after a heavy night of drinking and struggle to remember what happened twelve hours ago.
Arriving at the party, the taxi home and a few conversations are clear, but the rest is a blur.
Now, GP and TikTok influencer Dr Jill Grimes has revealed exactly why these memory disorders occur.
And the most important factor is whether or not you drank shots.
First, Dr. Grimes emphasizes the difference between the terms “fainting” and “blackout,” in a video which has been viewed 3.9 million times.
‘Fainting is unconscious and that is clearly dangerous and a topic for another day.
‘A blackout means you have a memory deficit the next day. There is a certain period, often a few hours, when it is completely empty the next day.’
She then defines “brown-out” and “gray-out” – meaning “some patchy memory loss.”
What causes this memory loss, she says, is due to a sudden and rapid increase in your blood alcohol levels – usually caused by drinking shots.
General practitioner Jill Grimes specializes in health advice at universities. Now she reveals exactly why alcohol causes memory loss, and how to avoid it
This, Dr Grimes explains, ‘turns off the hippocampus’ – the part of the brain that stores short-term memory in the area responsible for long-term memory.
“So that long-term memory simply doesn’t happen,” she says. “And the next day, no matter how many people remind you what was going on and try to recall that memory, nothing will bring it back.
“You haven’t created the long-term memory.”
Dr. Grimes goes on to explain that it’s difficult to determine exactly how much alcohol has an effect because it depends on a number of factors, including the food eaten that day.
But generally the average is: “Four or more drinks in less than two hours makes you a woman, or five or more drinks for men.”
Taking antidepressants, cough and cold medications, and painkillers can all increase the effect of alcohol, she adds.
Research shows that about half of people who drink alcohol experience memory blackouts at some point in their lives.