Why do you often not remember what happened after getting drunk?

Reagan Wetherill, professor of psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania, USA, said this phenomenon is called temporary amnesia caused by alcohol in beer and wine.

As blood alcohol levels increase, function in the hippocampus (the area of ​​the brain involved in creating memories) decreases. At a certain threshold, alcohol can cause nerve cells to stop working, and your continuous and long-term memories begin to fail.

There are two types of temporary memory loss that occur when a person is very drunk: fragmented amnesia and global amnesia. Fragmented amnesia is more common, where a vague memory is broken into small pieces. If you concentrate and listen to what happened, you may be able to recall the whole thing. Global amnesia occurs when memories are not recorded, and you will not be able to remember what happened.

"Alcohol interferes primarily with the transmission of information from short-term to long-term memory, disrupting the activity of glutamate, a neurotransmitter. This disrupts the process of long-term memory," said Wetherill.

According to research by scientists, 50% of people who drink alcohol have experienced this condition. The phenomenon of temporary memory loss often occurs earlier in women because they have lower weight, body water content and alcohol-degrading enzymes than men.

According to Mr Wetherill, there is no set threshold for exactly when and how much alcohol will cause memory loss. It depends on each person's metabolism and genes.

Temporary memory loss occurs when the alcohol concentration in the blood increases too quickly, there are two ways to help you fight it: drink less and do not drink continuously. Besides, you should not drink alcohol on an empty stomach because it will cause the alcohol to be absorbed by the body faster.