It’s well known that alcohol consumption, especially excessive consumption, predisposes to mental illness. It’s also known that women are more vulnerable to this risk than men. Experts are also concerned about the growing rates of alcohol abuse in teenagers as well as working age women who might feel that their consumption patterns are “normal” when in fact an objective assessment would classify it as hazardous. The findings reported below provide some further explanation as to why women are more vulnerable to the harms of alcohol and hence the importance that we tackle this issue early to prevent the establishment of potentially destructive drinking habits.

WOMEN alcoholics suffer damage to the part of their brain that controls moods, impulses and sleep three times faster than their male counterparts, a Swedish study has shown.

Women suffer a 50 per cent reduction in the so-called serotonin function in their brain after four years of excessive drinking, while men show the same amount of damage after 12 years of alcohol abuse, according to the study by researchers at Gothenburg University.

via Women suffer faster alcohol abuse damage | The Australian.