Research details that people with alcohol use disorder (AUD) tend to have thinning of regions of the cerebral cortex, which is identified as the outer wrinkled layer of the brain and is essential for many cognitive functions.
How does the brain recover when you stop drinking alcohol?
Previous research showed that some brain regions recover if a person stops drinking, but it was not known to what extent or how quickly recovery occurred.
The most recent study found that people who stop drinking gain thickness of the cerebral cortex over time, more rapidly during the first month and continuously for 7.3 months, at which time the thickness is comparable to of people without AUD.
“The few studies investigating changes in cortical thickness during abstinence are limited to the first month of sobriety,” writes the team, led by psychiatrist and behavioral scientist Timothy Durazzo of Stanford University.
How was the study done?
A total of 88 people with EDs participated in the study, who underwent brain scans at approximately one week, one month, and 7.3 months of abstinence. Some participants joined after a month, so 23 people did not undergo scans a week, and only 40 of the total of 88 remained without drinking alcohol throughout the period.
They also analyzed 45 people who had never had acute alcoholism and substance abuse, measuring cortical thickness at the beginning of the study, which was repeated nine months later to confirm that the measured areas remained the same.