Alcohol paralyzes the cerebellum

Every year in our country, there are several traffic accidents caused by drunk driving. Now the country is also strictly checking drunk driving to prevent it before it happens. But why does drunk driving cause such a high probability of traffic accidents? It is because after people get drunk, alcohol will penetrate the whole body, paralyze the brain, and make the person's reaction 3-5 seconds slower than usual, so the traffic accidents it causes are the greatest. So, will alcohol paralyze the human cerebellum? Let me explain it to you below.

Alcohol is a neurotropic substance that has an inhibitory effect on the central nervous system. After drinking, you will feel relaxed and warm, eliminate tension, relieve fatigue and reduce discomfort or pain. Drinking a large amount of alcohol at one time can produce a state of drunkenness, which is a common form of acute alcohol poisoning. Long-term and heavy drinking can lead to degeneration of the cerebral cortex, cerebellum, pons and corpus callosum, damage to the liver, heart, endocrine glands, malnutrition, enzyme and vitamin deficiencies, etc. All types of alcohol can cause dependence, but strong liquor with a high alcohol concentration is more addictive. The process of developing dependence on alcohol is slow, and the formation of chronic alcoholism usually requires a long-term drinking history of more than 10 years. Alcohol and sedatives may have cross-tolerance, and some alcohol-dependent people may also be dependent on hypnotic sedatives.

The cerebellum is a part of the brain. Located at the lower back of the brain, in the posterior cranial fossa, on the back of the medulla oblongata and pons. It can be divided into the middle vermis and the enlarged cerebellar hemispheres on both sides. There are many roughly parallel shallow grooves on the surface of the cerebellum, with a leaf between them. The gray matter on the surface is the cerebellar cortex, and the deep part is the white matter, also called the medulla. There are several pairs of nuclei in the white matter, called central nuclei. The cerebellum is an important regulatory center for movement, with a large number of afferent and efferent connections. The motor information sent by the cerebral cortex to the muscles and the information from the muscles and joints when executing the movement can be transmitted to the cerebellum. The cerebellum constantly integrates these two types of incoming nerve impulses, and adjusts and corrects the movements of the relevant muscles through efferent fibers to keep voluntary movements coordinated. In addition, the cerebellum plays an important role in maintaining body balance. It receives information from the vestibular organs and, through efferent connections, changes the tension of muscles in different parts of the body, allowing the body to maintain postural balance when accelerating or rotating under the action of gravity.

So alcohol affects the cerebellum and paralyzes it.