Traces of different types of alcoholic beverages from different time periods have been discovered all over the world. For example, clay tablets that were found in the Mesopotamia contained recipes for alcoholic beverages and artwork that showed people drinking their alcohol. Egyptian texts were found that mentioned medical use of alcohol as well. Alcoholic drinks, such as beer, were considered to be safer than water because water was often polluted. That was one reason why Europeans drank so much beer. In fact, the Mayflower ship that brought colonist over to the new world had more beer aboard the ship than they had water and when they arrived they began making their own beer and wine in the new world. This heavy drinking mindset remained until the late 1800’s. The average American today drinks four alcoholic beverages a week. This number is extremely low compared to the gallons of beer that were consumed by each person every day on the Mayflower ship and the amount of alcohol consumed by Europeans …show more content…
It is has been proven that the brain does not stop developing until the mid twenties. Therefore, drinking underage can change the formation of the brain, which can then cause many problems. The problems can be short term or long term depending on the amount of alcohol that has been consumed, the age of the person, and how the brain reacts specifically to the alcohol. Alcohol affects every brain differently. Some of the effects that underage drinking can have on the brain are long term or short term memory loss, damaged to nerve tissue, and shortened attention spans. It is often common that when someone drinks heavily they will not remember the night before. This usually does not concern anyone. However, very few people know that the short-term memory loss is actually caused by a disruption of the hippocampus, which is a part of the brain that forms memories. Large amounts of alcohol can damage the hippocampus permantly. Although we may not be able to physically see the toll underage drinking takes on the formation of the brain without specialized technology, the effects can still be seen through the actions and thought processes of someone drinking