Why Wasnt I Addicted In My Younger Party Days?

Pain Pills
1
This question was brought up by several posters on the long thread re NA or Alternate that Molly started...

Interestingly enough I just read about this and thought id share some of it..


According to a recent study...Our brains WERE actually different when we were younger....In our late teens and 20s, we were capable of doing new things, even doing repetitive things, (habits) and moving on without so much as a moments hesitation...We seemed able to party, do "recreational" drugs and drink, but never had any problem turning away from it....

According to this artcle, thats because our brains had much more plasticity back then..

Dr Wexler, a leading neurosurgeon and Author of Brain and Culture writes that it is that plasticity that makes children able to soak up another language and adapt to new cultures at a rate which puts us adults to shame..

"By the time we hit our late 20s" Wexler writes our brains have LOST most of our plasticity, but fortunately, not all of it...

Success change requires abnormally intense, uninterrupted concentration and repetition..Why?? Because we are working AGAINST Evolution: Our brains are designed to conserve energy for really important things like breathing and coordinating motion, even though sometimes, altering behaviour is just as important to our lives as breathing.
Our brains revert to habits whenever given the opportunity because they require less energy than change...

There are 100 BILLION neurons in your brain..Each one is connected to thousands of others..Behaviours, learning and memory-involves the integrated actions of hundreds of thousands of cells in intricate systems throughout. the brain.

In Adults, those systems are essentially hard-wired.

When your a kid, its a different story...Young brains are constantly forming new connections between neurons, changing the way children process information based on their limited experiences..Thats plasticity....

Wexler states..Imagine you have one good strong eye and one weak one..If you cover the good eye with a patch, so it gets no stimulation whatsoever, the weak eye WILL get stronger..but the second that you remove the patch, the strong eye takes over again, and the weak one actually gets weaker...

The same is true for all pathways in the brain...Once established..they stick around and remain strong SO LONG AS THEIR BEING USED...

So the first step towards real change is putting a "Patch" over the pathway that you want to lose.. ( like smoking craving ) , which means eliminating anything that activates it.. ( having smokes in the house, keeping ashtrays around sitting in your favourite smoking spot etc..)

This is why for so many people that are trying to quit drinking or smoking, its almost impossible to have "just one". Its why heroin and or coke addicts have t avoid not only the drug but the places and people connected to their drug days...especially at first... any of that type of brain stimuli will lead to failure..

Avoiding old stimuli will..in time help you to starve the old pathway, so that you can actually build a new pathway.

The more drastically you restructure your habits, the more the established pathway that your trying to change is weakened

Disabling the pathway isnt everything...searching your brain for an already exsisting healthy pathway- even a tiny weak one- and then strengthening it can make things much easier...


Find something that you USED to consistently do that brought you pleasure...and start doing it again...


Have more of the article if anyone is interested..its fascinating stuff IMO


Hugs

Ali
2
I agree 100%
3
very interesting........

Ali, could you please forward me the article.............


thanks, appreciate it.

luv ya
4
Hey honey


I cant forward it cus its not on the internet...


I did look for it cus i thought maybe that I could post a link..


It was in an article titled " Why is it so hard to change my bad habits" ( something like that..lol and its in this Months O Magazine...

I went to Oprahs site but she doesnt have it there either...

Its a good magazine thismonth, there is also an article about a woman that - though not a srious alcoholic, gos to a therapist to discuss alcohols role in her life...

Its called "Hi im Suzy and im Sorta- an alcoholic.."lol..its a great read though..

hope that helps

hugs

Ali

5
Bullwinkle


So do I.....theres alot more great info in there but id be typing forever to cover it all...if anyone wants me to - I can type out a bit more later..

thanks for reading it and posting back to me..

Hope your enjoying your Sunday night..

Hugs

Ali
6
oh......ok..............

i will pick up that issue tomorrow.........

i use to get them through the mail...........


i find that very interesting.............

thanks for sharing ali.................
you sweetheart

thumper

OMG your typing this.........
your thoughtful, ...

iam gonna go and get the O issue tomorrow.........................

thank you
7
Ali,
That is a very interesting article, but how do they explain then those who DO get addicted at a young age? There are plenty of young teens, young adults in rehab programs and definitelty addicts. We are chemical beings really and so every chemical substance we put into our body will react differently. Sortof like metabolism I think. In one person a cheeseburger does nothing, in another it adds a pound. Similarly, I think, in one person a drink does nothing in another it makes them crave 5 more. Personally, the reason I think alot of us "past our younger days" get addicted has more to do with lifestyle. It easier for us to get a script from a doctor, its also easier for us to explain away the reasons we are taking a pill because of the responsibilities we have at this age. There is definately no cooker cutter explanation. We each have to look at why we are where we are and procede from there.
I hope you are getting some sleep Ali. Is there a reason why you are having trouble? I hope all is well and you have a good nights sleep tonight.
8
great article! i thought this comment was quite interesting...."Our brains revert to habits whenever given the opportunity because they require less energy than change...". perhaps thats why its so much easier for addicts/ex-addicts to revert back to our old behaviours of (such as my bad habit), popping a pill instead of persisting to try and learn a new coping strategy!?!

p.s donna what u said is so true too "It easier for us to get a script from a doctor, its also easier for us to explain away the reasons we are taking a pill ..." i know its not the best thing to do, but understand what u mean by being easier to revert back to that old habit!

take care
9
Donnatwo


The article was really more on bad habits, and habits in general but it did touch base on the fact that there are some that may be predisposed to addiction either through genes or by growing up surrounded by such chaos that the youth never learns healthy boundaries...

Sleep..whats that? lol thanks for asking honey...I dont know why I cant sleep much lately...Im worried about something my hubbys Dr said to me i think...its something I feel he had no right to say, and well..its hard to get into but..I cant get it out of my mind and hubby has no idea he said it...

Perfect example of how easy it is to brush something off and pretend it doesnt bother you, push it down, or even try to reason it doesnt bother you...but it does..and it finds a way to surface..( anxiety and sleeplessness )

maybe i should go talk to him ( the Dr.) about it...point is, Im starting to get incredibly anxious all the time...terribly afraid of the next health scare or worse...and that sort of keeps me from living in the now...which is what intellectually i know is what i should be doing...

Ugh..

Hard thing to even talk about, but obviously cant discuss it with Hubby..

so thanks for asking..

Big hugs

Ali