With this severe form of blackout, memories of events do not form and typically cannot be recovered. Excessive alcohol use isn’t the only thing that can cause blackouts or brownouts. Substance misuse on its own or with alcohol can increase your likelihood of experiencing a blackout. Hypnotics or sedatives and benzodiazepines like flunitrazepam (also known as Rohypnol or roofies) can also lead to blackouts or brownouts. Psychiatrist and addiction specialist David Streem, MD, discusses how alcohol and substance use aren’t the only pathways to memory loss and shares what’s really happening when you’re blacked out.

A standard drink ⁠— that’s 1.5 oz of hard liquor, 5 oz of wine or 12 oz of beer ⁠— will elevate the average person’s BAC by around 0.06 per drink. They will clearly display signs of intoxication as they continue to consume alcohol. Someone with an alcohol addiction, on the other hand, has a much higher tolerance and may be able to continue drinking without displaying many notable signs of intoxication because their brain is used to the presence of alcohol.

Because females, on average, weigh less than males and, pound for pound, have less water in their bodies, they tend to reach higher peak BAC levels than males with each drink and do so more quickly. This helps explain why being female appears to be a risk factor for having blackouts. Another complicating factor for research on blackouts is the potential use of other drugs (illicit or prescription) that might also contribute to memory loss. Although several research studies statistically control for or exclude individuals who report co-occurring illicit drug use, research clearly indicates that some individuals who report blackouts also report other drug use (Baldwin et al., 2011; Haas et al., 2015). Thus, researchers must be cautious and account for factors other than alcohol that might contribute to blackouts. The fallibility of memory, even in the absence of alcohol or blackouts, has been documented through decades of rigorous experimental and field research.

Short-Term and Long-Term Effects of Blackouts

A blackout ends when your body has absorbed the alcohol you consumed and your brain is able to make memories again. How much alcohol or substance use is needed to cause a blackout varies based on a person’s height, weight, sensitivity and assigned sex at birth. “Anything that causes damage to the brain, whether temporary or permanent, can cause memory how long does it take to detox from alcohol timeline and more loss if the damage is in the right spot,” states Dr. Streem. According to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, alcohol delays signals in the brain that control the gag reflex and other autonomic responses. A person who has blacked out or overdosed on alcohol could throw up while sleeping due to the loss of reflex control.

1. Because women’s BAC rises faster, they are at greater risk for blackouts.
2. As a result, those around the drinker may be quite drunk themselves and could struggle to assess the mental state of those around them.
3. Both of these conditions lead to loss of memory, but there is a key difference.
4. There are signs and symptoms of alcohol blackouts that people can look for when around someone who has been drinking.
5. In an effort to fill in gaps in their memory because of alcohol-induced blackouts, people use a variety of strategies to reconstruct their experiences (Nash and Takarangi, 2011).

In an effort to fill in gaps in their memory because of alcohol-induced blackouts, people use a variety of strategies to reconstruct their experiences (Nash and Takarangi, 2011). The most common reconstruction strategy is to ask friends who were present, and who may or may not have also been intoxicated. Consequently, in their quest to learn about their actions while in a blackout, people may be given misinformation from their friends, leading to inaccurate reconstructions of the events. People may also look for photos/videos or other types of physical evidence to help fill gaps in their memories due to blackouts.

Alcohol impairs your ability to walk, speak, react, and remember events. It also lowers inhibition, hinders impulse control, and affects decision-making. A person can experience a blackout at any BAC level, but it is most common when their BAC reaches 0.15% or higher. However, they are still as susceptible to blackouts if they keep on drinking.

Specifically, they are unable to move memories from the frontal lobe—where short-term memories are stored—to the hippocampus—where long-term memories are stored. Since short-term memories are only stored in the frontal lobe for a few seconds to a minute, these memories are quickly lost if they are unable to be shuttled off to the hippocampus. The difference between a brownout and a blackout is that brownouts involve partial memory loss.

Recuerdos Interrumpidos: Lagunas mentales inducidas por el alcohol

Depending on how often they are drinking, it is possible they will experience withdrawal and need help with those symptoms, including the kindling phenomenon. Blacking out can occur anytime someone binge drinks, be it their first-time binge drinking or their hundredth time. High doses of alcohol can lead to blackouts involving amnesia in any drinker. As such, someone experiencing a blackout is not necessarily a sign of alcoholism. While most people accept that alcohol and memory loss are connected, they do not always understand why that is.

Gateway Foundation is an alcohol addiction treatment center in Illinois, dedicated to helping people of all backgrounds learn to live life without drinking. We understand that every person arrives at addiction differently, and so we treat each individual according to their unique needs and circumstances. With a personalized treatment, you or someone you care about can take the necessary steps to understand and overcome alcohol addiction through residential, partial hospitalization or outpatient programs, depending on your needs.

During the blackout, the drinker tends to behave in ways that those around them read as merely being drunk. Their behaviors may be bolder or more out of character than seen when drinking in general, but often not to the point that those around them suspect that anything is wrong. Blackouts are not necessarily a sign of alcohol use disorder, but experiencing even one is a reason for concern and should prompt people to consider their relationship with alcohol and talk to their health care provider about their drinking. Complete amnesia, often spanning hours, is known as an “en bloc” blackout.

With a brownout, you may be able to remember certain details from the period of time you were affected, but other portions of time can’t be recalled. But sometimes, auditory or visual cues can help a person piece together memories of what happened during a blackout. These cues could come in the form of texts, pictures or conversations with people who were effects of mixing cocaine and alcohol present while you were blacked out. The medical term for blackouts is called transient loss of consciousness (TLOC). In addition to abstaining from alcohol, moderation and pace are important to preventing blackouts. Avoid binge drinking, which is defined as consuming five or more drinks in about two hours for men, or four or more drinks for women.

What causes a blackout?

They explored the prevalence and correlates of this type of drinking behavior in 307 incoming freshman who reported consuming alcohol over the past 30 days. Nearly 77% of the incoming freshmen reported drinking alcohol in a pre-meditated, intentional manner with the goal of becoming intoxicated. Compared to those who did not drink to get drunk, individuals who reported drinking to get drunk were more likely to experience an alcohol-induced blackout. Further, consistent with the prepartying and drinking games studies described previously (LaBrie et al., 2011; Ray et al., 2014; Wahl et al., 2013), individuals who reported drinking to get drunk were also more likely to have prepartied and participated in drinking games. Although alcohol-induced blackouts were previously thought to occur only in individuals who were alcohol dependent (Jellinek, 1946), we now know that blackouts are quite common among healthy young adults.

Individualized, evidence based treatment, to fit your needs.

A comprehensive, systematic literature review was conducted to examine all articles published between January 2010 through August 2015 that focused on examined vulnerabilities, consequences, and possible mechanisms for alcohol-induced blackouts. A 2006 study found that temporary memory loss caused by a fall in blood pressure (syncope) is a more likely cause of nonalcoholic-induced blackouts. Even with cues, you’re unlikely to remember what happened during this time. Without help, addiction can dismantle a person’s life, health, and relationships. Fortunately, with the right combination of treatments, recovery from an alcohol addiction is possible.

Symptoms Associated With Different Levels of Intoxication

In fact, approximately 50% of college students who consume alcohol report having experienced an alcohol-induced blackout (Barnett et al., 2014; White et al., 2002). Therefore, this systematic review provides an update (2010–2015) on the clinical research focused on alcohol-induced blackouts, outlines practical and clinical alcohol misconceptions implications, and provides recommendations for future research. Drinking to the point of a blackout has gained pop culture notoriety in recent years. Alcohol-induced blackouts can lead to impaired memory of events that transpired while intoxicated, and a drastically increased risk of injuries and other harms.