Daniel Priestley

Well, the U.S. Surgeon General just came out wanting to put cancer warning labels on all alcohol. That's sort of big evidence. I mean, three years ago, the American Cancer Society came out against any alcohol that Because drinking any alcohol increases your risk of seven different cancers. And that's a big deal.

And then the evidence I have, and my first clinic was outside of the Napa Valley in Northern California. So alcohol is a big thing. And as I was looking at scans, I'm like, your brain's older than you are. that alcohol is not a health food. It is detrimental to brain function. And then, of course, you know, so I've been a psychiatrist. Now I decided to be a psychiatrist 46 years ago.

And then the evidence I have, and my first clinic was outside of the Napa Valley in Northern California. So alcohol is a big thing. And as I was looking at scans, I'm like, your brain's older than you are. that alcohol is not a health food. It is detrimental to brain function. And then, of course, you know, so I've been a psychiatrist. Now I decided to be a psychiatrist 46 years ago.

The number one problem I see is someone drinks and they make a bad decision. Someone drinks and they say something to their partner that they just shouldn't have said. Or they drink and they go to work. Or they drink and they drive. Or they drink and... It just causes so much trouble. And in 1999, I did a show called The Truth About Drinking.

The number one problem I see is someone drinks and they make a bad decision. Someone drinks and they say something to their partner that they just shouldn't have said. Or they drink and they go to work. Or they drink and they drive. Or they drink and... It just causes so much trouble. And in 1999, I did a show called The Truth About Drinking.

And we took a young adult who had trouble with alcohol, got him sober, scanned him, And then on national television, we got him drunk, just like he got drunk. And it just crashed his frontal lobes. And you just, it's so clear that alcohol takes the brake off your brain. And so people use it. to calm the brain down. But there's certain parts of your brain you really don't want to go offline.

And we took a young adult who had trouble with alcohol, got him sober, scanned him, And then on national television, we got him drunk, just like he got drunk. And it just crashed his frontal lobes. And you just, it's so clear that alcohol takes the brake off your brain. And so people use it. to calm the brain down. But there's certain parts of your brain you really don't want to go offline.

One drink will decrease in a mild way your decision-making. When it becomes chronic, your life begins to get out of control.

One drink will decrease in a mild way your decision-making. When it becomes chronic, your life begins to get out of control.

Well, I think there's always sort of a dose response. There was a study in Spain that looked at people who had mild, moderate, and severe drinking, and they compared them to people who didn't drink at all. Even the people who only drank a little had disruptions in the white matter of their brain. Now, most people have heard about gray matter and white matter. Gray matter is nerve cell bodies.

Well, I think there's always sort of a dose response. There was a study in Spain that looked at people who had mild, moderate, and severe drinking, and they compared them to people who didn't drink at all. Even the people who only drank a little had disruptions in the white matter of their brain. Now, most people have heard about gray matter and white matter. Gray matter is nerve cell bodies.

White matter is nerve cell tracks. So if you think of gray matter, it's where the computation is happening in the brain. And white matter... are like the highways. And so even a little bit of alcohol is creating potholes. It's disrupting the highways in the brain. And if you're drinking a lot, you are prematurely aging your brain.

White matter is nerve cell tracks. So if you think of gray matter, it's where the computation is happening in the brain. And white matter... are like the highways. And so even a little bit of alcohol is creating potholes. It's disrupting the highways in the brain. And if you're drinking a lot, you are prematurely aging your brain.

For people who know the mitochondria, those are the little powerhouse energy plants in your cells. The spectracer, 49% of it is taken up by the mitochondria in the brain. So we're also looking at energy metabolism. And what we see with alcoholic brains is something we call scalloping, which is this global decrease in activity. So a healthy brain, full, even, symmetrical activity.

For people who know the mitochondria, those are the little powerhouse energy plants in your cells. The spectracer, 49% of it is taken up by the mitochondria in the brain. So we're also looking at energy metabolism. And what we see with alcoholic brains is something we call scalloping, which is this global decrease in activity. So a healthy brain, full, even, symmetrical activity.

It sort of looked big, fat, and round. with alcohol or other drugs too, you see the brain begin to shrivel. And you see it gets this wavy appearance. And I'm like, the real reason not to drink is it damages your brain.

It sort of looked big, fat, and round. with alcohol or other drugs too, you see the brain begin to shrivel. And you see it gets this wavy appearance. And I'm like, the real reason not to drink is it damages your brain.

So I often say the only organ where size really does matter is your brain. Because you don't want to lose something. Brain tissue, right? There is a part of your brain called the hippocampus, which is on the inside of your temporal lobes right here. And it's really important. And it makes new stem cells every day, about 700. And if you're drinking,

So I often say the only organ where size really does matter is your brain. Because you don't want to lose something. Brain tissue, right? There is a part of your brain called the hippocampus, which is on the inside of your temporal lobes right here. And it's really important. And it makes new stem cells every day, about 700. And if you're drinking,

it's not allowing those new stem cells to take hold, to take root. You want to strengthen them so they will continue to support mood, memory, spatial orientation, spatial processing.