Random Things Actually Happen When You Black Out (18 items)

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  (#1) Something Called "Transient Amnesia"

  When you drink so much that you black out, the alcohol blocks your brain from forming memories. So you're still walking around and doing stuff, but you won't be able to remember any of it. 
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  (#2) The Emotions Come On Strong

  Here's a quick science lesson: When you drink alcohol (a depressant), a tiny portion of it seeps into your brain from your bloodstream and covers your cerebral cortex (which is responsible for processing sensory information and thoughts), disrupting the normal flow of neurotransmitters.

  The more you drink, the more your emotions begin to come out, so if you're sad, you get SUPER SAD; and if you're angry, you turn into a homicidal maniac. 
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  (#3) Your Blood Alcohol Levels Shoots Through the Roof

  Obviously you have to have a pretty high blood alcohol level to get black-out drunk, but that level spikes to somewhere above 0.15, which is twice the legal limit for driving. 
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  (#4) The Recorder in Your Brain Shuts Down

  Try as hard as you want, but you'll never remember anything that happened when you were black-out drunk. Your best bet is to hire someone to follow you around with a polaroid so you at least have an artist's depiction of what it's like when you lose control. 
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  (#5) You Might Start Sleepwalking

  When you're black-out drunk you may feel you are sleepwalking already, but even after you get in bed, you won't sleep normally. Some drinkers experience a sensation similar to sleepwalking after they've ingested too much alcohol. 
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  (#6) Alcohol Poisoning Is Very Likely

  Drinking alcohol is essentially putting a small amount of poison in your body. A small amount just makes you act goofy, but if you drink too much of it, you're going to end up completely destroying your body. In fact, if you're getting black-out drunk you're 70% more likely to end up in the emergency room than someone who's not drinking to excess. 
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  (#7) Drain Bamage

  It's a well-known fact that drinking to excess can cause brain damage, but it's worth repeating that if you're getting wasted on the regular you can experience everything from slips in memory to permanent and debilitating conditions that require lifetime custodial care. 
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  (#8) You Get Violent

  No surprises here: if you're someone who's suppressing your volcanic anger on a day-to-day basis, then you're probably going to be a violent drunk when you black out. A study in Norway found that individuals who held in their anger were 10% more likely to get drunk and 5% more likely to get violent. 
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  (#9) Good Decision-Making Goes Out the Window

  Shocking no one, a study was released that said that teens are 50% more likely to drink to the point of blacking out and that because of their undeveloped frontal cortex, they were more likely to lose all rational thought and make incredibly bad decisions. 
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  (#10) You Might Go on a Shopping Spree

  The best version of the worst-case scenario that is getting black-out drunk involves you spending way too much money on a plane ticket to Rio and having a great time like this guy from Scotland. Do you think he would have gone on the trip if he'd accidentally bought a ticket to Iowa?
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  (#11) Your Whole Body Hurts

  We've all woken up from a night of heavy drinking feeling like we got hit by a ton of bricks, but why? It turns out that when you drink alcohol your stomach releases endotoxins into your bloodstream and they steal nutrients from your muscles. Ouch! 
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  (#12) You Get Phone Happy

  Sometimes when you drink you just want to talk to someone. A woman from Florida (duh) found out the hard way that you should always drink with a buddy when she blacked out, lost her car (which is probably a good thing), and called 911 EIGHT TIMES to ask for help. She later told police that calling 911 was "not a big deal."
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  (#13) You Take Up Space in the Hospital from People Who Need It

  If you don't care that you're slowly killing yourself every time you black out, then maybe you'll care about the fact that when you drink so much that you have to be taken to the hospital for alcohol poisoning, you're stealing precious resources from patients who probably didn't mess up their bodies partying. 
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  (#14) If You Didn't Already Have an Ulcer, You Do Now

  If you're experiencing multiple alcohol-related black outs, then there's a good chance that your stomach is releasing excessive amounts of stomach acid which causes inflammation, leading to an ulcer. The ulcer can do anything from fill your stomach with blood to burn a hole in your stomach lining. 
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  (#15) You Can Kill Someone

  In Seattle, a man allegedly got so drunk that he killed four women and children in 2006. In his court case it was revealed that the man consumed more than a liter of vodka in the hours leading up to the slayings. 
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  (#16) You Lose Your Mind

  Literally! To put it as non-scientifically as possible, you keep doing stuff even though the receptors in your brain that help you make decisions have shut down. That's probably why you made the decision to take a $200 Uber ride home. 
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  (#17) You're Probably Going to Pee All Over Your House

  That's right, if you have a habit of drinking so much that you black out then you should invest in a giant rubber sheet for your home because you're going to start marking your territory. The simple fix for this is to drink less. Like, 100% less. 
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  (#18) Your Hippocampus Shuts Down

  The hippocampus is the emotional center of your brain, and when you fill it with booze, it completely shuts down. This can have varied effects ranging from memory loss to a loss of motor functions. 

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