Cite this Response
Alice! Health Promotion. "Will Underage Drinking Have Long-Term Effects on my Brain Development?." Go Ask Alice!, Columbia University, 28 Sep. 2026, https://goaskalice.columbia.edu/answered-questions/will-underage-drinking-have-long-term-effects-my-brain-development. Accessed 28, Sep. 2026.
Alice! Health Promotion. (2026, September 28). Will Underage Drinking Have Long-Term Effects on my Brain Development?. Go Ask Alice!, https://goaskalice.columbia.edu/answered-questions/will-underage-drinking-have-long-term-effects-my-brain-development.
Dear Alice,
I am 18 and I started drinking alcohol when I was 17. At 17 I had only tried bits of drinks occasionally and only got drunk once. Now I am 18 and about to enter college, and I know that there will be a lot of drinking at college parties. When I ask people about the effects of drinking, they either tell me that nothing will happen or that i should wait until I’m 21. Realistically, I will not be waiting until I’m 21, but I want to get the facts about whether I am seriously harming my brain development. I have only gotten drunk once, but I am worried about the long-term effects of alcohol on my brain development, especially if I start to drink more often. Now that I’m older, all parties involve alcohol so it’s becoming hard to avoid. What I want to know, is whether there will be serious long-term effects if I drink occasionally (every few months) even though I’m not 21. I don’t mean binge drinking, or drinking often, but is it ok to drink at a party every once in a while?
Dear Reader,
Fun fact: the legal drinking age in the U.S. was enacted based on traffic safety rather than brain health! That said, drinking can affect your brain development. However, any effects are highly dependent on how much and how often you drink. Any changes that happen can typically be mitigated by periods of drinking less or not drinking alcohol. Being intentional about when and how often you drink can help balance social drinking with a healthy brain.
How does the brain develop as a young person?
Adolescence isn’t just the image you have of yourself in high school. It's typically defined as the period between the ages of 12 and 18. However, many important brain changes continue happening until the age of 25. These developments include the size of the brain and processes such as reasoning, ability to think and make decisions, and emotional regulation. Each stage of your brain development builds from the last. Even then, your brain keeps changing throughout your entire life!
How does alcohol affect your brain development?
Consuming alcohol can impact how your brain develops. What seems to matter is how often you drink over a period of time – like across a semester or academic year. Drinking during one party a year likely won’t affect much of your brain development. However, the more often you drink over time, the more likely you’ll experience changes to your brain.
With that in mind, drinking alcohol when you’re young can impact important brain functions in the long-term. This is because alcohol can change your brain’s structural development. For example, alcohol could affect the size or activity of certain brain regions. As a result, you might notice:
- Less impulse control
- Memory gaps from blackouts
- Changes in how you process information and emotion
Young people who are heavy drinkers experience more significant brain changes. Unfortunately, there’s also a higher risk of developing the following in adulthood:
- Alcohol use disorder
- Substance use disorder
- Mental health disorders like depression
Adolescents who aren’t heavy drinkers also experience brain changes on a smaller scale. They’re unlikely to develop serious alcohol-related physical or mental health concerns. However, they still might have structural changes to their brain that impact reasoning or complex thinking abilities.
Regardless of how much you drink, brain changes due to alcohol consumption can be improved by drinking less or abstaining from alcohol. That said, the extent to which your brain changes course depends on the person and their history of drinking alcohol.
Does alcohol still affect your brain after you turn 21?
Minimum legal drinking ages around the world are created for different reasons, and brain health isn’t typically one of them. Regardless of those reasons, alcohol will affect your brain and physical health well into your twenties. As you get older, you might experience:
- Intoxication
- Slowed body function
- Potential dependence and addiction
- Alcohol-related mental health disorders
- Physical disorders or illnesses
So, while turning 21 makes drinking legal in the U.S., your brain development continues to be affected by alcohol.
What are some ways to drink alcohol safely?
It sounds like you’re mindful about when and how much you drink. Here are some additional strategies you can use to practice safer alcohol use in college:
- Be aware of what’s in your cup and how much you're drinking
- Don't leave your drink unattended
- Intentionally decide on a limit to avoid drinking too much
- Alternate drinking an alcoholic beverage with an alcohol-free option like soda, juice, or non-alcoholic alcohol
- Switch to only alcohol-free beverages at some point during the event
- Make sure you’ve had enough to eat and hydrate with water before you drink
- Be mindful of mixing alcohol with other substances
Knowing what alcohol does to a developing brain and what your own drinking patterns look like can help you make the best decision for you.
You can cheers to that!