Scary simulation shows what happens to your brain when you get blackout drunk

A simulation has revealed what happens in your brain when you blackout from drinking too much.

The YouTube video outlined exactly what goes on in your head after a heavy night of pints and cocktails, so we can all understand why we're all better off at calling it a night sooner rather than later.

When you wake up with a hangover the morning after, feeling dehydrated and with a banging headache, you might also be left with patchy memories - or an absence of them - prompting you to message friends to ask about what happened last night.

It's one of the worst feelings ever, and this is scientifically how it happens.

What happens when you blackout? (Getty Stock Image)

According to the video, posted by Insider Science on YouTube, more than half of college/university students experience alcohol-induced blackouts - which is different to passing out.

When you blackout, you are likely awake and going about the night as normal to everyone else, but you won't recall what happened later on.

Basically, when you have conversations or an experience, the prefrontal cortex in your brain stores the information in short-term memory.

The hippocampus, another part of your brain, then joins these experiences together, making it a long-term memory, which can be cherished and remembered for years to come.

So if you were sober, you would remember the entire night, instead of individual aspects of it.

But how does this happen?

You could easily go about your night and continue drinking, with your friends completely unaware of your wellbeing (Getty Stock Image)

Well, it's up to special neurotransmitters in your brain, but alcohol stops them from working as normal, so instead of one long memory, you recall parts of it, or none of it at all.

Obviously, the amount of alcohol in your body also has an impact on how much you remember.

For example, the video explains: "Let's say you're a 73kg adult man, and you've done eight shots in one hour.

"Your blood alcohol content is probably around .2 percent by this point, more than twice the legal limit for driving a car.

"And your brain may still be able to store some memories, so you end up with islands of memories separated by missing sections.

"That's called a fragmentary blackout, AKA a greyout or brownout."

It can get worse though, as if you hit four more shots in 30 minutes, your blood alcohol content will hit .3 percent, which is where your hippocampus goes dark and causes amnesia.

Known as an en bloc blackout, you can easily wake up with no recollection of the night before, though if you drink any more than this, or the equivalent for your weight, you could die.

The scary part here is that your friends may not even know that you're blacked out, as alcohol won't delete the long-term memories that you formed prior to the drinking beginning.

This means that you can still behave normally, to an extent, allowing you to hold up conversations and appear OK.

Health-wise and apart from blackouts, too much alcohol is detrimental to your brain's health, affecting your reasoning and decision-making, which is why people can do some of the worst things while drunk.

To conclude, the video says: "Not everyone gets blackouts - your sex, body weight and family history all play a role.

"So that could explain why your friends recall the entire night, despite downing just as much tequila, but it won't save them from a wicked hangover the next morning."

Please drink responsibly. If you want to discuss any issues relating to alcohol in confidence, contact Drinkline on 0300 123 1110, 9am–8pm weekdays and 11am–4pm weekends for advice and support.