Bruises, cuts, nausea and a throbbing headache are some of the physical pains caused by binge drinking.

The most severe injury, though, is one you cannot see or even feel: the trauma inflicted on your brain.

A study presented at the annual conference for the Research Society on Alcoholism last week reported that binge drinking greatly deteriorates gray and white matter in the brain.

“Since the brain is developing in one’s 20s, it could be interacting with developmental factors,” Tim McQueeny, a doctoral student at U. Cincinnati who led the study, said.

The National Institute on Drug Abuse defines “binge drinking” as a pattern of excessive alcohol use that increases a person’s blood alcohol content rapidly, and says more than half of Americans between 18 and 25 have engaged in the activity. Typically, binge drinking would be five or more drinks in a row for men and four or more in a row for women.

More than half of Americans between 18 and 25 years old have engaged in binge drinking.

McQueeny conducted high-resolution brain scans on weekend binge drinks, which found significant erosion in the pre-frontal cortex and in the gray matter of the brain. The greater number of drinks consumed, the higher correlation to brain-matter thinning.

“It doesn’t matter what kind of drink,” McQueeny said. “When the combined alcohol reaches the binge level we see the effects.”

These effects include deterioration of the brain that control attention, planning, decision-making, thinking and transmitting messages.

Chris Nelson, a third year student at U. Kansas Law, has witnessed first-hand the drinking culture on campus and the negative impact it has on student performances.

“I’d say a good rule of thumb is if you need to study to take a test on Friday, you won’t be doing yourself any favors going out on a Thursday,” Nelson said.

Binge drinking affects every single organ in the human body, but because alcohol is a depressant, it directly slows the functioning of the central nervous system.

According to Watkin’s Student Health Services, about twenty-five percent of college students say their drinking has negatively impacted their academic performance. Students report missing classes, failing exams and falling behind in coursework as a result of their drinking.

When a high-resolution brain scan of a healthy brain and a brain affected by binge drinking are placed side by side, the brain of the binge drinker appears to be filled with holes.

Any binge drinking, even rarely, has this effect.

“So many people think of college as the only years they can really cut loose,” Nelson said. “They don’t grasp what their life could be like down the line. “