Many of us believe that we are great drinkers and that alcohol does not affect us as much. People who are able to drink without showing any sign of inebriation are known as social drinkers. In short, they are not addicted to alcohol but will not turn down the opportunity to have a good time! While it may seem like it doesn’t affect you, new studies suggest that it is just an illusion, even if you have high tolerance, alcohol affects your cognitive and motor functions more than you think.

The study reveals the below implications and techniques:

• Researchers used a new MRI technique to precisely measure brain electrical activity.
• By comparing brain scans before and after drinking, scientists identified specific areas affected by alcohol and how much brain activity slowed down.
• Participants were chosen to be regular social drinkers without alcohol addiction, ensuring the study focused on the effects of alcohol alone.
• MRI technology provided reliable data on brain activity changes caused by alcohol consumption.

How does the brain react to alcohol?

Think of it as the foundation for your brain's performance. When brain conductivity is high, information flows smoothly, and that helps your brain in rapid processing and response. On the other hand, low conductivity can hinder cognitive function, leading to slower thinking, impaired memory, and difficulties with coordination.

A study conducted at the Neuroscience Research Australia (NeuRA) and UNSW Science unveiled a startling connection between alcohol consumption and brain conductivity.

What is the connection between alcohol consumption and brain activity?

While many people brush off the effects of alcohol as temporary changes in behaviour, the reality is much more complex. Beyond the obvious impacts on coordination and judgment, alcohol significantly alters brain function. Alcohol dramatically slowed down brain activity, especially in areas responsible for decision-making, planning, and physical coordination. This decline was so significant that it resembled the brain changes seen in normal ageing. This means even one drink could temporarily accelerate the ageing process of your brain.

Alcohol and Brain activity: What does the study Imply?

The implications of this research are far-reaching. It provides compelling evidence that alcohol consumption has a direct and measurable impact on brain function. The discovery that alcohol can significantly reduce brain conductivity opens new avenues for understanding the neurocognitive effects of alcohol abuse and dependence. While you may not feel like alcohol is affecting you and you have a high tolerance, it most definitely changes and affects your decision-making abilities and impulse control.

Furthermore, the MRI technique employed in the study could be a valuable tool for assessing the impact of other substances on the brain and for developing interventions to mitigate alcohol-related brain damage.

We often believe that depression may just result in changes in mood and behaviour. But a new study has found that major depressive disorder could disrupt production of new brain cells in the hippocampus, a region involved in memory and processing of emotions.

The study, published in Nature Medicine, analysed almost 500,000 individual brain cells from people with depression and people without the mental health condition. Researchers found changes not only in the formation of new neurons but also across the wider hippocampal circuit.

Depression May Disturb Brain’s Ability To Produce New Neurons

In the human brain, most neurons are produced before birth, but the hippocampus is one of the few regions where new neurons continue to develop even during adulthood. The researchers found that this process, known as adult hippocampal neurogenesis, stops in people with major depressive disorder.

Depression is viewed largely as a problem involving neurotransmitters such as serotonin. The new findings suggest a much more complex picture involving the brain's ability to adapt to stress and changing environments.

Maura Dupont, professor of psychiatry at Columbia University and the study's lead researcher, said, “Without the ability to create new neurons, people with depression may not have the resilience to effectively adapt to the environment."

Also read: Sugar Rationing In First 1,000 Days Linked To Lower Depression, Cancer Risk In Adulthood

The Hippocampus Links Memory With Emotional Responses

The hippocampus plays an important role in episodic memory, helping people distinguish between different experiences and connect memories with their emotional context.

Researchers say impaired neurogenesis may affect a process called pattern separation, which helps the brain keep similar experiences distinct. For instance, a friend being quiet in your company does not necessarily mean they are upset with you.

When the brain has a healthy pattern-separation system, it recognises that as an individual event rather than automatically misconstruing it and linking it to previous experiences of rejection.

Dupont said that when this ability is impaired, memories and their emotional associations can become blurred, potentially building the tendency to interpret new experiences negatively.

Also read: Lindsay Clancy Trial: What Postpartum Psychosis Really Looks Like, From A Survivor

Other Changes In Brain Changes That Extend Beyond Neuron Formation

The researchers found molecular changes across the hippocampal circuit, including genes involved in forming connections between neurons, communication between brain cells, energy production and movement of material inside cells.

The hippocampus's circuit also showed signs of inflammation and cellular stress in people with depression. This indicates that depression may involve widespread changes in how brain cells communicate and function.

What The Findings Could Mean For Depression Treatment?

The researchers say the findings could eventually help recognise different physiological effects of depression, helping develop specific treatments according to patients with different molecular structures.

Dupont said the team hopes depression could eventually be classified according to its molecular characteristics, similar to how some cancers are classified. However, the findings do not mean that depression can currently be treated by simply increasing the production of new neurons. The complete mechanism of the mental health condition is still not completely understood.

The H1N1 virus continues to surge in India’s national capital, Delhi, with vulnerable groups more likely to develop severe illness. While the infection is self-limiting in most cases, it is leading to increased hospitalizations, with some patients requiring ventilator support.

Delhi has reported 2,308 cases of swine flu, with the number described as around eight times higher than the average in previous years. However, no deaths have been reported so far.

The government has asked people to follow precautions similar to those followed during COVID, including the use of masks, and hand hygiene. However, it advised people not to panic but remain alert to symptoms.

To understand more about H1N1, HealthandMe interviewed Dr GC Khilnani, Chairman, PSRI Institute of Pulmonary, Critical Care & Sleep Medicine, PSRI Hospital, New Delhi, who explained the current surge, symptoms, warning signs, treatment and preventive measures.

Q. H1N1 cases are rising sharply in Delhi. What is driving this surge, and how concerning is it?

A. There has been a clear rise in H1N1 cases, which is concerning because influenza can occasionally cause severe pneumonia, ICU admissions, and deaths. The virus is also known to mutate, raising concerns about severe disease and wider outbreaks.

However, the current H1N1 virus is the same as in 2025. In healthy people, it usually causes a self-limiting illness lasting three to five days, with sore throat, fever, body aches, headache and sometimes mild chest pain.

Severe illness is more likely in vulnerable groups, including those aged 70–80 years or older, people with diabetes or chronic lung disease, and those who are immunocompromised due to long-term steroids, cancer treatment or other conditions.

We currently have patients on ventilators at PSRI Hospital because of H1N1, though thankfully there have been no deaths so far. The actual number of cases may also be higher than reported because not everyone gets tested.

Q. Is the H1N1 strain currently circulating in India different from previous years? How contagious is it?

A. It is a highly contagious strain. The ICMR has already said that it is the PDM09 Missouri type of virus, the same as it was in 2025. It has a very short incubation period of one to four days, and that means that it spreads very fast.

The attack rate is very high. That means that if it occurs in a family, all the family members are affected, and the contacts are affected. The spread is by droplet infection and also by touching non-living things like tables, chairs, or hands, as was happening in COVID. It spreads very fast. It's a short-term illness; therefore, the numbers are very high at this moment.

Q. What are the early symptoms of H1N1, and which warning signs mean a person needs hospital care?

A. Usual symptoms start with body aches, sore throat, headache, and fever, sometimes a very high-grade fever. Sometimes there is nausea and vomiting, and sometimes a little bit of chest pain is also there. It is sort of short-lived, and doesn't last for more than three to five days.

But if a person becomes breathless on mild exertion or at rest, or if the elderly person becomes drowsy or less responsive, then it's a point of worry.

If the oxygen level is below 91-92%, or the body turns blue, that means cyanosis (marked by a bluish or purplish tint to the skin or mucous membranes); these are signs of worry. Sometimes, if the chest pain is very severe, that should also not be ignored, and one should immediately go to the hospital.

Q. How can H1N1 progress from a routine flu infection to severe disease or complications?

A. It is a usual viral infection of the respiratory tract, upper as well as lower respiratory tract. It does cause a cytokine storm. It also causes multi-organ failure, and secondary infections are very common.

It is important for people who are susceptible and get admitted to hospital to look for secondary bacterial infection as well.

Q. Do antibiotics have any role in treating H1N1? How should it be treated?

A. There is absolutely, no role for antibiotics. We have the antiviral drugs, the most common being oseltamivir, popularly known as Tamiflu.

An important thing is that antivirals should be started within 48 hours of the start of the symptoms. After that, the role is very limited.

So, it is important that if the symptoms are there, it should be tested. The reports are available in 2–3 hours, and Tamiflu, is to be taken for five days, in a dose of 75 milligrams, that is, one tablet twice a day for five days.

The family members who are exposed, especially those who are susceptible, should also take a prophylactic dose of a 75-milligram tablet once a day for 7-10 days to prevent getting influenza illness.

Q. Does the seasonal flu vaccine protect against H1N1? Who should get vaccinated?

A. The flu vaccinations that are available in India definitely protects against H1N1. Like in COVID, it reduces the chances of infection, but more importantly, the severity of infection and mortality are reduced, underscoring the importance of vaccination.

Q. What is the best time to get the flu vaccine, especially now that cases are already rising?

A. One should take the flu vaccine once a year. The best months to receive this vaccination are before the expected outbreak.

Now that the outbreak is already underway, vaccination may offer limited immediate benefit, as it takes at least two weeks for the vaccine to become effective.

The best time to take it is, July-August because the outbreak usually comes in the monsoon period, or you can take it in January-February because the next outbreak occurs in March.

Q. What precautions should people take at home, workplaces and schools to prevent H1N1 transmission?

A. It is a question of—you know, during COVID, everybody was scared because mortality was highest. Everybody was following COVID-appropriate behavior.

Even now, people who develop symptoms should wear masks, even without testing, and avoid social events and crowded places to prevent spreading the infection to others.

The other thing which is more important is that those people who are likely to get severe disease—I have already described those people—should refrain from going to crowded places, like crowded markets or social gatherings and marriage parties.

Because, at this point in time it is likely that one person or another will be infected. Importantly, that person starts transmitting the virus one day before even getting the first symptom. So, you actually do not know who will be spreading it.

The infection rate is so high at this time that it is important for everybody not to go to crowded places if you are susceptible, meaning if you are 70-80 years old or your immunity is low.

And it is important that if you have to go to crowded places, then you should wear a mask and protect yourself.

Florida recently recorded one more locally acquired dengue case, taking the toll to 23 in 2026. Infections were reported across four counties, which raised fresh concerns about the spread of a disease more commonly associated with tropical and subtropical regions.

The recent rise has been concentrated in Hillsborough County, which has reported 15 cases, followed by Miami-Dade with four, Pinellas with three and Palm Beach with one.

The Florida Department of Health has issued mosquito-borne illness alerts in affected areas. In Hillsborough, officials issued an alert after the eighth locally acquired case was identified, while Pinellas issued its own alert after two local cases were confirmed.

Dengue Is Not Just A Tropical Disease

Dengue is caused by the dengue virus and is mainly spread through bites from infected Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus mosquitoes. Florida is not considered an endemic dengue region, but local transmission has occurred there before. The state reported 62 locally acquired cases in 2025, while 2024 saw a much larger total of 90.

What makes the current situation striking is that infections are occurring in people who did not acquire the virus while travelling abroad.

Why Does Dengue Surface In The US?

This can create a chain of local transmission. Warm weather also creates favourable breeding conditions for Aedes mosquitoes. Florida's warm weather, combined with stagnant water, provides opportunities for breeding and transmission.

Also read: Why Self-Medicating During Dengue Can Be Dangerous?

Reason Behind Spike In Florida Cases

Florida has a large number of international travellers and close links with regions where dengue is common. At the same time, warm temperatures and mosquito-friendly environments can fuel further transmission.

Recent surveillance has also shown mosquito-borne disease activity across several Florida counties. The state’s health department routinely monitors mosquito populations and human cases to identify transmission early and nab an outbreak.

Also read: World Mosquito Day: How Dengue Can Damage Your Kidneys

Complications Due To 'Breakbone Fever'

Many dengue infections cause no symptoms or result in a mild illness. When symptoms occur, they commonly include high fever, severe headache, pain behind the eyes, muscle and joint pain, nausea and rash. The disease is sometimes called “breakbone fever” as it can trigger intense muscle and joint pain.

Most people recover, but some develop severe dengue, which can cause bleeding, organ damage and death, in extreme cases.

How To Protect Yourself From A Dengue Infection?

There is no specific antiviral treatment for dengue. The treatment generally focuses on rest, fluids, monitoring and appropriate management of symptoms. Florida health officials have urged residents to reduce mosquito exposure by:

• Using an EPA-registered insect repellent
• Wearing long sleeves and long trousers when possible
• Keeping doors and windows screened
• Removing standing water from containers around homes
• Taking extra precautions during periods of increased mosquito activity