What Do Steroids Do to Your Brain

When people talk about steroids, they usually talk about muscles, strength and the body. They talk far less about the brain, and that is a serious gap, because the brain is one of the places where steroids do some of their most disruptive work. Anabolic steroids are synthetic versions of testosterone, the hormone that drives muscle growth and male sexual development. They are sometimes prescribed by doctors for genuine medical conditions, but they are also used without medical supervision by people who want to build muscle quickly, to look a certain way, or to perform better in sport. When they are used in that way, often at doses far higher than any doctor would prescribe, they flood the brain with hormonal signals it was never designed to handle, and the result can be a change in mood, thinking, sleep and judgement that the person themselves may be slow to notice.

This article explains, in plain words, what steroids do to the brain: how they affect mood and aggression, how they change thinking and memory, why sleep and anxiety often worsen, what happens to mood when use stops, and what the long-term risks look like. It is about side effects and harms only. It is general information, not individual medical advice, and it does not tell anyone how to use steroids. If you are worried about your own health, or about someone you know, a qualified health professional is the right person to talk to.

How Steroids Reach and Change the Brain

The brain is full of receptors for testosterone and related hormones, which means it is built to listen to hormonal signals. Under normal conditions, those signals are carefully balanced: the body makes testosterone, the brain reads it, and a feedback system keeps the level within a narrow range. Anabolic steroids break that balance. They arrive in large amounts, they stay in the body for days or weeks depending on the type, and they push the hormonal system far beyond its normal range. The brain responds by changing how it handles other chemical messengers, including dopamine and serotonin, which shape mood, reward and impulse control.

One of the first things that happens is that the body’s own testosterone production is switched off. The brain senses that there is already far too much hormone in the blood, so it stops sending the signal to make more. That shutdown can last for months after use stops, and while it lasts, the body’s natural hormone level can fall very low. That low period is one reason the months after stopping are often marked by tiredness, low mood and loss of sex drive. It is not a matter of willpower. It is a hormonal system that has been suppressed and needs time to restart, and in some cases it does not fully restart without medical help.

Steroids also affect the parts of the brain that handle emotion and self-control. The amygdala, a small structure deep in the brain that processes fear and anger, becomes more reactive under the influence of high hormone levels. At the same time, the prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain that weighs consequences, plans ahead and holds back impulses, becomes less effective at its job. That combination, a louder alarm and a weaker brake, is a recipe for the mood swings and impulsive behaviour that are so often reported with steroid use. A person may react to a small frustration as if it were a serious threat, and then regret it afterwards, without fully understanding why they reacted that way.

Mood Swings, Irritability and Aggression

Mood change is the most widely reported brain effect of steroids, and it is also the one that causes the most damage to relationships. Many people who use steroids describe feeling more confident and energetic at first, as if they can take on the world. That feeling can be pleasant, and it can make the gym, work and social life feel easier. But the same hormonal push that creates confidence can also create irritability. Small things begin to annoy, patience wears thin, and arguments start over matters that would once have been ignored. Partners, family members and friends are often the first to notice, and they are often the ones who bear the cost.

Aggression is the sharper end of this change. It is sometimes called “roid rage”, and although that phrase is used loosely, the pattern behind it is real. A person may become quick to anger, may shout or threaten in situations where they would once have stayed calm, and may find it hard to back down once an argument has started. In serious cases, aggression can turn into violence, and that can destroy a relationship, cost a job, or lead to trouble with the law. It is important to be clear that not every person who uses steroids becomes violent, and that steroids do not excuse violence. But the link between high-dose steroid use and increased aggression is consistent across research and across the accounts of users and their families.

What makes this particularly difficult is that the person using steroids often does not see the change in themselves. The brain that is affected is the same brain that is supposed to notice the change, and it tends to blame other people instead. A partner is described as nagging, a colleague as disrespectful, a stranger as provocative, when the real change is in the person’s own threshold for anger. That lack of insight is one reason outside voices matter so much. If several people who know you well are telling you that you have become angrier or harder to live with, that is information worth listening to, even if it is painful to hear.

Thinking, Memory and Concentration

Steroids do not only change mood. They also change how the brain handles information, and the effects can be subtle at first. Many users report that their concentration becomes patchy: they can focus intensely on one thing, such as a workout, but they struggle to follow a long conversation, to read a document carefully, or to remember what they were told an hour earlier. That patchiness is not a coincidence. The same hormonal changes that make the emotional brain more reactive also make the thinking brain less steady, and the result is a mind that swings between sharp focus and fog.

Memory is affected in several ways. Short-term memory, the kind that holds a phone number while you dial it or a name while you are introduced to someone, can become less reliable. A person may walk into a room and forget why, or may lose track of a story halfway through telling it. Longer-term memory, the kind that holds the details of past events, can also become less clear, although the changes are usually milder. These are not dramatic failures. They are small, everyday slips, and they are easy to blame on tiredness or stress. But when they happen again and again, and when they began at the same time as steroid use, the connection is worth taking seriously.

Decision-making is perhaps the most important thinking change, because it shapes everything else. The prefrontal cortex, which helps a person weigh risks, think about the future and resist impulses, is sensitive to hormonal disruption. Under the influence of steroids, a person may take risks they would normally avoid, may spend money impulsively, may drive too fast, or may make promises they cannot keep. They may also find it harder to learn from mistakes, because the same system that should register a bad outcome and change course is dulled. Over time, that pattern can lead to a series of poor decisions that add up to real harm, at work, in relationships and in finances, long before the person realises that their judgement has changed.

Sleep, Anxiety and Suspicion

Sleep is often one of the first things to suffer. Steroids can make it harder to fall asleep, can cause restless nights, and can increase snoring and breathing pauses during sleep. Some users report vivid dreams or nightmares, and many say they wake feeling unrefreshed even after a long night in bed. Poor sleep then feeds back into the other problems: a tired brain is more irritable, less able to concentrate, and more likely to make poor decisions. The loop is self-reinforcing, and it can run for weeks or months, leaving a person exhausted and yet unable to rest properly.

Anxiety is another common companion of steroid use, and it often surprises people who expected to feel more confident. The same heightened emotional reactivity that produces anger can also produce worry, restlessness and a sense of being on edge. A person may lie awake rehearsing conversations, may worry excessively about their appearance or their performance, or may feel a vague sense of dread without a clear cause. That anxiety can be worse in the days after a dose, or when the body is adjusting between cycles, and it can make ordinary social situations feel stressful and draining.

In more serious cases, the anxiety can shade into suspicion and paranoia. A person may become convinced that colleagues are talking about them, that a partner is being unfaithful, or that friends have turned against them, without good evidence. These thoughts are frightening for the person and painful for the people around them, and they can lead to accusations, to isolation, and to the breakdown of trust. Such symptoms are more likely with high doses and long use, and they are a sign that professional help is needed promptly. They are not a character flaw. They are a sign that the brain’s threat system is overactive, and that it needs care.

What Happens to Mood When Use Stops

Stopping steroids is not a simple return to normal, and the weeks after stopping are often the hardest part of the whole story. While the body was receiving large amounts of hormone from outside, it stopped making its own. When the outside supply ends, the body’s own production is still switched off, and the result is a hormonal crash. Testosterone levels can fall far below normal, and they can stay low for weeks or months. During that period, many people experience low mood, deep tiredness, loss of interest in things they once enjoyed, and a loss of sex drive. Some describe it as feeling flat, grey or empty, as if the colour has gone out of life.

That low mood can be severe. Research and clinical reports consistently link the period after stopping steroids with depression, and in some cases with thoughts of self-harm. That is a serious risk, and it is one reason stopping should not be done alone and without support. If a person feels persistently low, hopeless, or has thoughts of harming themselves after stopping, they need help urgently, from a health professional, a crisis service, or a trusted person who can stay with them and get help. There is no shame in that. It is a medical problem caused by a hormonal crash, and it deserves the same urgent response as any other medical emergency.

There is also a psychological loss that comes with stopping, and it is easy to underestimate. Muscle size and strength often fall quickly after use stops, because the body can no longer maintain them without the hormonal push. For a person whose identity, confidence and social standing were tied to their size, that loss can feel like losing a part of themselves. They may look in the mirror and feel smaller, weaker and less impressive, and that feeling can feed the low mood and the temptation to start again. Understanding that this is a normal part of the process, and that the body’s natural hormone production can recover with time and care, helps to put the loss in perspective, but it does not make it easy.

The Long-Term Risks to the Brain

The long-term effects of steroids on the brain are still being studied, and there is much that is not yet known. What is known is worrying enough to take seriously. Repeated high-dose use is linked with changes in brain structure, including shrinking of certain areas involved in memory and emotion, and with a higher risk of cognitive decline in later life. The evidence comes from brain scans and from long-term studies of users, and while it does not prove that every user will suffer the same fate, it shows a consistent pattern: the longer and heavier the use, the greater the change.

The risk of stroke is also raised, and it matters for the brain as well as for the body. Steroids can raise blood pressure, change cholesterol levels, and make the blood more likely to clot. Those changes damage the blood vessels that feed the brain, and they raise the risk of a stroke, which can cause sudden, severe damage to thinking, speech and movement. A stroke in a young person is a devastating event, and it is one of the most serious long-term risks of steroid use, even though it is rarely mentioned in gym conversations about muscle gain.

There is also the risk of lasting mood problems. Some people who use steroids for years find that their mood never fully returns to how it was before, even after they stop. They may be more prone to irritability, to anxiety, or to low mood, and they may find it harder to cope with stress. Whether that is due to lasting changes in the brain, to the hormonal system never fully recovering, or to the life damage that accumulated during years of use is hard to separate. What is clear is that the longer the use continues, the harder the recovery tends to be, and the more important it is to stop as early as possible and to get professional support.

Steroids and Young People

Young people are especially vulnerable to the brain effects of steroids, and that is a cause for real concern. The teenage brain is still developing, particularly the prefrontal cortex, which is responsible for planning, judgement and impulse control. That part of the brain does not finish maturing until the mid-twenties. Flooding a developing brain with high doses of hormones can disturb that development in ways that may last into adult life. A teenager who uses steroids may find it harder to learn, harder to control impulses, and harder to manage emotions, at exactly the age when those skills are most needed at school and in relationships.

There is also a social cost that is specific to young people. A teenager who becomes known for using steroids may find that their other identities, as a student, a friend, an athlete, a musician, start to fade. The muscle becomes the thing people notice first, and the person behind it becomes harder to see. That narrowing of identity can be hard to reverse, and it can shape the choices a young person makes for years. Adults have a responsibility here, to talk honestly with young people about these risks, without judgement and without exaggeration, and to offer support rather than punishment when a young person is already using.

Body image is at the heart of much steroid use among young people, and it deserves to be taken seriously rather than dismissed. Social media is full of images of muscular bodies that are presented as normal, achievable and desirable, when in reality many of them are the result of steroids, lighting, angles and editing. A young person who compares themselves to those images and finds themselves wanting may turn to steroids as a shortcut, without understanding the price. Talking about that pressure, and about what a healthy body actually looks like, is one of the most useful things an adult can do, and it is far more effective than simply telling a young person not to use.

Recovery After Stopping

Recovery after stopping steroids is slow, uneven and deeply personal, but it is real, and it is worth understanding in detail. The first step is the hormonal system restarting. That can take weeks or months, and during that time a person may feel tired, low and uninterested in sex. Blood tests, arranged by a health professional, can show whether hormone levels are returning to normal, and whether any treatment is needed. That is a medical matter, and it should be guided by a clinician who can see the full picture, not by advice from a gym or from the internet.

Thinking and mood usually improve as the hormonal system recovers, but the timeline is not tidy. Concentration often returns first, then mood, then the sense of energy and drive. Sleep tends to improve gradually, and with it, patience and judgement. Some people notice a clear improvement within a few months, while others take a year or more to feel like themselves again. The difference depends on how long and how heavily they used, how old they were when they started, and whether they received support. Keeping a simple record of sleep, mood and energy can help make the slow improvement visible, and it can be encouraging on days when progress feels invisible.

Support matters more than anything else in this period. A person who stops alone, without telling anyone, is carrying the hardest part of the recovery in silence. Telling a trusted person, talking to a health professional, or joining a support group can make the difference between a recovery that holds and a return to use at the first difficult moment. Support is not a sign of weakness. It is a practical tool, like a good pair of shoes for a long walk, and it makes the journey easier and safer. The people who recover best are rarely the ones who tried hardest alone. They are the ones who asked for help and kept asking for it.

Work, Relationships and Daily Life

The brain effects of steroids do not stay in the gym. They follow a person into work, into the home, and into every relationship that matters, and they do so in ways that are easy to miss until the damage is done. At work, poor concentration and impulsive decisions can lead to mistakes, missed deadlines and arguments with colleagues. A person who was once reliable may start to seem unpredictable, and colleagues may begin to avoid them, not out of malice, but out of self-protection. That avoidance can lead to isolation, and isolation can feed the low mood and the urge to use again, in a loop that is hard to break without help.

At home, the effects are often felt most sharply by a partner. Mood swings, irritability and suspicion make ordinary conversation difficult, and a partner may feel as if they are walking on eggshells, never knowing which version of the person they will meet in the evening. Intimacy can suffer too, both because of low mood and because of the hormonal changes that reduce sex drive, especially after stopping. A partner who does not understand the cause may take the distance personally, and that misunderstanding can turn a medical problem into a relationship crisis. Talking honestly about what is happening, ideally with the help of a professional, can prevent that misunderstanding from becoming a lasting wound.

Children are affected in quieter ways that are no less serious. A child who grows up around unpredictable anger learns to read an adult’s mood before they speak, to stay quiet when the mood is bad, and to take care of themselves too early. Those lessons stay with them, shaping how they handle stress and relationships as adults. A parent who uses steroids may not intend to teach those lessons, but the lessons are taught anyway, day by day, in the atmosphere of the home. That is one more reason to take the brain effects seriously, not only for the user’s sake, but for the sake of the children who share their home.

Daily life also becomes harder in practical ways. Money spent on steroids is money not spent on rent, food or family, and the financial strain adds to stress and arguments. Driving can become riskier when judgement is impaired and reactions are impulsive. Legal trouble is a real possibility, because steroids are controlled substances in many places, and because aggression can lead to fights or to trouble with the police. Each of these practical problems adds weight to the others, and together they can make life feel as if it is unravelling. Stopping does not fix all of them at once, but it stops them from getting worse, and it gives a person the clear thinking they need to start repairing them, one at a time.

My Take:

I think the saddest thing about steroids is how ordinary the desire behind them is. Most people who use them do not want to be villains. They want to look strong, to feel confident, to be admired, to win at sport, or to stop feeling small. Those are human wishes, and I understand them. What troubles me is that the shortcut they choose changes the very thing they are trying to improve. They want confidence, and they get irritability. They want control, and they get impulsivity. They want to feel good about themselves, and they end up feeling flat and empty when the drug wears off. It is a cruel trade, and it is one that the person often does not see until they are deep inside it.

The aggression is the part I find hardest to write about, because it is the part that hurts other people most. A person who becomes angry and violent because of steroids is still responsible for their actions, and I do not want to suggest otherwise. But I also think it is important to understand that the anger is not simply a choice. It is a brain whose alarm is too loud and whose brake is too weak, and that combination makes self-control genuinely harder. That does not excuse the harm. It explains why the harm happens, and it explains why telling a person to simply calm down is not a solution. What helps is stopping the drug, getting support, and learning, slowly, how to live with a brain that is no longer being pushed in the wrong direction.

I am struck by how invisible the brain damage is, compared with the muscle gain. The muscle is visible in the mirror, in photographs, in the way clothes fit. The brain damage is invisible, and it shows up only in small, deniable ways: a forgotten appointment, a sharp word, a poor decision, a night of bad sleep. Each one can be explained away, and so the person keeps going, believing that the only change is the one they can see. That is what makes steroids so deceptive. The visible gain is immediate and rewarding, while the invisible loss is slow and easy to ignore, until the losses add up to something that can no longer be explained away.

Teenagers are the part of this story that stays with me longest. A teenager’s brain is still being built, and flooding it with hormones is like pouring concrete into a house while the builders are still laying the bricks. The damage may not show at once, but it shapes the house that is built. I think about the young people who start using because they want to look like the bodies they see online, and I think about how little they are told about the price. They are told about muscle. They are not told about the mood swings, the low mood after stopping, or the risk to their developing brain. That is a failure of information, and it is one that adults need to fix, by talking honestly and early, before the first dose.

The crash after stopping is, in my view, the most under-discussed part of steroid use, and it is the part that traps people most effectively. A person stops, they feel terrible, and the obvious solution, the one their brain is screaming for, is to start again. That is not weakness. It is a hormonal system that has been switched off and is crying out for the drug that kept it going. Breaking that cycle needs more than willpower. It needs medical care, it needs support, and it needs time. I think anyone who is thinking of stopping should know this in advance, so that the crash does not come as a surprise and does not feel like proof that stopping was a mistake. The crash is proof that the drug was doing damage, not proof that the drug is needed.

I think about the partners and families in this story more than anything else, because they are the ones who live with the mood swings, the aggression and the suspicion, and they often do so in silence. A partner who is shouted at, a child who learns to be quiet when a parent is in a bad mood, a parent who watches their son change into someone they barely recognise, these are the hidden costs of steroids that never appear in a list of side effects. The family did not choose the drug, but they live with its consequences every day. If there is one thing I would want a reader to take from this, it is that the harm is never private, even when the use is. Other people are always carrying part of it, and they deserve to be part of the conversation about stopping.

There is a question I keep asking myself about the culture around steroids, and it is why we celebrate the muscle and ignore the mind. A person walks into a gym with bigger arms and receives praise, compliments and admiration. No one asks how they are sleeping, how their mood is, or whether their partner is afraid of them. The praise rewards the visible change and hides the invisible one, and that makes it harder for the person to see the problem. I think we need to change what we praise. Strength that comes with a steady mood, with patience, with good sleep and with kindness is worth admiring. Strength that comes with rage, suspicion and a crash afterwards is not strength at all. It is a performance, and it is one that costs too much.

I also think about the role of coaches, trainers and older gym users, because they are often the people a young user trusts most. A coach who turns a blind eye, or who quietly encourages use, is doing real harm, even if they never hand over a vial themselves. A coach who speaks honestly, who explains the risks, and who helps a young person train patiently is doing something far more valuable than any shortcut. I would say to any coach reading this that your influence is greater than you think, and that using it to protect a young person’s brain is one of the best things you can do with it. The muscle will come, slowly and safely, if the training is patient. The brain, once damaged, is far harder to rebuild.

One more thought stays with me, and it is about identity. Many people who use steroids build their whole sense of self around size and strength. They are the big one, the strong one, the one people notice. When use stops and size falls, that identity feels threatened, and the person may feel as if they are disappearing. I think the way through that is to build a wider identity, one that includes more than muscle: a good friend, a reliable worker, a kind partner, a person who can be trusted. Those identities do not shrink when the drug stops. They grow, slowly, as the brain recovers and as life becomes steadier. A person is more than their biceps, and remembering that is part of recovery, not a distraction from it.

Finally, I want to be clear about what I am not saying. I am not saying that everyone who uses steroids will suffer every harm in this article, and I am not saying that change is easy or quick. I am saying that the risks to the brain are real, that they are wider than most people realise, and that they are worth taking seriously before the damage adds up. The decisions, the timing and the support belong to the reader, and I trust the reader to use this information well. The brain you have is the one you will live with for the rest of your life. Protecting it is not a sign of weakness. It is the strongest choice a person can make.

Money is a reason I think about a lot, because it is concrete and it adds up. Steroids are expensive, and the cost grows with the dose and the duration. A person who uses for years can spend a large amount of money, enough for a holiday, a deposit, or a serious saving towards something that matters. That money could have gone to their family, their home, or their future, and instead it went into a drug that damaged their brain. When use stops, that money comes back, week by week, and it is one of the most satisfying parts of stopping. You can see it in your bank account, and that is a reward that arrives every single week, while the brain is doing its slower work of recovery.

Sleep is where I would start if I were trying to understand the damage steroids do, because sleep touches everything else. A person who sleeps badly thinks badly, feels badly, and decides badly, and then they use the drug again because they feel so bad. It is a loop, and loops are hard to break from the inside. What gives me hope is that sleep is also one of the first things to improve when the pattern changes. The brain wants to sleep well, and given the chance, it usually does. That first good night’s sleep, after weeks of broken ones, can feel like proof that change is possible, and that proof matters more than any advice.

I am honest about the fact that recovery is slow, and I do not want to pretend otherwise. Hormones take time to restart, thinking takes time to clear, and mood takes time to steady. A person who expects to feel like themselves again in a week will be disappointed, and disappointment can lead back to use. But a person who understands that recovery is measured in months, and who has support for those months, has a far better chance. The goal is not perfection. The goal is a brain that works steadily, a mood that can be trusted, and a life that is not ruled by a drug. That goal is worth the wait, and it is worth the work.

I would also say something about the gym itself, because the gym is not the enemy here. Exercise is good for the brain, good for mood, and good for sleep. The problem is not the gym. The problem is the drug that is sold in and around it, and the pressure to grow faster than the body can grow on its own. A person who trains naturally, eats well and sleeps well will be stronger, healthier and happier in the long run than a person who uses steroids to get there faster. That is not a slogan. It is what the evidence shows, and it is what the long-term stories of users show too. The fast road is not the good road. It is the road that leads to the crash.

I keep thinking about the quiet moments after a workout, when the gym is empty and a person is alone with their thoughts. That is often when the doubt arrives, when the praise fades and the person wonders whether the size was worth the cost. I think that doubt is worth listening to, because it is not weakness. It is the brain trying to tell the truth, underneath the hormones and the noise. A person who listens to that doubt early, before the damage is deep, has a far easier road than a person who silences it for years. Listening is not giving up. It is the first honest step toward a life that does not depend on a drug to feel worthwhile.

If you have never used steroids, I would say this: do not start because you want to look like someone else. The bodies you see online are often the result of drugs, lighting and editing, and they are not a fair standard to judge yourself against. Your body, trained patiently and fed well, is capable of a great deal, and it will serve you far better over a lifetime than a body built on steroids. The first dose feels like a shortcut. The thousandth dose feels like a trap. Walk away from the first one, and you will never have to escape the trap.

Finally, I would say this to anyone who is using now and thinking about stopping: you are not alone, and you are not beyond help. The low mood, the tiredness, the loss of size, all of it is part of a process that other people have been through and come out the other side of. Ask for help, tell someone you trust, talk to a health professional, and give yourself time. The brain that was changed by steroids can change back, slowly and unevenly, but genuinely. That change is available to you, and it is worth walking toward, one day at a time.

One more thing I would add is about patience with the people around you. They may not understand at first why you have changed, or why stopping feels so hard, and they may say the wrong thing. That does not mean they do not care. It usually means they do not know what to say. Giving them time, and giving yourself time, is part of the same recovery. When the brain steadies, conversations become easier, trust returns, and the relationships that were strained begin to mend. That mending is slow, like everything else in this story, but it is real, and it is one of the best reasons to keep going.

Frequently Asked Questions

How does steroids affect the brain?

Steroids flood the brain with hormonal signals far above normal levels, changing how it handles mood, reward and impulse control. The emotional brain becomes more reactive, while the part that plans and holds back impulses becomes less effective. Thinking, memory and sleep can all suffer, and the body’s own hormone production is switched off, which causes further problems when use stops. The effects grow with higher doses and longer use.

Can steroids cause confusion?

Yes, confusion is a reported effect of steroids. A person may struggle to follow a conversation, forget what they were doing, or feel detached from what is happening around them. Poor sleep, anxiety and hormonal disruption all add to the confusion. It can be frightening, and it can lead to accidents and poor decisions. Severe or sudden confusion should be checked by a health professional promptly.

Does steroids change how a person thinks over time?

With regular use, steroids can change how the brain handles information. Concentration becomes patchy, memory less reliable, and judgement less steady, as the brain’s planning and self-control systems are disturbed. Some of these changes improve after use stops, while others take longer, and the pace of recovery varies from person to person. Longer and heavier use tends to mean slower recovery.

Is brain damage from steroids permanent?

It depends on the person, the length of use, and the amount involved. Some brain changes improve with time, rest and support, especially when use stops early, while others may be lasting, particularly after years of heavy use. Brain scans have shown structural changes in long-term users, and the risk of lasting mood and thinking problems rises with duration. A health professional can assess the situation, and early change gives the brain the best chance to recover.

Why does steroids affect judgement?

Steroids affect the prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain that weighs risks and consequences, plans ahead and resists impulses. When that part is disturbed by high hormone levels, short-term feelings can matter more than long-term outcomes, and risks that would normally seem obvious may be overlooked. At the same time, the emotional brain becomes more reactive, so a person may act quickly on anger or excitement without pausing to think.

Where can I learn more about steroids and the brain?

Trusted sources include the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the NHS, and the World Health Organization, all listed in the Sources section below. They publish research-based information about how substances affect the brain.

Sources

This article is general information only. It is not individual medical advice. If you are worried about your health, talk to a qualified health professional.