Effects of Drugs Posted: April 5th, 2014
The Effects of Psychoactive Drugs on the Brain, Stress, and Sleep
In this assignment, you will investigate any drug of your choice, trace the interactions the drug has with the brain, and describe the stress this drug puts on the body.
Questions about this assignment? Post them in the Ask the Instructor area under Course Home. That way, everyone in the class will see, and benefit from, the instructor’s response.
To prepare for this Application:
Review pp. 188-189 and pp. 196-197 in your text.
Visit the Web site for the National Clearinghouse for Alcohol and Drug Information.
http://store.samhsa.gov/facet/Substances
Use information on this Web site to write the assignment. Choose a drug to investigate from the list provided at this site. (Remember that nicotine and caffeine are drugs that affect the brain, also.)
The assignment:
Prepare a paper that records your answers to the following questions:
Is this drug a stimulant, depressant, hallucinogen, or narcotic?
What physiological effects does this drug have on the brain?
What part of the brain does this drug target?
Which neurotransmitters does this drug act upon? Is it an agonist or antagonist?
How does this drug introduce stress on the body and brain? What would be the effect of this stess over time?
How does this drug affect stages of sleep? What would be the effects of sleep disruption over time?