It is no secret that drinking alcohol has its risks, but new research is showing that they might be even higher that thought before, particularly when it comes to binge drinking. A study published in the journal Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research found that binge drinking in the younger years can create damage to the brain in adulthood.

The study, which was done at the department of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Duke University Medical Center and Durham Veterans Affairs Medical Center, used rats for test subjects. What they found when they exposed rats to alcohol levels comparable to binge drinking was that their memory and learning skills were damaged over the long term.

This means that heavy drinkers in their youth could truly reduce their ability to learn new skills as they age.

They also found that binge drinking created changes in the hippocampal circuits of the brain, which could lead to or make people more susceptible to different kinds of injuries and diseases later.

Lead author Mary-Louise Risher​, a post-doctoral researcher in the Duke Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, spoke to the LA Times about the study.

“In the eyes of the law, once people reach the age of 18, they are considered adult, but the brain continues to mature and refine all the way into the mid-20s,” she began.

“It’s important for young people to know that when they drink heavily during this period of development, there could be changes occurring that have a lasting impact on memory and other cognitive functions.”

Binge drinking is classified by the The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism as four or more drinks for women within two hours and five or more drinks for men within two hours. Further studies will be done as a follow up to find out if binge drinking can actually slow down the development and maturity of adolescent brains.