Why Do We Blackout When Drunk? Everything You Need To Know About Alcohol-Related Memory Loss

Ever woken up after a big night out with no memory of how you got home, what you did or what you said?

It's called blacking out and according to Professor Paul Wallace, chief medical advisor to Drinkaware, it's surprisingly common.

"In a study on 772 college undergraduates carried out in the US in 2002, 40% of those who drank alcohol at all in the previous year reported experiencing a blackout," he told HuffPost UK.

"Those with blackouts reported learning later that they had participated in a wide range of potentially dangerous events they could not remember, including vandalism, unprotected sex and driving."

But why do we fail to remember events when we've been drinking and what are the long-term health implications?