Your Hangover Depends More on How Drunk You Feel Than on How Much You Drink
Holiday gatherings tempt restraint, but a surprising finding shifts the focus from quantity to quality of intoxication. A new study shows that how drunk you feel may predict your hangover more than how many drinks you had. The results indicate that how drunk someone felt explained about 64% of hangover severity, while the amount they drank accounted for only about 11%. This suggests that the sensation of drunkenness reflects stronger effects on the brain and body, which can intensify hangover symptoms such as headache, thirst and nausea. The study involved almost 1,200 people across the UK and Ireland and tracked their drinking and hangover experiences.
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The Open University Study Tracked 1,200 People Across the UK and Ireland
Researchers at the Open University collected information on the drinking habits and hangovers of almost 1,200 people in the UK and Ireland. This included asking about their heaviest bout of drinking in the last month, how many drinks they had consumed and how drunk they had felt, from a score of zero to ten. They were also asked about their personality or mood when drinking, to gauge the effect on their hangovers.
Results That Challenge the Assumption About Drinking Amount
The key numbers were stark: how much a person drank had only an 11 per cent impact, compared to an impact of 64 per cent for how drunk they felt. The findings were presented at the 14th Alcohol Hangover Research Group Meeting in Glasgow. The NHS recommends people drink no more than 14 units of alcohol – around six glasses of wine, or pints of beer – per week.
Expert Insight and Practical Takeaways
Dr Lydia Devenney, who led the study, told the Daily Mail: 'This has implications for how we manage our hangovers.\n\n Your future self may thank you for not just keeping an eye on how much you drink, but also checking in with how you feel and remembering what's "normal" for you before ordering that next round.'
