We've all heard it before: "I'm never drinking again," followed by a groan and a sip of the hangover cure, invariably a family recipe with a few secret ingredients missing. Inevitably, though, the good intentions slip away, only for mistakes to be repeated.
According to researchers, there's science behind the failed promises. Typically, heavier drinkers associate a night on the tiles with the pleasurable sensation of being intoxicated, rather than the less than stellar effects felt the morning after. As a result, the ensuing hangover is considered a temporary situation that's par for the course, meaning that the desire to drink to excess isn't diminished. "Our main finding is that hangovers appear to have a very modest effect on subsequent drinking," said the study's corresponding author, Professor Thomas M. Piasecki of the University of Missouri. "On average, the time between drinking episodes was extended by only a few hours after a hangover. We looked to see whether there were particular subgroups of drinkers who might show distinctive patterns like 'hair of the dog' use but we didn't find clear evidence for that."
The study observed the drinking habits of 386 young adults who identified as frequent drinkers (196 men; 190 women) who then made diary entries every morning for 21 days, rating their perceived chances of drinking later that same day. Data from the 386 participants resulted in 2,276 incidents of drinking and 463 hangovers. Generally speaking, the ratings recorded on mornings when the test subjects were hungover didn't differ from the mornings when they weren't suffering the same alcohol-induced symptoms.
"It was striking that ratings made on hangover and non-hangover mornings did not differ. Even when the drinkers were acutely suffering a hangover, it didn't seem to affect their conscious drinking intentions," said Piasecki. "No doubt this reflects the fact that drinking behavior is determined by a host of factors, like day of the week, opportunity, and social plans."
The study, Does Hangover Influence the Time to Next Drink? An Investigation Using Ecological Momentary Assessment, was published online in Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research on March 3 2014.
