Things get harder as you get older and that includes recovering from a night of drinking. If it feels like you don’t handle hangovers as well as you used to, here’s why.
Photo by frankjuarez.
At one point in your life you could probably go crazy on Friday night and get by with nothing but a cup of coffee on Saturday morning. But when you get older, your recovery period could be anywhere from several hours to several days.
Cari Romm at Science of Us suggests it comes down to a few key reasons. For starters, you have lower levels of the liver enzymes alcohol dehydrogenase and aldehyde dehydrogenase that you need to break down the alcohol and it’s leftovers.
That means acetaldehyde, one of the nasty leftovers that makes you feel awful, stays in your system longer than it used to.
On top of that, you get worse at recovering from anything as you get older thanks to immunosenescence, or the gradual weakening of your immune system. Your body still knows how to protect and heal itself, just not as quickly.
And last but not least, your lifestyle plays a big part in how you feel. Now that you’re older, you have more responsibilities and commitments you have to attend to, so you can’t just spend all day in bed recovering. This makes the hangover feel worse than it used to because you’re fighting headache pain and nausea while you work and take care of kids.
The whole article is worth a read, so check it out at the link below.
Why Your Hangovers Just Keep Getting Worse With Age [Science of Us]
Comments
2 responses to “Why Hangovers Seem To Get Worse As You Get Older”
On the plus side, as you mature and become an adult, you really don’t need alcohol as an excuse any more. If you still have friends who don’t think you can have a good time without getting pissed, it’s time to find some grown-up mates.
I’ll drink to that!
You also as you get older get a better taste in alcoholic beverages. In your teens it’s all cheap beer, Jager bombs and smirnoff ice. Now at least you savour the taste of a good matured Scotch and water while wearing a monocle