This Is Why Your Hangovers Get Worse As You Get Older

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This is why your hangovers get worse as you get older

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This is why your hangovers get worse as you get older

1st January 2021

10:00am GMT

Alan Loughnane This is why your hangovers get worse as you get older

It's not in your head...

When you were 19, the amount of drink you consumed the night before probably wouldn't affect you too much the next day, unless you "go at it awful and very hard". While there may have been a brief period of nausea and a mild headache, it's nothing compared to what someone just a few years older will experience for consuming a fraction of the amount. So why does this hangover increase in severity as you get older? giphy-20

While some may say it's all in your head, gastroenterologist Mark Welton, M.D. explained to Men's Health that it's actually because your body is changing and your liver is not processing alcohol with the efficiency of your younger self. “When we get older, our whole recovery process for everything we do is harder, longer, and slower,” Dr. Welton said. As you get older, your body produces less dehydrogenase. This enzyme is responsible for breaking down the two types of alcohol, ethanol and methanol, which are present in most of your favourite drinks. Basically, this means that as you get older, your body can't process alcohol as quick and it stays in your system far longer, which means that your "two-day hangover" is actually a real thing. To sum it all up, you're not imagining it, your hangovers are getting worse. The only way to avoid it is to cut back on how much alcohol you drink. Did someone say New Year's resolution?

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