Susceptibility to Alcohol Hangovers: Not Just a Matter of Being Resilient

Lantman, Marith van Schrojenstein; Loo, Aurora J. A. E. van de; Mackus, Marlou; Kraneveld, Aletta D.; Brookhuis, Karel; Garssen, Johan; Verster, Joris C.

doi:10.1093/alcalc/agx107

Cited by 16 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 16 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…A recent study looked into biopsychological characteristics of hangover sensitive and hangover resistant drinkers, including mental resilience and perceived immune status [ 9 , 10 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Also outside the context of alcohol hangover, van Schrojenstein Lantman et al demonstrated the existence of interrelationships between mental resilience, self-reported immune functioning, and health [ 15 ]. In a first analysis [ 9 ] we compared mental resilience of hangover resistant drinkers and hangover sensitive drinkers. It was hypothesized that alcohol is an example of a stressor, and that hangover resistance of certain drinkers may be explained by having higher levels of mental resilience than hangover sensitive drinkers.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Impact of mental resilience and perceived immune functioning on the severity of alcohol hangover

et al. 2018

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

ObjectiveRecent research comparing hangover sensitive drinkers with hangover resistant drinkers has revealed that experiencing alcohol hangovers is associated with significantly poorer self-reported immune functioning (p < 0.0001). No significant difference between the groups was found on mental resilience. The objective of the current survey was to examine the association between hangover severity, perceived immune status, and mental resilience. N = 341 Dutch students, all hangover sensitive drinkers, completed an online survey. The Brief Resilience Scale was completed, and perceived immune functioning and overall hangover severity for their latest past month hangover were assessed.ResultsStudents consumed a mean (SD) of 12.3 (5.9) alcoholic drinks the evening before their latest hangover. A significant positive association was found between mental resilience and perceived immune functioning (r = 0.372, p = 0.000). No significant associations of hangover severity were found with mental resilience (r = − 0.010, p = 0.858), or perceived immune functioning (r = − 0.025, p = 0.645). Previous research revealed that hangover resistant and hangover sensitive drinkers report having significantly different levels of immune functioning, and that the immune system is involved in the development of alcohol hangover. These findings suggest that levels of mental resilience and perceived immune functioning are not related to the severity of hangovers in hangover sensitive drinkers.

show abstract

“…A recent study looked into biopsychological characteristics of hangover sensitive and hangover resistant drinkers, including mental resilience and perceived immune status [ 9 , 10 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impact of mental resilience and perceived immune functioning on the severity of alcohol hangover

et al. 2018

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Differences found between the two eBAC methods used in this study suggest that additional research exploring the accuracy and comprehensiveness of eBAC equations is needed for future (naturalistic) hangover research. As illustrated earlier, previous alcohol hangover research most commonly uses the modified Widmark calculations for BAC [ 3 , 31 , 32 , 33 ]. Previous research suggests that higher levels of BAC (0.11%) were needed to develop a next day hangover.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Specifically, the modified formula optimised the calculation of total amount of body water and included height and age [ 28 ]. The updated equations are found to be reasonably accurate for eBACs under controlled laboratory environments [ 28 , 29 , 30 ] and are frequently used in present alcohol hangover research to estimate BACs [ 3 , 31 , 32 , 33 ]. Please refer to Appendix B for additional information.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Prevalence of Hangover Resistance According to Two Methods for Calculating Estimated Blood Alcohol Concentration (eBAC)

Terpstra

Scholey

Verster

et al. 2020

JCM

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Hangover resistance may be linked to an increased risk of continuing harmful drinking behaviours as well as involvement in potentially dangerous daily activities such as driving while hungover, mainly due to the absence of negative consequences (i.e., hangover symptoms) the day after alcohol consumption. The aim of this study was to examine the occurrence of claimed alcohol hangover resistance relative to estimated blood alcohol concentration (eBAC). A total of 1198 participants completed an online survey by answering questions regarding their demographics, alcohol consumption and occurrence of hangover. Two methods were used to calculate eBAC, one based on the modified Widmark Equation (N = 955) and the other from an equation averaging the total body water (TBW) estimates of Forrest, Watson, Seidl, Widmark and Ulrich (males only) (N = 942). The percentage of participants who claimed to be hangover resistant decreased rapidly with increasing eBAC and only a small number of hangover resistant drinkers remained at higher eBACs. Comparisons of the eBACs calculated by the two methods revealed significantly higher BACs when using the modified Widmark equation. These findings suggest that additional research for eBAC calculations is needed to improve accuracy and comprehensiveness of these equations for future alcohol hangover research.

show abstract

“…Data show that this claim heavily depends on how much alcohol drinkers consume, but even at higher eBAC levels a small proportion of drinkers claim not to have hangovers [27,28]. At the same time, other hangover research showed no significant differences between the two groups of drinkers on several biomarkers such as urine ethyl glucuronide (EtG) and ethyl sulfate (EtS) [57] or methanol [58], saliva cytokine levels [59], sensitivity to acute alcohol effects [60], demographics [31], or psychological characteristics such as mental resilience [61]. Additionally, the current study could not differentiate hangover-sensitive and hangover-resistant drinkers based on their dietary nutrient intake.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dietary Nutrient Intake, Alcohol Metabolism, and Hangover Severity

Verster

Vermeulen

Loo

et al. 2019

JCM

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Several dietary components have been shown to influence alcohol metabolism and thereby potentially affect the development of a hangover. From the literature, it is evident that dietary nicotinic acid and zinc play a pivotal role in the oxidation of ethanol into acetaldehyde. The aim of the current study was to associate dietary intake of nicotinic acid and zinc with hangover severity. To this end, data from n = 23 healthy social drinkers who participated in a naturalistic hangover study were analyzed. n = 10 of them reported to be hangover-resistant (the control group), whereas n = 13 reported to have regular hangovers (the hangover-sensitive group). Two 24 h dietary recall records were completed, one for the day of alcohol consumption and another one for an alcohol-free control day. Dietary nutrient intake was averaged and did not significantly differ between hangover-sensitive and hangover-resistant drinkers. For the hangover-sensitive drinkers, partial correlations with overall hangover severity were computed, controlling for estimated blood alcohol concentration. A bootstrapping technique was applied to account for the relatively small sample size. The results showed that dietary intake of nicotinic acid (rPB = −0.521) and zinc (rPB = −0.341) were significantly and negatively associated (p < 0.002) with overall hangover severity. Dietary zinc intake was also significantly and negatively associated with severity of vomiting (rPB = −0.577, p < 0.002). No significant associations with hangover severity were found for other nutrients, such as fat and fibers. In conclusion, this study suggests that social drinkers who have a higher dietary intake of nicotinic acid and zinc report significantly less severe hangovers. As hangover-resistant and hangover-sensitive drinkers had a similar dietary nutrient intake, the claim of being hangover-resistant must be based on other unknown biopsychosocial factors. These findings should be replicated in a larger sample and include more elaborate food frequency questionnaires or nutrient-specific dietary intake records for zinc and nicotinic acid, and preferably accompanied by nutrient assessments in urine and/or blood.

show abstract

Susceptibility to Alcohol Hangovers: Not Just a Matter of Being Resilient

Abstract: The current findings suggest that having a hangover is not simply an expression of poor psychological coping with the next-day consequences of heavy alcohol consumption.

Cited by 16 publications

References 16 publications

Impact of mental resilience and perceived immune functioning on the severity of alcohol hangover

Impact of mental resilience and perceived immune functioning on the severity of alcohol hangover

Prevalence of Hangover Resistance According to Two Methods for Calculating Estimated Blood Alcohol Concentration (eBAC)

Dietary Nutrient Intake, Alcohol Metabolism, and Hangover Severity

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About