Are you one of those who can get drunk on a small glass of wine or a mere pint of lager; someone whose friends are very watchful of how much you drink because you become extra adventurous or very weepy or sing tunelessly thereafter? Or are you one of those who have become a legend amongst your friends for being able to drink anyone under the table? Well turns out there are scientific reasons for each extreme and everything in between:
Researchers at the Washington State University discovered brain receptors that react differently to alcohol. While some turn into slurring, swaying menaces with small amounts of alcohol others take much longer for those brain receptors to be stimulated. So some of us get like that texting dude above.
Some people actually simply take a lot longer to get drunk because those receptors in the brain take longer. Hence, those I-can-walk-a-straight-line-after-six-big-ones type statements are not bravado, but actual fact! (But the “awesome” bit is still only a figment of their imagination).
Body mass has a lot to do with getting drunk. Generally speaking, the bigger you are, the slower you are to get drunk. Men tend to be bigger and have more muscle mass and hence get loaded slower than women.
Women are smaller and have more fatty tissue than men; more reasons women tend to get tipsy faster than men.
Age is another determinant of how quickly, how drunk you get. Older people get drunker, faster because of lower water content in their bodies. So be careful you don’t grow up into that guy.
When you wore that shirt to a party it became clear that you were out to get high. When you're looking to get drunk you will. It is quite simple. Research has shown that people ‘feel drunk’ if they were told there is alcohol in their glass even when there wasn’t, and vice versa.
The shape and size of your glass makes a difference to how much you think you're drinking and how much you're actually drinking.
When the wise old woman said eat a bit of butter before you start drinking knew what she was talking about. Eating, particularly high calorie food when you drink will slow down the process of intoxication and lower the chances of you dancing on the table.
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