Why do hangover symptoms get worse as you get older?
It used to be that you could shrug off a night on the tiles with two ibuprofen and a pint of water before bed. These days, however, a heavy night quaffing the Aperols requires a three day recovery period.
If you feel like your hangovers have gotten worse with age, you aren’t imagining things. Long gone are the days when a good fry up and a lie in was all you needed to stop a pounding head and a churning stomach.
Nowadays, the old remedies don't quite cut it like they used to and even a full day in bed isn't enough to get you back to feeling human again.
So what's going on? Why can't we seem to bounce back after a boozy binge?
In order to find out why we seem to be so much more affected by the aftermath of a night out as we age, we need to understand what causes us to feel this way in the first place.
What is a hangover?
A hangover is a collective term for the physical and mental symptoms you experience after drinking more than your body can handle.
"You might have a headache, feel sick, tired, dehydrated and anxious as your body processes the remaining alcohol left in your system," explains Dr Samantha Wild, clinical lead for Women’s Health and GP from Bupa Health Clinics.
Why are hangover's so much worse when we get older?
As you age, alcohol stays in your system for longer, compared to when you were younger.
"This change is down to the way your body naturally changes, meaning that it becomes more difficult to process alcohol at speed," explains Dr Wild.
"Alcohol also becomes more concentrated in your bloodstream when you’re older. This is because your body naturally loses muscle mass and water, so there’s less tissue and fluid for the alcohol to absorb into."
The liver has a role to play in the worsening of hangovers too.
"Your liver becomes less efficient at processing alcohol as you age," Dr Wild continues. "You’re not able to make the same number of enzymes needed to break down alcohol, so it takes longer for each unit to be processed.
"This means that alcohol stays in your system for longer, and you’ll feel its effects for longer."
According to Sebnem Unluisler, genetic engineer at the London Regenerative the physiological changes in the gut as we age can also contribute to an increased susceptibility to severe hangovers.
"Changes in the gut microbiome, including a reduced diversity in microbial, affect how the body responds to alcohol and how it is metabolised," he explains.
"Certain microbial species are involved in the process of breaking down alcohol into less toxic substances, and changes to the diversity or function can influence the speed in which alcohol is eliminated."
Unluisler says changes in the gut microbiome occurring with age can also increase inflammation, meaning alcohol is not only absorbed faster and effects are more intensified, but can also increase the duration and symptoms of a hangover.
Ageing is also associated with changes in immune function, which can further influence immune response, and may impact how the body deals with the inflammatory effects of hangover symptoms.
"Age-related changes in the gut and the body also make us less tolerant to the toxic by-products of alcohol metabolism, impacting certain organs and systems in the body including the kidneys, liver and endocrine systems," Unluisler adds.
How to cope with hangovers when you’re older
If hangovers hit you harder when you’re older, it can serve as a good reminder to try and stick to the recommended weekly alcohol limits.
"Government guidelines state that you should drink a maximum of 14 units per week," Dr Wild says. "If you like to have a drink, make sure that your units are spread out over the course of the week, with alcohol-free days."
On the days that you do drink, Dr Wild advises intermixing your alcoholic drinks with soft drinks, or non-alcoholic alternatives.
"This helps to keep the amount of water in your system topped up, helping to reduce dehydration, giving your liver more time to process the units you’ve consumed," she adds.
She also advises making extra considerations when the weather is hot, as drinking alcohol when you’re already dehydrated can worsen hangover symptoms further.
"Lastly, remember that any medications you’re on could affect how your body processes alcohol," she adds. "It’s worth checking your medication’s packaging, and speaking to a health professional for guidance, especially if you’re struggling to cut down your intake."
Other factors that impact the severity of a hangover
It isn't just ageing that can have an impact on how badly we suffer with a hangover, several other factors are at play too including:
Drinking Behaviours - Dr Sanjay Mehta, GP at The London General Practice says people who drink on an empty stomach, drink when they’re very poorly hydrated, drink with other drugs – like nicotine, for example – or drink when they’re on medication can all see an impact in the way alcohol is broken down.
The type of alcohol - "Darker drinks tend to lead to a worse hangover than lighter liquids because they’ve got certain chemicals that lighter drinks don’t have," Dr Mehta explains. Examples include red wine, rum or whiskey. "If you’re going to pick an alcohol, I would avoid alcopops and similar, which contain slightly less pure components," he adds.
Weight - Dr Mehta says often heavier built individuals will be able to tolerate a hangover more than lighter built people. "It’s multifactorial, but if you were to take an individual who loses weight, actually there is evidence suggesting that same individual will experience hangovers more than when they were heavier," he explains.
Genetics - Genetics can also play a role. "The big one that we all know about is the enzyme that is deficient in certain ethnic groups," Dr Mehta explains. "Some people from Asian backgrounds have an inherited deficiency of aldehyde dehydrogenase, one of the enzymes involved in the breakdown of alcohol. They end up with this very prolonged and high level of the spike of the by-products that others may not necessarily get, and they get these classic symptoms of flushing and palpitations."
Alcohol consumption: Read more
UK women named world’s biggest female binge drinkers (Yahoo Life UK, 5-min read)
7 changes that happen to your body when you give up booze (Cosmo, 8-min read)
I Spent Over £50,000 On Booze, But My Life Paid A Much Higher Price (HuffPost UK, 5-min read)
