Why hangovers only get worse with age

At 18, a hangover morning is when you feel thirsty, and if you have a headache, then the alcohol was of poor quality. At 25 in the morning after a booze it resembles hell - it is as if a sharp knife is being turned in my head, I feel sick, my thoughts turn slowly and unhurriedly. At 29, the hangover lasts the whole day, and sometimes even the next. Here's an excerpt from The Clinic that illustrates this perfectly.

Why it happens? In fact, there are several reasons.

Less liver enzymes

One of the main reasons hangovers get worse as you get older is because your alcohol tolerance is worse. Each glass of beer or shot of spirits takes about two hours to process (the exact time can be calculated by taking into account gender, age and weight).

This is how everything happens: liver enzymes, alcohol dehydrogenases, convert alcohol into acetaldehyde. Then other enzymes, aldehyde dehydrogenases, make acetate from them, which is converted to carbon dioxide and water.

When you are 21, this process is easy. But over time, the level of essential enzymes drops, and it takes the body much longer to process the highly toxic acetaldehyde. This substance stays in your body longer, causing dry wood, nausea and other familiar symptoms.

More fat, less water

Also, the general composition of the body changes with age. People accumulate more fat, due to which the body becomes more susceptible to the effects of alcoholic beverages.

Fat does not absorb alcohol, and a person with a higher percentage of body fat will have less alcohol absorption. This is why women, who are naturally higher in body fat than men, get drunk faster from less alcohol.

In addition, with age, the body loses water - at 20 years old in the body more water than at 40. And the less water, the higher the concentration of alcohol in the body after drinking it.

Weakened immunity

With age, the body weakens, and you recover worse after exposure to various harmful factors: diseases, injuries, alcohol.

As explained in the article on:

If you have children, you know that scratches on the knees and abrasions on their fists heal in literally two days. But if you cut your finger, it will take at least a week for the wound to heal completely. In adolescents, muscle pain goes away very quickly, and if an older person goes to a hard workout, it can unsettle him for several days.

The National Institute of Aging calls this immune aging, or the gradual weakening of the immune system. suggests that with age, the body still continues to recover, it just does not happen as quickly as before.

All this is especially evident in middle age, after 50 years. As noted in the article, older people are more likely to take medications for chronic diseases, and there is a possibility that the pills will react with alcohol, which accelerates the natural one. With each drink you drink, the negative effect will become more noticeable.

Alcohol increases the cognitive decline that occurs in older people. Neurons get slower. The myelin sheaths, which cover the axons and accelerate the transmission of nerve impulses, become thinner. With age, neurons lose their performance, and if you add to this the effect of alcohol, they become several times less effective. So if you go to a bar at the age of 65, after just a couple of cocktails you will be thinking very badly.

Lifestyle Impact

It is not only the state of the body that matters, but also the lifestyle that you lead. It is much easier to cope with a headache if, after a stormy Friday, you lie in bed and moan softly. But if a couple of screaming children are running around the house, and you need to cook, clean or go to work, then the headache risks turning into a real nightmare.

In 2013, it revealed that the age at which the worst hangover occurs is 29 years. And not because of physical factors, but because of the simultaneous influence of biology and circumstances. At 29, people often stick to alcohol habits left over from a younger age, even if the hangover becomes excruciating and prolonged.

If a 29-year-old and a 45-year-old drink the same amount of alcohol, the other's hangover will be stronger. But the bottom line is that 45-year-olds are less likely to get drunk.

So remember this and be kind to your body, because by nature, with its immune aging and decline in cognitive functions, you definitely will not wait for good.