Hangover Immunity: Is It Real?

Hangover immunity means the complete absence of unpleasant symptoms usually experienced by most of people after excessive consumption of alcohol drinks. Since only less than 80% declare signs of hangover, there are more than 20% of people who claim to not experience any symptoms at all, i.e. have hangover immunity.

Is It Good Or Bad?

This phenomenon, if it really exists, could have positive impact on everyday life of the immune drinkers as well as on the world economic as a whole, as long as it loses hundreds of billions of dollars every year due to decreased productivity caused by hangovers.

On the other hand, all those terrible symptoms we have after excessive drinking are not useless, since they prevent us from alcohol abuse. Do you remember how disgusting is the look and smell of alcohol in the morning after booze? This is a signal our body sends to our mind meaning that we do something harmful. That is why some scientists claim that hangovers play significant role in preventing alcoholism.

So, having hangover immunity could’ve been not so beneficial as it seems, but is it really possible?

Does Hangover Immunity Exist?

The research group from Utrecht University in Netherlands conducted a study to answer this question. The analysis of information from more than 5000 Dutch students was performed for this study. The number of drinks they consumed, time frame of drinking, gender, body weight and the presence or absence of hangover was analyzed. Their estimated Blood Alcohol Concentration (BAC) was calculated to measure the level of intoxication. Finally, to determine the possible hangover immunity, the BAC of students who had hangover and of those who hadn’t was compared.

Near 32% of students reported they didn’t have a hangover, but analysis founded correlation between the BAC (and therefore amounts of consumed alcohol) and hangover symptoms. It was discovered that the higher BAC people have during drinking, the more prone to subsequent hangovers they are. About 54% of those who did not have hangovers have had only 0.08% or less of peak BAC. This number equals just about 4 bottles of beer or 4 shots of spirits during one hour for middle-weight men and even less for women. In the most states of USA as well as in the United Kingdom this is a legal limit for driving car.

In general, with the growing number of BAC, the percent of those who did not have a hangover decreases quickly.

So, it is clear that the majority of those, who claim to be immune, actually just do not drink too much and don’t have enough alcohol in their blood to initiate the hangover.

The research will go on to verify the result, but now we can say that most likely there is no such thing as hangover immunity. It all depends on how much you drink, and if you drink a lot you will suffer. This means that you have to control yourself and drink in moderation or at least take some measures to prevent severe hangover symptoms.