Why are hangovers so much worse as we get older?

There was a time when you went straight from the party in the morning to school, to a part-time job or to your first job, and after one fizz it was quite survivable. After a short sleep, you were then able to go to the next party just fine. Nowadays you have three wines and one drink with your friends or girlfriends, go to bed two hours later than usual and the result is basically a three-day waking death.

Older bodies have a harder time with alcohol

There are more reasons why our hangovers get worse as we get older, and even the effects of alcohol on the body itself have not yet been fully explored by scientists, so it's basically a set of theories.

Ethanol is a very small and simple molecule, but it basically travels throughout the body and affects almost every part of it, from your stomach, which it irritates, to your heart and brain, to your skin.

One theory is that our hearts and stomachs shrink a bit as we age, and as a result, alcohol is retained by the body for longer periods of time. There is also talk that with age comes, essentially, poorer performance of the liver itself, and therefore breaking down alcohol will be harder and take longer for the liver.

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According to one theory, the decline and less efficient functioning of liver enzymes may be to blame for the worse hangovers of older people. The enzymes are involved in metabolizing alcohol and therefore the whole event takes longer when they are less functional. And to this we must add the poorer ability of the elderly organism to regenerate. There is also talk of a link to the weakening of the immune system as we age. Also, many older people are already taking medications that can enter into undesirable interactions with alcohol. The fact that people often lose muscle mass and gain fat as they age may also be a factor in their poorer response to alcohol compared to past experiences.

The result is then those two or three days of nice and intense hangovers. Alcohol in general leads to higher blood pressure and has negative effects on the heart, circulatory system and brain function in the long term. The fact that alcohol has destructive effects on the liver probably needs no more discussion.

Hangovers get worse and longer with age

As we age, we are also more prone to dehydration and have a lower body water volume. Thus, the alcohol in our body will be more concentrated and because of this it will take longer to break down. Another aggravating factor is that perhaps we don't drink alcoholic beverages as regularly, so we have a lower tolerance to alcohol.

Many of us are also more prone to depressive states as we get older, which, despite an initial apparent improvement by suppressing acute negative feelings, are ultimately greatly exacerbated and worsened by alcohol.

Even the skin takes alcohol more and more badly

Blood vessels dilate when alcohol is consumed. This can cause redness of the skin, which over time can become more permanent with regular heavy drinking. At the same time, alcohol aggravates and causes acne. You may have also noticed spots on your skin after a big all-night party. Alcohol also contributes to dehydration of the body and with prolonged and heavy alcohol consumption, your skin can take on a permanently dry and even flaky appearance.

Overall, then, it is unfortunately better for your health in every way if you drink only rarely or not at all.