Feeling hungover after just one glass of wine? This is 40 — or rather, 44.
Recent research out of Stanford University proposes that people age dramatically at 44 and 60. These major molecular shifts within the body can lead to declines in immune system regulation, kidney function and the ability to metabolize alcohol and caffeine.
This is no surprise to people approaching middle age who feel the impending headache as they signal the bartender. But while anecdotal evidence suggests that hangovers worsen over time, there’s a lot that scientists still don’t know about the mechanisms behind hangovers and if age has an effect.
“I actually went and checked the literature on this,” Dr. Daniel Puleston, an assistant professor of immunology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, told The Post. “There isn’t much — we really haven’t done much investigation into linking hangover severity with age.”
Puleston said it’s difficult to conduct scientific studies on hangovers — they are hard to measure and re-create because they rely on subjective, self-reported information, like how a person “feels.”
“We don’t have a good understanding of the causal factors that drive hangover, but we know of some — like blood alcohol content and the amount of time that alcohol persists in the blood,” Puleston explained. “The presence of inflammatory markers in the blood has also been linked to hangover severity, suggesting the immune system also plays a role.”
When you chug a beer, your stomach and small intestine metabolize some of the alcohol but the liver breaks down the bulk of it.
Research shows that as we age, our liver function declines, our bodies have less water, and we lose muscle mass, which may mean a higher concentration of alcohol remains in our bloodstream.
But Puleston suggests that it may not be our ability to break down alcohol, but rather our reaction to this process that affects hangover severity.
The metabolism of alcohol generates reactive oxidants that can cause tissue damage and inflammation, and our anti-oxidant systems become less efficient as we age, Puleston said.
Higher levels of inflammatory proteins in the blood have also been tied to more severe hangovers. Older people are more likely to have chronic low-level inflammation, a condition known as “inflammaging.”
Biological processes aside, research suggests that how drunk someone feels — called “subjective intoxication” — is a better predictor of hangover severity than the beers they cleared and their blood alcohol concentration.
One study found that hangover severity actually declines with age, even when accounting for the amount of booze consumed, perhaps because drinkers become more tolerant of alcohol and less sensitive to pain as they grow older.
But others may struggle with hangovers as they approach middle age because they are not drinking as often, or they have a health condition or take medication that makes them more sensitive to alcohol.
The Stanford findings come on the heels of research challenging the long-held notion that light to moderate drinking may be good for you. Some experts say that any alcohol is a health risk.
“I think we’re learning a lot more about alcohol, how it can be more harmful than we realize,” Dr. Maria Torroella Carney, professor of medicine and chief of geriatrics and palliative care medicine at Northwell Health, told The Post. “It used to be that moderation was OK, but there’s more evidence to suggest that it can be more harmful to the brain and cells.”
Limiting alcohol or avoiding it altogether, however, may be easier said than done.
“Alcohol and wine can have social pluses. It brings people together. You can celebrate, you can enjoy, but you really have to be respectful of how it can be harmful,” Torroella Carney said.