Let's be serious. We're in Ireland. Drinking is going to happen. While we aren't arduously researching for our project, we've been known to have a pint or two down at the local pub. Anyway, these very, very, very occasional shenanigans have led us to wonder about the hangover the next day (you don't really have a choice but to consider it when that one sliver of light peaking through solid wooden shutters makes the room too bright for you to comfortably open your eyes...). This blog seeks to explain what exactly a hangover is and the ethics of drinking activities.
A hangover is the experiencing of fatigue, headache, sensitivity to light and sound, muscle aches, thirst and sometimes nausea. It also tinkers with your emotions- previous experience has taught me that one can easily get into a depressed funk if you drink too much. Also, your brain is noticeably slower. Someone I know had a rough time counting backwards after a long night of drinking. Scientifically, they aren't absolutely sure about two parts of drinking. The first is why you get the hangover- the most common and likely reason is dehydration. And it's not just a morning-after type of thing. Your hangover actually starts a few hours after you stop consuming alcohol, when your Blood Alcohol Content levels start to go back down. The symptoms (a.k.a. your absolutely horrible hangover) peak when your BAC goes back to zero. This has lead some researchers to believe that a hangover is a form of alcohol withdrawal. This supports the "hair of the dog" hangover treatment- consuming more alcohol to alleviate your symptoms. However, the credibility of this theory is reduced when people who rarely drink get a hangover the next morning.
The second part of drinking that scientists don't understand is what the hell compels people to keep drinking. Unless you plan on spending the rest of your life absolutely schwaaaasted (and in that, probably die an early death [though admittedly, you'd probably quite enjoy it]), you're going to have to be hungover at some stage. This being said, one might think that the hangover would be enough to deter a person from drinking ever again. Through our research, I can safely tell you that this is not the case. Even Pavlov's dogs figured out that they shouldn't do something if it hurts you (Humans: 1, Behavioral Conditioning: 0).
This leads me into the ethics of drinking and the hangover that proceeds. The Prohibition in America during the 1920's was initiated on the principle that drinking was morally and ethically wrong. Religion mostly tells us that drinking (or doing anything fun, really) to excess is a sin. Should it be acceptable in modern society to pop open a couple cans and consume some alcoholic beverage? It doesn't really enhance or motivate any sort of societal goals. In the current recession though, is it nice to have a rather cheap distraction from all the woes of the world? The hangover though could take away from those benefits- if depression is a side effect of drinking, it's possible that it would be practical to monitor alcoholic consumption more closely during times of economic and social strife.
From an economic stand point, it's really all down to the abilities of the nation. I think that of most nationalities the Irish, and to some degree the Greeks, have the best ability to drink the night away then wake up in the morning. While this is a really more of a generalization, I feel that it's rather true; it might not even necessarily be that they can handle their drink better, but perhaps more responsibly. I've tried numerous times to try and get my Irish friends to go out on a night when we have something to do in the morning. Most of the time, they stand stalwart against my attempts to sway them into debauchery. This ability to self regulate could actually enable the economy to be stimulated by the production and sales of alcohol, and especially from the taxes garnered there of. Muk has a blog in the works about how the Irish Pub has been effected by the recession. Check out her post for more information!
A hangover is the experiencing of fatigue, headache, sensitivity to light and sound, muscle aches, thirst and sometimes nausea. It also tinkers with your emotions- previous experience has taught me that one can easily get into a depressed funk if you drink too much. Also, your brain is noticeably slower. Someone I know had a rough time counting backwards after a long night of drinking. Scientifically, they aren't absolutely sure about two parts of drinking. The first is why you get the hangover- the most common and likely reason is dehydration. And it's not just a morning-after type of thing. Your hangover actually starts a few hours after you stop consuming alcohol, when your Blood Alcohol Content levels start to go back down. The symptoms (a.k.a. your absolutely horrible hangover) peak when your BAC goes back to zero. This has lead some researchers to believe that a hangover is a form of alcohol withdrawal. This supports the "hair of the dog" hangover treatment- consuming more alcohol to alleviate your symptoms. However, the credibility of this theory is reduced when people who rarely drink get a hangover the next morning.
The second part of drinking that scientists don't understand is what the hell compels people to keep drinking. Unless you plan on spending the rest of your life absolutely schwaaaasted (and in that, probably die an early death [though admittedly, you'd probably quite enjoy it]), you're going to have to be hungover at some stage. This being said, one might think that the hangover would be enough to deter a person from drinking ever again. Through our research, I can safely tell you that this is not the case. Even Pavlov's dogs figured out that they shouldn't do something if it hurts you (Humans: 1, Behavioral Conditioning: 0).
This leads me into the ethics of drinking and the hangover that proceeds. The Prohibition in America during the 1920's was initiated on the principle that drinking was morally and ethically wrong. Religion mostly tells us that drinking (or doing anything fun, really) to excess is a sin. Should it be acceptable in modern society to pop open a couple cans and consume some alcoholic beverage? It doesn't really enhance or motivate any sort of societal goals. In the current recession though, is it nice to have a rather cheap distraction from all the woes of the world? The hangover though could take away from those benefits- if depression is a side effect of drinking, it's possible that it would be practical to monitor alcoholic consumption more closely during times of economic and social strife.
From an economic stand point, it's really all down to the abilities of the nation. I think that of most nationalities the Irish, and to some degree the Greeks, have the best ability to drink the night away then wake up in the morning. While this is a really more of a generalization, I feel that it's rather true; it might not even necessarily be that they can handle their drink better, but perhaps more responsibly. I've tried numerous times to try and get my Irish friends to go out on a night when we have something to do in the morning. Most of the time, they stand stalwart against my attempts to sway them into debauchery. This ability to self regulate could actually enable the economy to be stimulated by the production and sales of alcohol, and especially from the taxes garnered there of. Muk has a blog in the works about how the Irish Pub has been effected by the recession. Check out her post for more information!
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