When was the last time you get really really drunk? Was it last weekend when you went to watch the boxing match and ended up drinking beer for hours on end (not me at all...) or was it a month ago – but for a month straight – because you had weddings left right and centre and couldn’t not drink? Either way, chances are you’ve woken up with an epic hangover in the past 6 months. And it might have something to do with how drunk your friends were, and not how much you drank.
A new study found that our perceptions of how drunk we are depend on the people around us. Published in the BMC Public Health journal, the study goes on to say that ‘whilst intoxicated and in drinking environments, people base judgements regarding their drinking on how their level of intoxication ranks relative to that of others who are intoxicated, not on their actual levels of intoxication.’
They tested this theory on participants who were on average 27-years-old between 8pm and 3am on Friday and Saturday evenings. They measured the alcohol concentration of 1,862 Brits, and then asked 400 of the subjects four additional rank-based questions about how drunk they thought they were.
The conclusion? If they were among drunker people, their own perceptions of their drunkness matched the people they were with at the time. So does this mean that if you go to meet friends that have been necking back the vino all afternoon but you’ve been sat in work, you actually get drunk quicker? Interesting. This theory proves slightly confusing though. We tend to think this has the opposite effect and actually make us sober, like when you have to turn into the mum and help your drunk friend find her way home. Either way, if you think you’re sober when all your friends aren’t, chances are you’re actually smashed too. Hello hangover.
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.