Keep having awful hangovers? Negative thinking makes them worse
Handing out hangovers is possibly one of life’s least fair lotteries. Some of us can drink for hours, wake up the next morning and head out for a breezy run. Others only have to look at a bottle of soda to feel like their head is trapped in a vise.
The question is: why do some people always seem to suffer from horrible hangovers and others don’t? Well, alcohol consumption aside, there could be a psychological explanation.
registered mail The conversation, Craig Gunn, a lecturer in psychology at the University of Bristol, suggests that personality type can determine how severe your hangover is. He points to research showing that anxiety, depression and stress are associated with more severe hangovers.
“Each of these moods is associated with a ‘negative bias’ – a tendency to interpret the world in a more negative way,” he explains, before pointing to the results of his own research on the subject.
Researchers at the University of Bristol have found that a hangover also makes people interpret the world more negatively. “As a result, a hangover can reinforce this negative bias and make some people feel worse than others,” Gunn concludes.
Well, maybe that doesn’t come as a big surprise to you. After all, there’s nothing quite like feeling on the brink of vomiting for eight hours to feel slightly down. But what’s interesting is that, according to a 2009 study published in Journal of American College HealthIt’s thought that extroverts are more at risk of binge drinking (probably at all those parties) but not bad hangovers.
And that’s despite evidence to suggest that the more frequently you drink, the more severe your hangover becomes.
All of this has led Gunn to believe that the best way to deal with a hangover is to change our attitude towards pain and discomfort. He points to research showing that people with high Pain Disaster scores report more severe hangovers, suggesting that the more you focus on feeling terrible, the more terrible you feel. It’s a real chicken-and-egg situation: in order not to feel awful, you have to try not to focus on feeling awful… which would be easier if you didn’t feel awful.
Perhaps it’s best to either share your pain with family, friends, or roommates (there’s something comforting about sharing your misery with others who look and feel worse than you) or actually do something . That might be walking to the nearest coffee shop for emergency carbs and coffee, booking a gentle bath, or cleaning your apartment, which is no doubt covered in empty bottles and glasses.
*Insert common, unhelpful statement about not drinking that much*
