The Effects of Alcohol Hangover on Mood and Performance Assessed at Home
1
Department of Health and Social Sciences, University of the West of England, Bristol BS16 1QY, UK
2
Department of Anaesthesia, Critical Care & Pain Medicine, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH8 9YL, UK
3
Division of Pharmacology, Utrecht Institute for Pharmaceutical Sciences (UIPS), Utrecht University, 3584CG Utrecht, The Netherlands
4
Centre for Human Psychopharmacology, Swinburne University, Melbourne, VIC 3122, Australia
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
J. Clin. Med. 2020, 9(4), 1068; https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm9041068
Received: 24 March 2020
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Revised: 5 April 2020
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Accepted: 7 April 2020
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Published: 9 April 2020
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Alcohol Hangover: Causes, Consequences, and Treatment)
The current study evaluated the next day consequences of a social night of drinking compared to a no alcohol night, with standardised mood and portable screen-based performance measures assessed in the morning at participants’ homes, and a breathalyser screen for zero alcohol. A mixed sex group (n = 20) took part in the study. Participants reported consuming on average 16.9 units (135 g) alcohol, resulting in a hangover rating of 60 (out of 100) compared to 0.3 following the no alcohol night. Statistical significance comparisons contrasting the hangover with the no alcohol condition revealed an increase in negative mood and irritability during hangover and an (unexpected) increase in risk and thrill seeking. Performance scores showed an overall slowing of responses across measures, but with less impact on errors. The results support the description of hangover as a general state of cognitive impairment, reflected in slower responses and reduced accuracy across a variety of measures of cognitive function. This suggests a general level of impairment due to hangover, as well as increased negative mood. The use of a naturalistic design enabled the impact of more typical levels of alcohol associated with real life social consumption to be assessed, revealing wide ranging neurocognitive impairment with these higher doses. This study has successfully demonstrated the sensitivity of home-based assessment of the impact of alcohol hangover on a range of subjective and objective measures. The observed impairments, which may significantly impair daily activities such as driving a car or job performance, should be further investigated and taken into account by policy makers.
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Keywords:
alcohol; hangover; mood; performance; assessment at home; mobile testing
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MDPI and ACS Style
Alford, C.; Martinkova, Z.; Tiplady, B.; Reece, R.; Verster, J.C. The Effects of Alcohol Hangover on Mood and Performance Assessed at Home. J. Clin. Med. 2020, 9, 1068. https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm9041068
AMA Style
Alford C, Martinkova Z, Tiplady B, Reece R, Verster JC. The Effects of Alcohol Hangover on Mood and Performance Assessed at Home. Journal of Clinical Medicine. 2020; 9(4):1068. https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm9041068
Chicago/Turabian StyleAlford, Chris, Zuzana Martinkova, Brian Tiplady, Rebecca Reece, and Joris C. Verster. 2020. "The Effects of Alcohol Hangover on Mood and Performance Assessed at Home" Journal of Clinical Medicine 9, no. 4: 1068. https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm9041068
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