Do you remember every second of your worst hangover? Science says it’s your parents’ fault!
Everyone seems to have those bad hangover stories, but yours might be hereditary. Yes, science says that it’s your parents’ fault if your hangovers are bad! Seriously, it’s true. It is common knowledge that people with a family history of alcoholism are at greater risk of having drinking problems themselves. Now it’s been discovered that your family history might be responsible for horrible hangovers.
According to new research by Psychologist Dr. Richard Stephens at Keele University, you should blame your parents for rough day-after-drinking pains.
In Dr. Stephens’ most recent paper via Science Daily you can be more prone to the headaches and horrors of hangovers.
After conducting two studies focused on hangover severity and frequency, the results are clear.
"We started off this research by questioning whether hangovers might impact on problem drinking," Dr. Stephens told Science Daily. "Either positively by providing a natural curb on excessive drinking, or negatively should some drinkers feel compelled to drink through a hangover, known as 'the hair of the dog' drinking."
The first study revealed that those with alcoholism in their families recalled having more frequent post-drinking symptoms. This study surveyed 142 individuals, 24 of which had problem drinking in their family history.
In the second study, the scientists interviewed 49 people (17 with family drinking problems) the morning after a night of drinking.
This is the point when hangover symptoms would be visible and the most intense.
During this experiment, the consumption levels were controlled. But they found no significant difference between those with a family history of alcoholism and people without any.
"Taken together with findings from prior research it appears that people who are predisposed to develop problem drinking are no more susceptible to developing a hangover after a night of alcohol than people who are not predisposed," the doctor explained. "However, we found that such people appear to remember their hangovers more lucidly."
He added that this knowledge may be able to help people avoid the pain in the future. The vivid memories of the post-drinking consequences – both physical and emotional – could help inspire people who have a drinking problem to take more control of their consumption.
Even though one study showed that family drinking history doesn’t affect your hangovers, the other sort of did.
That being said, you should definitely call mom and dad the next time your head hurts after drinking. It could *technically* be their faults.