Burn it up
Bluelighter
- Joined
- Jan 25, 2009
- Messages
- 119
I was wondering if heavy alcohol users are able to metabolise alcohol faster than sporadic users.
For the last month I have been drinking quite heavily - around 1L of beer / couple of drinks 4 days per week and close to half a litre of vodka / gin / whiskey 2 days per week (this leaves only one day per week in which I don't drink). I am aware that this alcohol intake is excessive, but I was curious as to what happened the other day:
I was having a long drinking session with a friend of mine. Unlike me, he drinks sporadically, only on the weekends and not too heavily. Throughout the course of various hours we drank the same quantity of alcohol (thee bottles of wine, a couple of L of beer, some vodka and some whiskey). At some point I realised that he was heavily drunk and had problems speaking, while I was drunk but still fully in control of my mind and body. I attributed this difference between us to the fact that I sure have a lot more tolerance to alcohol and therefore the effect might be less pronounced on me.
We wanted to shed light on what could be going on, so we used a very precise breathalyser to empirically measure how much alcohol we had in our bodies. He gave 0.77, while in my case it was only 0.33 - less than half. Added to this, I weigh around 20 kg less than my friend.
Taking into account that both of us were drinking the exact same quantity of alcohol, I can only attribute this difference in alcohol concentration to the fact that I was metabolising it faster because of my prior heavy alcohol use. I was wondering if this is even possible? If not, what could be the explanation for these differences in alcohol concentration and perceived effects?
I also realised that the more heavy I drink for a prolonged time, the milder my hangovers are, while if I only drink sporadically I have much harsher hangovers.
Thank you very much!
For the last month I have been drinking quite heavily - around 1L of beer / couple of drinks 4 days per week and close to half a litre of vodka / gin / whiskey 2 days per week (this leaves only one day per week in which I don't drink). I am aware that this alcohol intake is excessive, but I was curious as to what happened the other day:
I was having a long drinking session with a friend of mine. Unlike me, he drinks sporadically, only on the weekends and not too heavily. Throughout the course of various hours we drank the same quantity of alcohol (thee bottles of wine, a couple of L of beer, some vodka and some whiskey). At some point I realised that he was heavily drunk and had problems speaking, while I was drunk but still fully in control of my mind and body. I attributed this difference between us to the fact that I sure have a lot more tolerance to alcohol and therefore the effect might be less pronounced on me.
We wanted to shed light on what could be going on, so we used a very precise breathalyser to empirically measure how much alcohol we had in our bodies. He gave 0.77, while in my case it was only 0.33 - less than half. Added to this, I weigh around 20 kg less than my friend.
Taking into account that both of us were drinking the exact same quantity of alcohol, I can only attribute this difference in alcohol concentration to the fact that I was metabolising it faster because of my prior heavy alcohol use. I was wondering if this is even possible? If not, what could be the explanation for these differences in alcohol concentration and perceived effects?
I also realised that the more heavy I drink for a prolonged time, the milder my hangovers are, while if I only drink sporadically I have much harsher hangovers.
Thank you very much!
