Did you become less tolerant to alcohol the older you got?

[SatsumaFan]

I've always thought I could handle my drink ok, have a few glasses of wine a week at home and a couple of nights out a month/every 6-8 weeks or so.

But lately I seem to get really bad hangovers, even when I've not drank that much. I'm starting to think - horror of horrors - that it's not actually worth the sickness and headache the next day?!

I'm 37 so have been drinking for 20yrs, and come from a long line of functioning alcoholics. Always was the black sheep of the family tho and this just confirms it...

Bump.

I think you do become less tolerant. I don’t want to give up drinking yet, so just drink lots of water in between alcoholic drinks. It is dehydration that causes really horrible effects the next morning.

Yeah, you're right. I've had a cold all week which hasn't helped. Had friends round the other night and had half a bottle of prosecco and half a bottle of white wine (over the course of 4hrs, with food) and felt terrible the next day. Can't imagine not drinking tho, esp at this time of year...

Definitely hugely less tolerant in my case... I was always considered a 'lightweight' with a very small repertoire of drinks that I liked... Sweetish wines (gewurtztraminer) Mojitos...Rhubarb Gin... but if i ever overdid it (4-6 drinks in my case) as i got older, into my 40's - i felt worse and worse/was always sick/hangovers were horrendous... had NO problem drinking more than that/recovering quicker when I was in my 20's/30's

Gave it up completely about 3/4 years ago - had a month on anti-biotics and didn't miss alcohol at all so stopped... i get the occasional twinge but would never go back... different if you really enjoy it tho...

Have found chocolate/sugar MUCH harder to give up

It's not a tolerance thing, it's an aging liver thing. Poor bastard has to do most of the dirty work of metabolising the alcohol into various other nasty things, then breaking those down. Give the poor thing a break!

Just keep the boozing slow enough that it can cope, one unit an hour or so, and you'll be okay the day after.

Have a smashed blowout and you'll be down and disabled for three days.

Definitely - your body can't process it as fast as it did. For me it just means I feel worse the next day and it takes a couple of sleeps to get back to normal. As a result I drink less.

I think it depends on what you drink as well though. Prosecco is awful for hangovers! Maybe you didn't drink it when you were younger?
I can drink gin til the cows come home and be fine but a couple glasses of wine or anything fizzy and I am miserable the next day!

I'm only 19 which is obviously still young, but at 16 I could drink massive amounts and was known as a tank until I turned 18, never any sickness or hangovers. Now I can have just one or two drinks and feel very rough the next day for some reason

I find that prosecco does not give me hangovers at all (it is like soda) but it gives me horrible heartburn. Still wine on the other hand knocks me out like it never has before! I can’t drink beer because it makes me fat. I love gin, but not all the new twatty flavours! 😂 I should just give up!!

Yes, definitely. The older I got the less my poor battered liver and digestive system could deal with it, I think! Also didn’t do my mental health any good. In my later years I drank moderately but have never had a particularly healthy relationship with alcohol.

I stopped drinking for a couple of years when I hit 40, then started again, but with some longish breaks. Then hit perimenopause, and found that I couldn’t tolerate alcohol at all. Gave up entirely nearly two years ago and do not miss it at all.

I’ve made it sound like I was caning it as a young ‘un - I drank a bit too much but not outrageously.

As someone who had a mahoosive 8 drinks yesterday afternoon and am now curled up on sofa after throwing up and feeling rubbish then yes, I completely agree age decimates your body's alcohol tolerance.

I feel rubbish so easily after a drink,fortunately I don't go out much but I'm.much happier offering to drive purely to have a fresh day the next day rather than feeling really grotty.

I used to drink like a fish and be up fresh as a daisy next morning.

Ha. Not any more. Three drinks and it’s full-on hangover territory. Four, and it’s a healthy dose of existential angst on top. Any more than that and I can write two days off.

I suspect that at this point my liver resembles a well-worn brogue.

Blimey yes. I don’t drink very often for this reason. I had a G&T last night woke up this morning and had such a raging thirst I downed a pint of water. 3 drinks and I’m merry and feel tired for 2 or 3 days.
I only drink gin though and never have a hangover as such.
Disclaimer....... my measures are nothing like pub measures. At a recent hotel party DH and I had 7 G&Ts each.... no effect whatsoever during or after the party. We decided the gin was in fact gin flavoured water lol.
If I had wine I’d be asleep after one glass.

Definitely I'm nearly 40 it's just no fun the next day or sometimes a couple of days feeling Ill . I'll have 2-3 glasses at home but that's over the evening of 3 hours . If I go out it's more I just can't do it anymore.

God yes. Since early 40s I've cut right back, especially on nights out. I cannot take the hangover. It's not worth it.

Since being pregnant and having the baby I cannot handle drink at all. I find it kicks my ibs off and I'm on the loo all day and with a baby you can't do that !

My theory is that as you get older, your tolerance becomes either worryingly high or annoyingly low. Mine is pathetic these days and I drink very little as a result.

A few of my friends have given up completely, and I can imagine doing that eventually...

Yes. Was never able to drink much as a migraine sufferer and if I got a hangover it ended up as a migriane so never worth it.

Now I barely drink at all. An occasional G&T or glass of wine with dinner but never more than one. Just not interested any more and definitely can't handle it as get tipsy after half a glass and feel sick after two.

Yes, your liver doesn't work as well the older you get and your metabolism changes.

Yes, I barely touch a drop these days (I have had two glasses of wine in the whole of December so far, on separate nights out, haven't touched the sloe gin I made recently). I can't see me going completely teetotal but I'm not far off.

I used to be able to drink a lot before becoming visibly drunk. Now I get tipsy after a glass of champagne. Thus started after I had children.

Never had a hang over though.

Yes here too.
Used to be able to nocknit back and function fine the next day, now (I'm 46) I just can't face it. Can't be bothered with more than a couple, Dont want a hangover, don't want to loose a day. I only drink occasionally now.