Yes, the aftermath of alcoholic parties is harder with age

2024-01-02 19:02:36

The “older” among us have already noticed: as we get older, the aftermath of the evening becomes more and more difficult. Nausea and headaches go away more slowly. Mickael Naassila, professor of physiology at the University of Picardie and specialist in issues related to alcohol, deciphers this phenomenon withActu, this Monday. “The older we get, the more we have a peak in blood alcohol content which gradually increases, with equal consumption. And this, from the age of 20,” explained the specialist.

This peak gradually increases approximately “every decade”. At 30, the effects felt after ingesting the same quantity of alcohol manifest themselves more quickly, for example, than at 20. We therefore get drunk more easily. “With age, the body changes: we gain weight and therefore the volume of water contained in our body decreases,” explains the professor. However, the more this volume decreases, the more quickly and sharply the blood alcohol level rises.” Indeed, alcohol does not diffuse in the same way if there is less water in our body.

The liver question

With age, the liver also encounters increasing difficulties in oxidizing alcohol molecules. “As the blood alcohol level is higher, the liver has more problems evacuating acetaldehyde, the first molecule present in alcohol. be degraded. However, this molecule is very toxic for cells, so if we are less efficient in evacuating it, the effects are more significant,” summarized Mickael Naasila.

Another aggravating factor: the older you get, the longer the time alcohol spends in the stomach. The blood alcohol level therefore remains high for longer. “And then when we get older, we are more sensitive to dehydration, to sleep problems, to hypoglycemia, to the toxic effects of alcohol in short,” explains Mickael Naasila. Hence the need to exercise moderation.