Anybody know why it is that getting hammered on Friday means that you have a massively increased tolerance to booze on Saturday. Whenever I happen to have 2 consecutive drinking days this always happens to me. My tipple of choice happens to be Stella Artois. Does this happen to anyone else? What is the scientific reason for it? I am guessing that the reason will be related to why 2 pints would get me p*ssed when i was 16 but I can now have 2 pints and seem sober?
Well alcohol is a poison, and like most poisons the body can build up a resistance to it. As for your first question, my WAG is that the effects of a hangover will counteract most of the europhic affects of drinking, making you feel more sober.
Alcohol is an enzyme inducer. Exposure to it causes the body to make more of the enzymes needed to break it down.
It also has zero-order kinetics, dose != effect. Your liver detoxifies 1 unit of alcohol every hour. 2 units will take 2 hours to leave your system, 4 units will take 4 hours and so on.
Its also interesting to note that a high tolerance for alcohol (as in the proverbial “boy, that guy can hold is liquor”) is very frequently associated with the eventual development of alcoholism.