Brent Rose, of gizmodo.com, is here to mythbust the old belief that drinking at altitude gets you more durnk.
Do You Really Get Drunker at High Altitude? [gizmodo]
There’s a phrase people like to repeat in Denver: “Be careful when you drink here.” The claim is that the altitude (elevation 5,280 feet) makes one drink between 1.5 to 3 times as potent. If you visit the area to ski this winter, the city officials will even warn you about it when you get to town. Is there any thing to it?
It’s Friday afternoon, you’ve made it through the long week, and it’s time for Happy Hour, Gizmodo’s weekly booze column. A cocktail shaker full of innovation, science, and alcohol. Today we’re drunk AND high.
The Claim
When alcohol is present in the blood, it interferes with hemoglobin’s absorption of oxygen. Because higher altitudes have less oxygen in the air to begin with, it is thought that the effect is magnified, so you get even less oxygen to your brain. People are advised to not drink for roughly 48 hours after they arrive at a higher altitude.
It sounds somewhat reasonable at first. But if that were strictly true, everyone would be affected by it, whether they were acclimated to the elevation or not. Having spend three (rowdy) years of my life in Denver, I can tell you that some people seem mildly affected, and some don’t seem to be affected in the slightest. Other people are just drunks at any elevation.
More scientifically speaking, an Austrian study done in the 1990′s which found that there was no real difference in the blood-alcohol content (BAC) of people drinking at sea level and those at 10,000 feet. That said, the researchers did find a possible culprit.
Not sure, but I’ll be sure to test next time
Drunker from partyin harder, yeah.
No, but someone who is accustomed to high altitude experiences much less hangover effects when drinking at lower altitude- at least in my experience…
im my opinion it also has to do with the fact that many people get dehydrated faster in high elevation and drier climate then they are used to
Split a bottle of tequila with a friend at 10,700 feet, makes sleeping extremely difficult.
F u
True. Definitely makes the headache worse.
Some ppl are.just drunks at any elevation. Hahahhaha. Yup.
If you are serious about drinking you don’t go skiing. You go to Milwaukee.
wow. try spending two minutes reading about blood oxygen levels and how the body adjusts to elevation change and you might find your answers to this perplexing mystery. derrrrp
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