Just Thinking You’re Drunk Can Make You Feel Drunk, Says Study
When I was a freshman in high school and attended my first “real party,” it got busted, obviously.
Cops sat us down and breathalyzed us all. When I wasn’t busy shitting my pants about what my parents were going to say, I noticed that the girl who was taking her shirt off at the party earlier blew a zero point zero. WTF? I thought to myself.
Well, it turns out that just thinking you’re drunk can make you act drunk, similar to the placebo affect.
A study found that when students were given tonic water and told it was vodka tonic, they were more likely to be swayed by false information and be overly confident when they shouldn’t be.
“Even on plain tonic water, the male students flirted with [the woman conducting the study] as she conducted the experiment and the girls giggled a lot,” explained BBC.
Crazy, right? Also embarrassing.
Even if you’re not subject to the placebo affect, you can still feel more drunk without more alcohol depending on what your mixer is. Studies have also shown that drinking a sugary chaser or mixer, like a soda, can make you feel drunk even if you haven’t consumed a lot of alcohol.
This is weird, and feels like life is a lie, but it could actually maybe be a good thing. I mean, we drink to feel drunk, and if we can feel drunk without actually being that drunk, it means that we’ll have less of a hangover, plus be able to sober up if something serious happens.
It makes you want to try it on your friends, your bae, and even on yourself. I mean, we like to think that we can taste when the bartender is ripping us off or when a drink is watered down, but maybe we can’t? Do try this at home, kids.