Being an average college student, I enjoy going out on weekends and having a drink or two with friends. Unfortunately, due to this mysterious concept of “alcohol tolerance,” after two drinks, I’m laying under the table while everyone else is dead sober. I am teased mercilessly by those who can “handle their liquor,” while I’m just trying to “handle sitting upright.”
I decided to do a little research on this vague “tolerance” concept and find out exactly why mine is so low.
According to the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, “after chronic alcohol consumption, the drinker often develops tolerance to at least some of alcohol’s effects.”
So, I am not hopeless. There is a way for me to alleviate my susceptibility to the effects of Heineken. However, this method of “chronic consumption” sounds a little daunting. A quick check in the dictionary confirms that “chronic” means “continuing indefinitely, constant and perpetual.”
That could be a problem. I’m not looking for a permanent suite at Betty Ford here, I just want to make it to bar time on Friday night with at least some of my motor skills intact.
The NIAAA goes on to define several different types of “tolerance.”
They explain that tolerance to alcohol generally increases over several drinking sessions. However, they say that in some cases tolerance can increase after just one session. This rare phenomenon is called “acute tolerance.” Clearly, this does not apply to me.
Digging deeper into this NIAAA document, I found this gem of fascinating information: There is a concept of “Environment-dependent tolerance.” It is detailed as such:
“The development of tolerance to alcohol’s effects over several drinking sessions is accelerated if alcohol is always administered in the same environment or is accompanied by the same cues. This effect has been called environment-dependent tolerance. Rats that regularly received alcohol in one room and a placebo in a different room demonstrated tolerance to the sedative and temperature-lowering effects of alcohol only in the alcohol-specific environment. Similar results were found when an alcohol-induced increase in heart rate was studied in humans. When the study subjects always received alcohol in the same room, their heart rate increased to a lesser extent after drinking in that room than in a new environment.”
As interesting as these scientific findings are, they also do not apply to me. Being a creature of habit, I find myself at the same bar every weekend. Instead of being less drunk as a result of this repetition, I find that the opposite is true. The habit of frequenting the same haunt has caused increased recognition by the bartenders that work there. Their tendency to offer free shots with the beer I am buying contributes to raising my inebriation rather than reducing it.
The NIAAA then goes on to explain the scientific findings behind “learned tolerance.” It purports, basically, that if you practice a task repeatedly while intoxicated, eventually you will get better at it. Not particularly shocking. However, they say that experiments with human test subjects have proven that a person will get better at this practiced task more quickly if they know that they will be rewarded for completing it.
Therefore, if I practice standing up and speaking clearly while I’m drinking, eventually I will get it down. However, if I can figure out a way to be rewarded for this behavior than I will master it more quickly. Next Friday, I will give my friends a bag of candy with the instructions to only give it to me when I successfully stand up without assistance and carry on a coherent conversation.
Finally, at the end of the NIAAA’s study was the most useful nugget of information. The testing of animal subjects has indicated that tolerance may be, at least in part, genetically determined. Rats that had been bred to prefer water over alcohol developed no increased tolerance over several drinking sessions.
So, next Friday when I am again subjected to the mockery of my alcohol-preferring rat friends I can just say, “look, I’m a water rat okay? So back off.” Then hopefully, they will give me some candy.