We all know the worst thing about a night out is the morning after. Not only is the fun behind you, but you've got a splitting headache, you're struggling to eat anything, and hangxiety is on overdrive. Don't worry though. It gets worse.
'Thortful' did a survey where they asked a bunch of people at what age their attitudes towards having a mad night out changed. The average age where people said hangovers start getting considerably more shitty is between 31 - 34, with 21% of respondents saying that is when they started feeling it after a night out. Coming in at a close second are the ages between 26 and 30, with 20.3% of respondents saying that the late 20s is when the dust started getting the better of them.
It seems the late 30s is when most party animals start hanging up the red cups, instead opting for pyjamas and the TV remote. Age 37 is the most common age people responding to the survey said they would only go on a night out if they felt it was worth it, preferring to stay at home over cutting shapes on the d-floor. 38 is when people said they start feeling way more wasted than they used to get, even after fewer drinks.
It seems people hitting their mid-30s are weirdly nostalgic about those dusty Sundays from their earlier years. However, it might really just be nostalgia. Richard Stephens, a senior psychology lecturer at Keele University in the UK scientifically tested whether hangovers get worse with age. He studied over 50,000 people aged between 18 and 94. He found that hangovers are much rarer the older you get, which could be why older geezers feel like hangovers are far worse.
Basically, younger people are known to send it way harder and way more often than older people. Older people have real-life responsibilities like a career and children, so they do not prioritise a night out as much as they used to, meaning a rough morning after can sneak up on them.
The dynamics of dustiness are pretty elusive to scientists - with no definitive answer of what causes a hangover being agreed upon.
Dr Mark Willenberg, an addiction psychiatrist, told SELF in 2018 "Many parameters have been examined, including blood chemistries, minerals, glucose, hormones, inflammatory factors . and nothing has really popped up," he continued.
It's a scary thought that not even humankind's smartest minds can pin down the cause of a hangover. All we have are the classic possible remedies like drinking a bunch of water before bed, having a big feed after drinking, and a blue Powerade and a pie from the dairy down the road.