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6.10pm: The alcohol is first absorbed into the blood via the stomach then the small intestine. If you’ve eaten before drinking, an enzyme in the stomach can help break down the alcohol. If you’re out on an empty stomach, your body will absorb alcohol faster.
6.30pm: The alcohol is carried round the body in your bloodstream. It hits your brain affecting your powers of concentration but also causes you to feel more relaxed and confident.
6.45pm-7.30pm: The level of alcohol in your blood is at its peak. The feeling of being drunk comes when we drink more alcohol than the liver can break down.
8pm: Alcohol is a diuretic, which means the kidneys send the booze you’ve drunk straight down to your bladder and you’ll need to go to the toilet more often.
9pm: Your speech starts to slur and gets worse with every drink you have. Your brain is responding more slowly so it’s difficult to get a response from the muscles required to form words.
10pm: You stagger around or fall over. The more you drink, the longer the neurotransmitters in your brain take to pass messages around, so your reaction time gets slower.
11pm: The part of your central nervous system responsible for behaviour and emotion is affected. You might do something you regret, like buying an expensive round of shots or telling people what you really think of them.
Midnight: Forcing your stomach to deal with so much alcohol in a short time can irritate it so badly you get acid reflux or vomit.
1am: You’re asleep and snoring loudly. Booze relaxes the muscles in your body, which means the tissue in your throat, mouth and nose stops air flowing smoothly, and is more likely to vibrate.
3am: It takes nine hours for the alcohol in a bottle of wine to leave your system.
4am: You’re wide awake. Booze can prevent your brain from moving into deep REM sleep so you sleep lightly and wake several times.
8am: The hangover hits. It’s down to a compound in the liver called acetaldehyde, which causes the pounding head, nausea and general horrible feeling. Other factors include dehydration and an increase in stomach acid and irritation.
Eight pints of beer takes 16 hours to leave your system – so you might still be feeling tipsy the next morning if you’ve knocked back that much.
1pm: Plenty of water will rehydrate you while food will give you energy. Eggs contain a substance that breaks down the hangovercausing acetaldehyde while bananas replace potassium.
You’re recovered and ready to drink again. Research has shown that hangovers don’t actually alter our intention to drink. Pub?