Booze Baffles Brain After Binge (CME/CE, with audio)

The performance-robbing effects of heavy alcohol consumption may persist for hours after the alcohol has left the body, according to a study involving tasks that included simulated driving.

Hangover correlated with poorer performance on tests requiring both sustained attention and quick reaction, even when study participants considered their driving ability unaffected by the previous night’s drinking, researchers reported online in Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research.

Nor did it matter whether drinkers consumed bourbon or vodka. Although vodka drinkers felt a little better after a bender, their real-world performance suffered just as much, investigators found.

Heavy drinking also disrupted sleep, although poor sleep quality itself did not correlate with performance of the tasks, the study found.

“I would hope that individuals realize that the morning after the night before, their performance is going to be impaired, particularly in some tasks that may be involved in safety-sensitive behaviors, such as driving a car in heavy traffic and operating dangerous machinery,” Damaris Rohsenow, PhD, of Brown University in Providence, R.I., said in an interview.

“We found that people were impaired in their ability to do tasks that require both vigilance and making rapid decisions and that people were not aware that their performance was impaired. People thought they were as well able to drive a car or even better able to drive a car the morning after drinking heavily than after drinking placebo, even though they were definitely impaired.”

Like previous studies, this one found that the type of alcohol consumed affected the severity of hangover — but did not correlate with performance. Study participants felt worse after drinking bourbon compared with vodka, presumably because of an increased concentration of congeners, byproducts of fermenting.

Previous studies had yielded mixed results regarding alcohol’s residual effects on next-day performance. Some studies showed associations between residual effects and workplace performance, accidents, and safety-related tasks. On the other hand, some studies showed no association with measures of specific neurocognitive tasks.

The role of congeners in hangover and performance in particular had received scant attention in previous studies, the authors wrote.

Most types of alcohol contain small amounts of substances such as acetone, acetaldehyde, fusel oil, tannins, and furfural. However, the concentration can vary among beverages. For example, bourbon contains 37 times more congener than does vodka.

To examine some of the unresolved issues, Rohsenow and colleagues recruited 95 healthy young adults (ages 21 to 35). All had a self-reported history of heavy alcohol consumption on at least one occasion within the past 30 days, but no history of treatment or counseling for alcohol-related problems. Investigators also excluded people with self-reported sleep disorders.

Small groups of participants completed three overnight sessions.

The first involved sleep screening, practicing the neurocognitive tests, and becoming familiar with polysomnography.

The second and third sessions sessions were for drinking experiments. Each participant completed one placebo drinking experiment and one alcohol experiment.

Participants were randomly assigned to alcoholic drinks containing either 101-proof bourbon or 100-proof vodka, mixed with caffeine-free cola. The placebo drink was cola mixed with non-carbonated tonic, with two or three drops of bourbon or vodka floated on top.

For the two drinking experiments, participants consumed a standardized meal, followed several hours later by drink consumption, during which time polysomnography leads were attached and breath alcohol tests were performed periodically.

Participants assigned to alcohol-containing drinks continued to drink until the breath test indicated a blood level of 0.11%, well over the legal driving limit in most states.

After a 15-minute absorption period for the last drink, participants completed a subjective rating of their abilities, followed by an eight-hour window for monitored sleep.

After awakening the next morning, they completed a hangover assessment, ate breakfast, and had additional alcohol breath tests. About an hour after awakening, study participants completed the neurocognitive tests and some additional ratings.

Comparing results of the three overnight sessions, Rohsenow and colleagues found that consumption of bourbon or vodka, as compared with placebo, resulted in significantly higher subjective ratings of intoxication (P<0.001) and hangover (P<0.001), as well as worse performance on neurocognitive tests requiring both sustained attention and speed (P<0.001).

Alcohol also decreased sleep efficiency and rapid eye-movement sleep and increased wake time and next-day sleepiness (P<0.001). The effects on sleep correlated with hangover but did not mediate hangover’s effects on task performance.

Consumption of bourbon or vodka had similar effects on sleep and task performance. Participants assigned to bourbon had more severe hangover compared with those assigned to vodka (P<0.05). The investigators found no significant differences between male and female participants.

The study was supported by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, National Center for Research Resources, and the Boston University School of Public Health.

The authors reported no disclosures.

source : www.medpagetoday.com

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