Is it true that … hangovers get worse as we age?

We ask an expert whether the morning after really does become more severe as we get older

E

ver woken up with a pounding head after a night out and wondered if hangovers really do get worse as you get older – or whether it’s just that you are worse at handling them now? Science suggests that the former is the case.

“Our body changes how it handles alcohol as we age,” says Adam Taylor, professor of anatomy at Lancaster medical school. The main reason is declining liver function.

“Alcohol is metabolised in the liver,” says Taylor. “The liver’s primary function is to detoxify things – break them down and make them into usable units of currency for the body, or get rid of them if they’re harmful.”