Did your alcohol tolerence change around 40?

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kombat

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I turned 40 last year, and in the past couple of years, I've noticed changes to the way my body handles alcohol. In my younger years, I could put away 8-10 beers in an evening, and if I cut myself off early enough (midnight) and drank enough water, I'd sleep through the night and wake up a little groggy and maybe with a touch of a headache, but otherwise functional.

Nowadays, it seems more unpredictable. Sometimes I can drink 6-8 beers and wake up fine the next day, other times I'll wake up feeling like I got run over by a truck. I have no idea what my "limit" is anymore.

One more thing: Occasionally (30% of the time?), after having as few as 4 beers in the evening, I'll wake up at 4:00 am hot and a little sweaty, and be unable to get back to sleep. This has made it virtually impossible (or, at least, irresponsible) for me to have more than 3 beers on a weeknight.

Given the unpredictable nature of it, I tried to determine whether it was a homebrew/macro thing, maybe yeast, maybe something to do with the hops... but I've been unable to narrow it down to anything. It just seems random.

Anyone else going through/remember anything similar around age 40?
 
I'm 35 and have the same issues. Anything more than 2-3 beers and I'll wake up at 4 am or earlier and not be able to go back to sleep. So I'll go the the couch and watch infomercial or catch up on old shows on Amazon movies.
 
Eh, not middle aged, but when I was drinking more regularly, I would wake up at 3 am every night, be awake till 5, then back to sleep for an hour. 50/50 chance of feeling awesome or almost dead the next day. Lot of it seemed to depend on what I ate with the beer. Wheat is not my friend for sleeping it seems.
 
I turned 40 last year, and in the past couple of years, I've noticed changes to the way my body handles alcohol. In my younger years, I could put away 8-10 beers in an evening, and if I cut myself off early enough (midnight) and drank enough water, I'd sleep through the night and wake up a little groggy and maybe with a touch of a headache, but otherwise functional.

Nowadays, it seems more unpredictable. Sometimes I can drink 6-8 beers and wake up fine the next day, other times I'll wake up feeling like I got run over by a truck. I have no idea what my "limit" is anymore.

One more thing: Occasionally (30% of the time?), after having as few as 4 beers in the evening, I'll wake up at 4:00 am hot and a little sweaty, and be unable to get back to sleep. This has made it virtually impossible (or, at least, irresponsible) for me to have more than 3 beers on a weeknight.

Given the unpredictable nature of it, I tried to determine whether it was a homebrew/macro thing, maybe yeast, maybe something to do with the hops... but I've been unable to narrow it down to anything. It just seems random.

Anyone else going through/remember anything similar around age 40?

Same exact thing here. I'm 46 and 3:15am is my default if I've had more than a few. Granted, I drink almost exclusively 9%++ beers or whisk(e)y. :D

I have noticed this in about the last year. Almost annoying to the point of going on an "alcohol fast" for a few weeks. ALMOST! LOL
 
37, and i can drink up to 4 beers (500ml) without punishment the next day or bad sleep.

After that it becomes a crapshoot of how and what happens, but i can be guaranteed to need many many trips to the tinkle-room at night.
 
I'm also 35 with the same thing, not sure if it's homebrew because that's mostly what I drink, but I bet commercial beer would do the same. On week nights (and most weekends), I limit myself to 2-3 beers a night (5.5% each, reduce the amount if higher abv). In some ways I appreciate my new lower tolerance because it helps to force me to limit my drinking (I hate it on weekends though if I drink more).
 
Yes! Almost exactly at 40. Similar issues. Recently I just had my first 2 day hangover or a night of heavy drinking and a touch of the flu. Had to tell, because I rarely get the flu(no flu shots here either). Some nights I can have a normal amount of beers to keep a nice buzz and the next thing I realized I feel trashed. Another factor though, drinking much stronger beer these days. It seems majority of the beers we drink are, lower end 7%, a fair share of 9 and 10% and somtimes throw in a quad or BW and were up %14. 10yrs ago Im not sure if ever had a beer this strong. Maybe once in a blue moon. Are weaker at 40, or are the beers stronger?
 
I've never been good at handling the alcohol. I can't say I'm better now or worse, but I can say I am smarter now!

It's still a crapshoot as to whether I'll wake up feeling kind of blah, or just fairly sick after a couple of beers.

I have a theory that getting some strenuous exercise before drinking helps you to relax more and get better sleep, which might help some of the symptoms. I know that at a certain point I feel tired but get crap for good sleep overnight. Alcohol supposedly interrupts your deep sleep, leading to grogginess.
 
I'm not at 40 yet, but something similar definitely happened to me around 30. Now I know that anything more than 3 normal beers (read: 6-8% abv), and I can basically guarantee myself that I will have a bad night's sleep and then feel like crap the next day. Additional drinking on weekends must be spaced out over the day because if it's all at night, I'll need 36 hours plus to fully recover.
 
I'll be 37 in about two months. During the week I can really only have two 5% or less beers or one 7% one without feeling it the next day. Otherwise, I will wake up at around 4-5 am and can't go back to sleep. Anything around 10% I wait until the weekend. I really don't like drinking them that much anymore from what they do to my body. I try to have light beers on tap for that reason.
 
Yeah a few years ago everything I drank was 7-10%, now that I homebrew and can't drink as much, I adjust most recipes so they're 1.060 or less (usually 1.050). I really loved big beers, sadly my body doesn't allow me to have them.
 
I am older than that now. My alcohol tolerance has changed back and forth over the years, from being able to handle a 12 pack to getting hammered on only a couple and back to large amounts. I have never had the waking up problems though. If I drink I am comatose until dawn. Then it is either normal or a hangover. I have learned not to over do to extremes so I haven't had a truly wicked hangover in a very long time.
 
I've been a semi professional drinker since my 20's. When I hit 35 or so I really found that if I didn't really pay attention to pacing, water intake and most importantly SLEEP, I was just destroyed by a big night of drinking.

If I go to an after work event and stay out until 2am, even if I only have 4 -5 beers over the entire night I feel like ass in the morning. If I have 5 beers from 7-10, then go home and hit the rack at 11:30 I feel pretty good when I wake up. For me a good nights rest seems to be the most heavily weighted factor in how I feel the next day.

Now I try to not drink much if at all during the week and save the beer for Friday / Saturday when I can sleep in. Sunday drinking always makes Monday hurt if I start at brunch / early football games.
 
I'm 40 now, but it changed around 34-35 for me. Now my threshold before I start paying the price is about 4 or 5 average strength beers (5-7%). Drinking a ton of water still helps, but isn't a cure all like it was in my 20s.
 
I turned 40 last year and can drink 6 - 8 without any sleep or hangover issues. In fact I probably had 6 last nite and 8+ through the day Sunday, then ran 2 miles, curled 115# 3 sets 6 reps and shrugged 280# 3 sets 6 reps Monday. I ran 2 miles this morning, no time for strength training. I'd say the only immediate negative effect I experience is difficulty in getting out of bed early enough for my full workout routine. The fact that my wife is a chef and doesn't come home until late also lends to my staying up later than I once did, which probably contributes to the difficulty in getting up early.
I feel like eating right and maintaining a strict and regular exercise routine makes everything better. Sleep, clarity of thought, effectiveness at work and home, attitude, I feel like it all relates directly to good health.
 
I turned 40 last year and can drink 6 - 8 without any sleep or hangover issues. In fact I probably had 6 last nite and 8+ through the day Sunday, then ran 2 miles, curled 115# 3 sets 6 reps and shrugged 280# 3 sets 6 reps Monday. I ran 2 miles this morning, no time for strength training. I'd say the only immediate negative effect I experience is difficulty in getting out of bed early enough for my full workout routine.


We hate you :ban:
 
38 here...I have all but quit drinking commercial beer for the reasons mentioned from everyone here.

I had a few too many commercials over the holidays and the recovery time took more than that of a minor surgery...
 
Seriously, what is that... 1200-1600 calories a day if you're drinking craft beer. How much do you weigh?

I'm 239 or 240. A little chubby from home brews and taking a desk job last year, but I work out daily to maintain cardiovascular health, stamina, strength and the meditative brain cleansing I mentioned.

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38. I drink more now than I ever have. I even cut back a lot and I'm still probably double where I was ten years ago.

I feel great.
 
I'm 239 or 240. A little chubby from home brews and taking a desk job last year, but I work out daily to maintain cardiovascular health, stamina, strength and the meditative brain cleansing I mentioned.

I gotta know something: what the flocc are you doing in your avatar?
 
I had the same thing happen in my mid 30's where I wake up around 3 am after about 3 or 4 beers. One or two seems ok most nights. Went on a bender last Saturday ice fishing and had over a dozen over the span of 14 hours and it took two days to recover. Seems to be a bigger hangover when I mix up styles. I'm 41 now.
 
Try drinking a lot of water. Yes i know it's cliche. But i found that i'm continually de-hydrated now that i'm over 40. Used to drink till i couldn't remember the night with barely a hang over. last time i had some jameson i was broken for a week.

Did i mention drink so much water you think you're bladder is bursting? try that for a week or two and i bet you feel better. Except for the constant pain in your bladder :p
 
I'm 44, I don't get hangovers, but I don't drink excessively, either.

I find 1-3 beers, and I am fine.

4-5 beers, I get the weird waking up after being asleep for 3 hours or so thing like some of you guys describe.

6-8 beers, I sleep like a baby.

:)
 
44, and yes I would say probably in the last year or so I feel like I can't drink as much anymore and can't determine a set limit. It's a moving target.
 
Youngsters...

61 here. I have learned how much I can drink and very rarely feel bad in the morning. The thing for me is to definitely have food before drinking. Drinking on an empty stomach will almost always make the effects worse. Pacing your drinking is important. If it is a high gravity brew then take you time. Don't zoom down a big boy Belgian. I can have 5-6 ( even fairly high gravity) brews and feel just fine in the morning. If I start at about 5 and have them over the course of 5-6 hours then I am good. If I drink them in 3 hours then all bets are off.

It is weird but sometimes get in more trouble drinking low gravity brews. They go down so much faster that I have more in a shorter time. That sets the pace for the evening and I just keep it up. I often drink a bigger beer or two first and then switch to lower gravity brews for the rest of the evening. I am drinking a dubbel right now. First one was at 4:45, just poured the second. Bigger beers seem to slow me down and I can still drink several of them, but the time is just streched out.
 
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