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Did your alcohol tolerence change around 40?

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Don't get me wrong I can still party like I'm 21 and no 21 yr old alive can keep up with me. But if I go full zombie mode with the loss of memory and all that til I pass out I'm hung over for a week!

Really going to be put to the test here in April. My Bachelors party, Montreal, April 1 & 2nd. Friday the first Iron Maiden in concert at the Belle Centre. Then Sat night 3 words - Full Contact Strippers. If you've been to Montreal you know of what I speak. If you haven't..... I feel for your loss.
 
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.

Yeah, started with me around 30. Now a few years in, it's like you all say- if I have more than 3-4 strong beers, then there is a 50/50 chance I'll be waking up in the middle of the night for a couple hours.
 
42 here and I also agree it started to hit me at about 38 anything over 2 beers on week nights and I seem to wake up almost every hour after midnight tell I Finley roll out of bed at 4 to get ready for work. I have also gotten to the point where sleep is more important than beer on the week nights. But I make up for it on the weekends.
 
I'm 49, and recently had a month or two of waking between 3-4 am. That seems to have passed, but I've tried to cut down a bit as part of weight loss attempt, so that may be why I'm not waking up.
I was putting away 5-7 16 oz (6.5-8.5%)on weekends. Not much during the week, though.
I never get hung over. Kind of tired and maybe a touch of a headache is the worst of it.
 
Age never seemed to affect my ability to pound down the beer. I could put it away back in the day and still can today. Being that my drink of choice is Wild Turkey 101, beer is not a problem.

As far as sleeping I never really get much more than 4 to 6 hours a night if I am lucky. And that doesn't matter if I drink or not, just the way I have always been.
 
Don't get me wrong I can still party like I'm 21 and no 21 yr old alive can keep up with me. But if I go full zombie mode with the loss of memory and all that til I pass out I'm hung over for a week!

Really going to be put to the test here in April. My Bachelors party, Montreal, April 1 & 2nd. Friday the first Iron Maiden in concert at the Belle Centre. Then Sat night 3 words - Full Contact Strippers. If you've been to Montreal you know of what I speak. If you haven't..... I feel for your loss.

Make sure you hit up a local deli afterwards to fill your belly with an authentic Montreal smoked meat sandwich and a side of poutine. Best drunk food ever.
 
Ah yes - the Canadian Ballet. Well, that's what we call it in Buffalo. There's nothing else like it. ��

I honestly can't figure out why more US young men don't make the pilgrimage to Montreal for the urban folk dancers.


  • Drinking age is 18
  • Strip bars are all-nude, and serve alcohol (many US states are either-or)
  • $10 full-contact lap dances ("These feel real!", "Thanks, baby, I just had them done")
  • Great drunk food (Montreal smoked meat sandwiches, poutine)
  • Currency exchange rate makes it a bargain for USAmericans at the moment (that $10 lap dance will actually only cost you $7 USD)

Do they just not know?
 
Hate to be that guy but.....

Exercise is my key to enjoying copious amounts of homebrewed gold.

Minimum 4 miles, 5-6 times a week. (even if its just walking, just make sure to exercise for 60mins a day)
I'm up at 5:00AM regardless of what I drank the night before, which means going to bed around 10-11.

To the OP, craft beer has made a huge difference in how much I drink. I'm still adjusting t the increased calories and ABV.

im 46 w/ 7 kids..
 
I had three beers last night. Got to bed at 4:30AM. Woke up at 8:30AM.

FML
 
Kombat, are you drinking mostly hoppy beers?
Reason I ask, every time I drink heady topper after 6pm I wake up in the middle of the night, usually sweating. It happens with other hoppy beers, It doesn't happen with most other beers. I wonder if it has to do with a tolerance for hops at a certain age. I never had a hop problem before late 30's.
 
A lot don't and its not just young men. I went a strip club here in MN. Didn't serve alcohol and a "private dance" which was really just another room full of couches was $60! AND no touching of the dancers at ALL.

I was outta that place.

The other deterrent with young men is probably the needing of a Passport to get into Canada now.




I honestly can't figure out why more US young men don't make the pilgrimage to Montreal for the urban folk dancers.


  • Drinking age is 18
  • Strip bars are all-nude, and serve alcohol (many US states are either-or)
  • $10 full-contact lap dances ("These feel real!", "Thanks, baby, I just had them done")
  • Great drunk food (Montreal smoked meat sandwiches, poutine)
  • Currency exchange rate makes it a bargain for USAmericans at the moment (that $10 lap dance will actually only cost you $7 USD)

Do they just not know?
 
Speaking of sleep being interrupted by the call of nature splashy endings I just ordered one of these:

https://www.touchofmodern.com/sales/glowbowl/glow-bowl?open=1

Hoping it will help me get back to sleep quicker not having to turn on the bathroom light without missing.

(Mad respect to those that sit to pee but I don't have enough estrogen in me to do it. Just kidding ;) honestly its just too much work at 3am )

45f40057ed3c70fad50e74dca29988f6_medium.jpg
 
44 and I have a similar problem. I'll wake up at 3:00 am and be wide awake. I'm a light sleeper on my best night so perhaps that has something to do with it. Now, here's something that may sound weird. Drinking makes my feet hot and I can't sleep when my feet are too hot. I'll hang them outside the blankets to regulate temperature........God, it's good to finally get that off my chest..lol
 
We went to Louisville On Tap week before last, 60 or so breweries, each with maybe 2 of their beers. First beer fest I've been to in a couple years, anyway, I don't drink more than 3 or 4 beers in a days time, so I was trying to be cautious. Wound up sampling 53 beers, don't remember leaving the place or the ride home (we had our daughter drop us off and pick us up), got home around 8:30 pm, ate some popcorn, and told the wife I was turning in for the night. Slept like a baby til around 10:00 am, got up, felt okay for a few hours, and then it hit me, I was hungover for 2 days! I'm 50, so I guess 1)I shoulda known better 2)way more recovery time is required now as opposed to when I was 25 3) no more beer fests for me for the year.

I generally sleep fine even when I've had more than my usual 3 or 4, getting up to wizz is a normal thing for me anyway, as I drink a LOT of water throughout the day.
 
That sounds like a nightmare although I'm sure it was great fun while it was going on. It's hard enough on me to sample 15 or so at the monthly club meeting. I've always wanted to go to the NHC or GABF, but I might be past my prime. Couple thousand bucks to go and drink a couple pints a day?

To all you gents having trouble sleeping at night: melatonin. I've read that as you age, your natural level of this hormone reduces and can be further affected by things like high-blood-pressure meds. A little 3mg tablet helps me sleep like baby, and it's "natural"and available over the counter. And if I get up to pee, it causes me to fall right back asleep. No groginess like sleeping pills. Ymmv.
 
44. I have learned with bad results that 4-6 "drinks" (presuming a "drink" to be 12 oz. @ 5%) is my limit. So, a 12% bomber, that's a night.

Cheap date, but hangovers are so awful. I drink a glass of water for every 2 "drinks" and that helps.
 
Not trying to hijack here, but anyone here develop an allergy to certain type of alcohol?
I'm 32, gave up booze a few years ago. I was a bourbon guy. I think I developed an allergy to mashed corn. I'd if that is possible but I have similar flushing and runny nose effects to certain beers as I did to corn likerr before I said no more.

On topic, at 32, I pace myself well and rarely have any issues., gas aside, so long as I can sleep well and don't go chugging college style.
 
40+ it's not all beer related.
I've woken up feeling hung over without touching a drop the night before.
Welcome to old age.
 
Not trying to hijack here, but anyone here develop an allergy to certain type of alcohol?
I'm 32, gave up booze a few years ago. I was a bourbon guy. I think I developed an allergy to mashed corn. I'd if that is possible but I have similar flushing and runny nose effects to certain beers as I did to corn likerr before I said no more.

On topic, at 32, I pace myself well and rarely have any issues., gas aside, so long as I can sleep well and don't go chugging college style.


https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcohol_flush_reaction
 
Had some friends over for the Superbowl yesterday. Made my way through a few beers, mindful that I had to work today. I had 7 in total, but spaced out over the entire afternoon and evening (and nothing imperial, just 5% stuff). Drank a couple cups of water and went to bed feeling fine. Woke up at 4:00 am. At least I wasn't overheating this time. No hangover today, just tired from losing that last couple of hours of sleep.
 
Familiar with that, but that's not it. My home brew doesn't do it (I've yet to use corn) but a half a shot of bourbon will, or bmc or other commercial beers (I assume where mashed with corn too)



I second the waking up hung over with drinking thing.

The reason why I posted was because I also some times get a mild flushing reaction- blotchy red spots on face and neck. Usually lasts 15-30 mins and some times is associated with "feeling warm" in the face (similar to the warm feeling I get if I'm really angry or embarrassed). I don't ever have the nausea, runny nose, sinus, or eye symptoms though. It usually only occurs with liquor or high abv wine. I don't remember it happening with beer, although I'm not always aware of it. I'm not Asian, but always figured it was some mild form of Asian flushing syndrome- heterozygous for deficient/inefficient alcohol dehydrogenase.
 
I had great tolerance for it back in college. Some of my best times were at parties with them. Heck, if I'm being honest, I experimented with it a bit myself even back in high school.

When I graduated I moved into the city. But then more and more of them started moving in, with their loud bars everywhere. I realized that was no place to raise a family and moved out to the burbs...

Hey, wait, you're talking about "beers"...oh, yeah, I still have plenty of tolerance for those!

:D
 

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