You're looking at Less Wrong's discussion board. This includes all posts, including those that haven't been promoted to the front page yet. For more information, see About Less Wrong.

Benquo comments on Open thread for January 1-7, 2014 - Less Wrong Discussion

2 Post author: NancyLebovitz 01 January 2014 03:54PM

You are viewing a comment permalink. View the original post to see all comments and the full post content.

Comments (142)

You are viewing a single comment's thread. Show more comments above.

Comment author: Benquo 02 January 2014 08:11:24PM 1 point [-]

Interesting - I've had a plenty of nights of drink, including some where I felt unwell the next day, but never had either of those symptoms. I have, however, woken up recognizably dehydrated a couple of times.

I wonder whether some of the "myth" comes from the experiences of people like me, accurately reported but for some reason not defined as hangovers by the researchers behind the study cited.

Comment author: Nornagest 02 January 2014 09:48:53PM 4 points [-]

I've mistaken caffeine withdrawal for a hangover before, partly because of similarity in symptoms (headache; nausea; photosensitivity) and partly because it tends to show up around the same time (Sunday morning). This may account for the popularity of coffee as an alleged hangover cure.

Comment author: Benquo 02 January 2014 10:06:49PM 5 points [-]

Which raises the question, if the things people say about "hangovers" are true about the things they apply the term "hangover" to, what's left to be debunked?

Comment author: fubarobfusco 03 January 2014 01:49:35AM 1 point [-]

The belief that the things they're talking about are caused narrowly by overuse of alcohol?

Comment author: Benquo 03 January 2014 03:08:50PM 0 points [-]

But isn't the claim being "debunked" that hangovers are mainly dehydration, not the direct effects of alcohol?