Science explains why you get with people you’ll regret when you’re drunk

You know the Sunday morning worldwide phenomenon of waking up and violently spamming your debrief chat with excited messages about pulling someone “really really fit” last night, only to discover them on Facebook and collectively shudder? Yeah, apparently there’s actual science behind it.

Brave, valiant researchers have found that rather than just being an excuse for morning-after embarrassment, drinking half a litre of beer makes people (especially women) less shy and more attracted to “friendly faces”. Essentially, beer is the culprit for making unattractive people look temporarily fit to you.

When you’re like ‘three drinks in and ready to make some bad decisions’

Professor Matthias Liechti, the lead researcher on the study from Basel University Hospital, said: “Although many people drink beer and know its effects through personal experience (wahey)* there is surprisingly little scientific data on its effects on the processing of emotional social information.

“We found that drinking a glass of beer helps people see happy faces faster, and enhances concern for positive emotional situations. Alcohol also facilitates the viewing of sexual images, consistent with disinhibition, but it does not actually enhance sexual arousal.

“These effects of alcohol on social cognition likely enhance sociability.”

C’mere

The effect was far greater for women than for men, although, as researchers pointed out, while the study improved confidence it didn’t make either gender better in bed.

Explaining why beer goggles affect women more, Professor Wim van den Brink said: “The sex differences in the findings can either be explained by differences in blood alcohol concentration between males and females with the same alcohol intake, differences in tolerance due to differences in previous levels of alcohol consumption or by socio-cultural factors.”

*He didn’t really say wahey.

@rosielanners