You mixed your drink with diet soda.Your blood alcohol level will spike faster if your cocktail contains diet soda compared to regular soda, according to a small study recently published in the journal Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research. In two different sessions, study participants drank the equivalent of three to four mixed drinks in a short period of time. When they drank vodka mixed with regular soda, their peak blood alcohol level measured 0.077, just under the legal limit of 0.08. But when they drank vodka mixed with diet soda? Their blood alcohol measured 0.091. Their perception was altered, too: After drinking diet drinks, people performed statistically worse on computer tests compared to how they did after sipping the regular version, even though they reported no noticeable change in how they felt or performed. You chose a curvy glass.How well you “pace yourself” during a cocktail party may have to do with your glass. Study participants drank twice as slowly when their lager was in a typical “straight-sided” glass compared to when it was an angled “beer flute,” researchers at the University of Bristol found last year.

The findings suggest that it may be harder to judge the halfway point of your drink in shaped glasses, according to Science Daily. You liked how your drink tasted.Flavor itself can affect behavior, Scott Krakower, MD, medical director of the Mineola Community Treatment Center, told HealthDay News. When you want a drink, just a small taste of it can activate your brain’s “more, please!” reward system and trigger the desire to drink more. In recent studies at Indiana University School of Medicine, researchers gave a group of men just a half ounce of low-alcohol beer, their drink of choice. Based on the beer flavor, the subjects reported an increased desire to drink more than compared to when they sipped Gatorade. You're eating low-fat or fat-free foods.It’s no secret that imbibing on an empty stomach makes your drink go to your head (literally) faster. But even eating low-fat or fat-free foods can alter how drunk you get. Foods with a higher fat content take more time to leave the stomach and can slow the rate at which your body absorbs the alcohol from your digestive tract, according to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.

If you can, opt for those bar nuts—a great source of healthy, unsaturated fat—over the low-fat pretzels. You were psyched to have a good time.Itching for a fun night out with friends or your spouse? top 100 wine of 2013You may get “drunk” more easily. top selling us wine brandsPerception plays a big role not in how drunk you actually are, but in how drunk you feel, according to ABC News. top wine brands 2014People have begun to act drunk when they were told there was alcohol in their glass even if there wasn’t any. best red wine from virginiaLikewise, when people won’t act as drunk when their drinks are spiked with alcohol if they aren’t aware of it.sweet red wine brands names

You aren't pumping iron.Of course, your size would affect how quickly you absorb alcohol—picture a petite sorority sister versus a hulky male linebacker. But the percentage of your body fat to muscle mass plays a role too. guide to wine pdfBecause alcohol is more soluble in water than in fat, a 150-pound person with more lean muscle mass (who has less fat) will be less affected by the same number of drinks as a 150-pound person with more body fat.best white wine for drinking without foodThe older you get, the more easily you become intoxicated, thanks to a number of physical changes in your body. best wine for easter ham dinnerOne is the decrease in the metabolism of alcohol in your digestive tract, and a decrease in body water. best way to package wine glasses for shipping

"Older people can be snowed by alcohol amounts that hardly touched them when they were younger," Peter Martin, MD, director of the Division of Addiction Psychiatry at Vanderbilt University Medical Center told ABC News. You've had weight-loss surgery.The 150,000 Americans who have gastric bypass surgery each year may face an unexpected side effect: a much lower tolerance. Stanford University researchers conducted a small study, in which they gave 5 ounces of red wine to 19 post-operative gastric bypass patients and 17 controls. They were told to polish off the drink in 15 minutes. The surgery patients reached a peak blood-alcohol level of 0.08 percent (the legal limit) while the control group reached only 0.05 percent, according to Medical News Today.Have a wine hangover? These 8 steps might surprise you, but they will help you recover faster. Get back on track and start having a better day. Get back on track to being a happy human being again with this handy little Wine Hangover Recovery Guide.

Hopefully, you have already made some decisions on how to moderate your wine intake next time. In the meantime, let’s take care of some of the unpleasant symptoms of a hangover including: This sounds counterintuitive, but this is essential for a faster recovery. Being awake increases your metabolism which helps to jump start your recovery. If you get up early, you can look forward to a mid-day ‘caffeine nap’ (see below). Get up early and start doing the following steps. Force yourself to go for a 10-15 minute jog. If you’re not very active, a 30 minute walk has similar benefits. You don’t want to over exercise but go just long enough to get your blood flowing and move the toxins out. The most important thing you need to do is drink water. Go to the faucet right now and force yourself to drink 2 glasses of water. You can also take an over-the-counter pain reliever to reduce your headache. Most people will take ibuprofen (Advil) or acetaminophen (Tylenol) to take away a headache.

You can do this too, but remember that these drugs are hard on your liver which is working overtime right now metabolizing all of that acetaldehyde from the booze. Do your liver a favor and only take a small dose, or skip these medicines until after you’ve tried all the other methods below. Turn the lights off and take a cool shower in the dark. Feel that water take off all of the unmentionables from the night before. While showers don’t actually hydrate you at all, a cooler temperature shower will make you alert. Don’t use overly strong smelling soaps. Dress for success and get your day going. Have oatmeal or a protein shake for breakfast and eat a protein-rich salad or soup for lunch. Do whatever you can to avoid the greasy spoon option as it will just exhaust you. As it happens, the hypothalamus in your brain is just tricking you into thinking you’re hungry for pancakes, bacon and eggs. Trust me, you’re not. If you listen to music at work during the day, sprinkle in some ambient music such as Brian Eno’s Music For Airports or Aphex Twin’s Ambient Works and keep the volume relatively low.

Music has been shown to not only increase your productivity but also reduce stress. If you have bluetooth headphones, this will help keep you focused as you will probably be constantly interrupted with the need to pee from all that water. At some point during the day you’re going to get really tired. If you have a safe place to take a nap, like your car or a hidden office couch, take advantage of this and take a ‘Caffeine Nap’. To pull off a caffeine nap, you’ll need to drink about 6 ounces of coffee and then take a 15 to 20 minute nap. Caffeine naps are amazing and have proven to be more energizing than regular napping or caffeine alone. You can also take a regular dose of over-the-counter headache medicine that will take effect while you rest. Great wine appreciators are not alcoholics; they are responsible drinkers who enjoy the journey of understanding taste and the stories behind wine more than the effects of alcohol. It is true, we do mess up occasionally and test our limits with alcohol.