Exploring the Roles of Hangover Frequency and General Alcohol Consumption on Cognitive ability, Interoceptive Awareness, and Emotion Regulation

There are several aspects to this research project. The first aims to examine the relationship between hangover frequency and hangover severity. Previous research indicates a positive correlation between the two (Rîșniță et al., 2025; Verster et al., 2019), which has been used as evidence of a ‘reverse tolerance’ effect, whereby more frequent hangovers increases susceptibility to higher severity (Išerić et al., 2024; Verster et al., 2019). This assumes something unique within the alcohol hangover contributing toward this effect but studies have often omitted measures of unhealthy drinking behaviours within their analytical models. Thus, this ‘reverse tolerance’ may be more reflective of a relationship with unhealthy drinking than hangovers per say. Previous research may control for alcohol consumed for the latest heavy drinking episode (e.g., Verster et al., 2019), but does not include indicators of unhealthy alcohol consumption more generally within their models. Therefore, this study aims to explore whether hangover frequency is related to hangover severity whilst accounting for general alcohol consumption. This project will also explore the link between hangover frequency and performance on executive function tasks, whilst accounting for general alcohol consumption. Another aim of this project is to explore the relationship between emotion regulation and hangover. Emotion dysregulation and avoidant coping styles has been linked to higher hangover severity (Gunn et al., 2021; Terpstra et al., 2022), yet underlying mechanisms for this relationship are unclear. Heavy drinking can influence interoceptive awareness (Ates Col et al., 2016), which in turn could influence an individuals ability to emotionally regulate (Jakubczyk et al., 2020). This effect may be due to an accumulated impact of alcohol on an individual. Thus, this project will also aim to explore whether interoceptive awareness mediates the relationship between emotion regulation and hangover severity, and whether indicators of unhealthy drinking predict emotion dysregulation and whether this relationship is mediated through interoceptive awareness.