Researchers have looked into why some drinkers can have a heavy night and still wake up without a hangover.
Everyone seems to know someone like this. What starts as a casual drink turns into several, and suddenly it’s well past midnight and you’re still out — whether that means dancing until close or having deep conversations in a late-night bar.
The next day, you pay for it: a pounding head, a dry mouth, a rolling nausea, and scattered flashbacks involving tequila, overly sweet cocktails, and karaoke you’d rather forget.
So you assume your friend — the one who drank even more — will be struggling worst of all.
But instead, they show up looking fresh, functioning, and inexplicably ready to take on the day, leaving you shocked and, frankly, envious.
Scientists even have a term for people like this: ‘hangover resistant’.
Jonathan Howland, a professor emeritus at Boston University School of Medicine, co-authored a 2008 paper that explored the issue while studying how drinking the night before affected job performance the following day.
Although the focus was workplace impact, the findings revealed something unexpected: nearly 25 percent of the people surveyed reported no hangover symptoms at all — even after drinking heavily.
To dig deeper, the researchers carried out controlled testing in a lab. According to Damaris Rohsenow, a professor of behavioral and social sciences at Brown University who took part in the research, participants were kept at a set blood alcohol level under monitored conditions.
Scientists then closely observed participants and asked them the next morning how they felt, including whether they experienced symptoms like nausea or headache.
As reported by the New York Times, Dr Howland said ‘it was the same number over and over again,’ with roughly a quarter of people consistently reporting no hangover.
Matthew Slater, 34, described himself as one of those people. He told the NYT that even after finishing a bottle of vodka, he can wake up the next day feeling completely fine.
He said: “Unless they know me, people don’t really believe me.”
So what could explain it?
One possibility is genetics. Ann-Kathrin Stock, a neuroscientist at the Technical University of Dresden, has suggested that people who are naturally able to metabolize alcohol more quickly may experience milder hangover effects.
Another idea relates to the immune system. Dr Stock has also proposed that hangovers may be linked to inflammation, meaning a stronger immune response could potentially reduce symptoms — while a weaker one might make them worse.
Even so, there’s still a lot researchers don’t understand.
A major unanswered question is whether people who don’t get hangovers are also protected from alcohol’s other health impacts — or whether the lack of symptoms only masks the damage.
There’s also concern that if someone rarely experiences consequences the next day, they may be more inclined to drink heavily more often.