How to study people who are drunk
33 comments
·September 6, 2025untrimmed
lukan
The data is unfortunately not quite open and not meant for science, but for advertisement and propaganda.
marojejian
archive: https://archive.is/nRLrZ
Though in general i think science needs more rigor, this a was a fund article with a legit point. And the findings listed on drinking were interesting. (does reduce pain, and some people don't get hung over)
TimByte
More rigor is always good, but there’s also value in studying messy real-world behavior as it happens
null
southernplaces7
Can absolutely vouch for the pain reduction aspect. It's not exactly a pointed anesthetic in the way some medications are, but alcohol certainly dulls a lot of aches and moderate pains of the body. Though I think this is also partly due to the distracting effect of relaxed and socializing while drunk. Love it either way, in moderation.
Also, i'm one of those people who rarely suffers anything resembling a hangover, even after those rare nights of heavier drinking, but then maybe drinking only hard spirits helps, because sugar-loaded alcoholic drinks like wine, beer and cocktails are famous for creating some of the most monstrous hangovers among those who get hangovers in general.
iamflimflam1
Up until I turned 50 I was the same. Now a couple of drinks will have an impact the following day.
adrian_b
The throughput of the liver for many of the enzymatic reactions that it performs, either for converting harmful chemical compounds into harmless substances, or for generating some conditionally-essential nutrients from precursors present in food, decreases in older people.
Because of this, when older, one should pay more attention to observing a healthy diet, which contains smaller amounts of harmful substances (e.g. alcohol) and enough quantities of all nutrients, including those that can be produced by a human body, but in insufficient quantities in older people (e.g. long-chain omega-3 fatty acids).
jajko
That sounds rather sad... sure when I was 18 or 20 this would be cool, but then people eventually actually grow up and have adult lives. Its trivial to fall into alcoholism as billions have already achieved, normally unobservable by given person since all is fine and fun.
Btw hard liquors contain tons of sugars by principle, and ie good dry red wine comparatively little, in reasonable amounts of course.
TimByte
There's definitely a tradeoff in terms of experimental control, but the real-world insight seems worth it.
throejd84mrifmr
> And if they did, a team of neuroscientists from the local university was waiting to gently torture them.
> The researchers were on site to test how well alcohol can numb pain.
> “Ethically, we can’t ask people to drink alcohol to levels they do in their day-to-day lives,”
> the point beyond which they felt proper consent was hard to establish.
How is this study ethical? Researchers declared they do not need formal consent, because that would be too hard, and just went on, to torture impaired people!
Universities were going on and on, how drunk people can not consent, and even saying hi to someone in a bar is unethical! And now serious research institute pulls this stunt with torturing people without their consent!
brian-armstrong
> Universities were going on and on, how drunk people can not consent, and even saying hi to someone in a bar is unethical!
Actually they've been saying that drunk people can't consent to sex, not to saying "hi." Bit of a difference, that.
fluoridation
If a drunk person can't consent to sex because their judgement is impaired then they can't consent to anything, because their judgement is impaired. Why would sex be different from any other social interaction?
tgv
If someone can't consent to anything, can they be allowed on the street? Or even to stay in the same house as others?
I think it isn't black and white. There are acts which carry a greater responsibility than others, and there are levels of inebriation (the word itself already implying different levels of soundness of mind). Driving a car can be dangerous to self and others, hence is forbidden from a certain level of intoxication; sex is complicated, and is generally, widely accepted to require some form of consent in many countries, hence it becomes more problematic as the alcohol level rises.
1718627440
I don't know how literal "saying hi" was meant here, but greeting doesn't need consent.
TimByte
But I think the key difference is the potential for harm and power imbalance involved
conductr
Isn't choosing to engage as a participant in a study more analogous to entering a contract which is also generally deemed inappropriate/invalid while under the influence?
Just saying there's a ton of grey area. I've never taken sex too seriously, meaning if I did something I regretted while impaired, I just shrugged it off. Other people obviously feel sex is a much bigger issue and regrettable situations are absolutely unacceptable to the point where it's their partners fault for somehow knowing how impaired you are, determining whether your consent is valid, etc. I personally don't get it, how it's become victim shaming to expect people to control their own selves. I get that date rape type stuff is very real and tragic but again, lots of grey area between that and regrettable drunk night out type stuff that's way more common. All to say, there exists a wide spectrum of what any given person may feel about this exact subject.
throejd84mrifmr
[flagged]
titanomachy
I'm pretty sure they're saying they didn't experiment on anyone over 0.15 BAC, because they felt that those people were unable to give true consent.
throejd84mrifmr
> A blood alcohol content (BAC) of 0.15% is considered a very high level, resulting in severe impairment of balance, coordination, and muscle control, making walking and talking difficult. At this level, you may experience confusion, vomiting, loss of consciousness
How this intoxication level was measured? I seriously doubt they carried scales and analyzed blood samples, before asking for consent!
lazyasciiart
Breathalyzer tests. Was that a real question?
https://www.startribune.com/does-booze-relieve-pain-u-resear...
oersted
I can’t see it explicitly specified in the article, but let’s not make a mountain out of a molehill, it says “gently torture”, it’s clearly tong-and-cheek, I doubt it’s more than a pinprick.
normie3000
> it says “gently torture”, it’s clearly tong-and-cheek
Tongs do not sound gentle!
rkomorn
They obviously made a typo. They meant "thong". That's why it's "thong-and-cheek".
sfn42
Universities are not homogenous. Lots of students don't give a shit about all this drama. They're just there to study things and have fun.
It's mostly people studying BS humanities topics like "women's studies" and crap like that. They don't represent everyone.
gizajob
They’re not drunk, honest.
smcin
This is getting downvoted a lot, probably because the title makes it sound frivolous which it isn't; it's a legit case in how to do a naturalistic study.
yoyo250
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PicassoCTs
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With all our smartwatches and social media apps tracking us, aren't we all already part of some giant, unofficial naturalistic study?