Anyone who's suffered through a bad hangover has muttered these words. But does a hangover even delay your next drink?

Scientists recruited almost 400 adults who (consumed) alcohol at least once a week. At the beginning of the study, the participants answered questions about alcohol and nicotine dependence. Afterwards, they kept drinking diaries for three weeks. They also kept morning and bedtime (reports) on their mental status and stress level.

To see if hangovers inspired participants to delay their next binge, researchers (measured) the time between drinking episodes. On average, hangovers did postpone the next drink—but only by about 6 hours. The work is (published) in the journalAlcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research. [Amee J. Epler et al, Does Hangover Influence the Time to Next Drink? An Investigation Using Ecological Momentary Assessment]

In addition to discovering that hangovers fail to deter drinking, the study found that people with alcohol (dependence) or financial stress were more likely to develop hangovers. And of course, the only way to prevent hangovers entirely was to limit drinking. Cheers!