Proven: we drink five times as much during Christmas
Even if you're not that thirsty type: during the holidays, you can hardly escape it. The drinks flow quite freely in most families, and before you know it, you're standing there with a gin and tonic in your hands, chatting with your father-in-law.
According to researchers, we drink an average of six drinks per person just on Christmas Day. And since we count that as a weekend day and we typically drink one drink per day on weekends, that's a nice five drinks more than usual. It adds up.
According to psychologists, this is how it goes with drinking habits around the holidays. We look forward to it, we are excited. We are free, we are with loved ones. We associate a holiday with a celebration, and thus with drinks. We feel we have something to celebrate. But it also turns out that social pressure is present. All the Christmas parties at work, with friends, with family: the rest goes to the mulled wine, so you do too. Women tend to give in to peer pressure more often than men, it appears. And quite a bit. A quarter of the profits that large alcohol companies make is generated in the last month of the year. In short, we enjoy it quite a bit at the end of the year.
At Eventplanner, they have actually come up with an official formula. This way, you know exactly how much everyone drinks on an average Christmas Day:
- In the first hour, every guest is eager and your mother or cousin drinks about three drinks per person.
- After that, we ease off a bit and average two drinks per guest per hour.
- During a dinner, we drink an average of one glass of wine per course. The main course accounts for an average of one and a half glasses. So four courses mean four and a half glasses: usually white and red wine.
- And if a party lasts three hours, you can count on seven glasses of drink per person.
Three drinks to start, plus four and a half during dinner, plus a bit more during the party and dancing in the living room and chatting afterward – if the day lasts quite long... That quickly adds up to twelve drinks per person. Does this sound like an exaggerated amount? Well, just wait: this is a fair estimate.
And if you don't want to deal with a hangover? Then do this:
- Drink a glass of water with lemon juice before you have your first glass of alcohol. This way, it hits you a bit less hard and there's more water in your blood. And lemon cleanses toxins, so that can't hurt.
- It's better to drink in the evening than during the day: if you have a Christmas lunch: nice, but be a bit careful about what you pour down. Because you produce more enzymes in the evening that break down alcohol, and that's why you get tipsy a bit faster during the day.
- Two glasses of water with turmeric before you flop into bed: also recommended. The alcohol is neutralized faster and your liver is spared.
Go for it, okay? It won't be long before it's good and sober January again, no worries.
