I don't usually get this hungover from a couple of drinks, they're thinking right about now. It's a complaint Denver residents hear often from out-of-state friends and family. And they're right, sort of. People visiting Colorado really do feel worse than usual after a night of drinking — but not for the reasons they might think.
"Altitude doesn’t make much difference on your blood alcohol level or how much alcohol is absorbed or metabolized. Therefore, there shouldn’t be any difference in hangovers," explains Dr. Peter Hackett of the Institute for Altitude Medicine in Telluride. "However, alcohol can make the effects of altitude worse. So for people new to high altitude, it’s common to feel very hung over."
“The bottom line is that altitude doesn’t make hangovers worse. Hangovers make altitude much worse.”
Consuming alcohol depresses your breathing and lowers oxygen levels, especially during sleep, Hackett says. This makes the effects of altitude worse, leading to oxygen deficiency, which can cause hangover-like symptoms such as fatigue, nausea and reduced intellectual and physical performance. In addition, altitude dehydrates people, which causes symptoms like headaches, dizziness and lightheadedness, which can be mistaken for a hangover.
Hackett says this only happens while your body is adjusting to altitude, for the first day or two after arrival. So people who live in Colorado shouldn't experience worse hangovers at home than they do at sea level. However, if they're more hydrated than normal while at lower altitudes, that could reduce hangover-like dehydration symptoms.
“If one is well acclimatized to the altitude, it doesn’t make much difference," Hackett says. "You should be about the same drinking alcohol at sea level or at altitude. But if you’re new to altitude, if you’re a tourist, that’s when the problems arise.”
But wait...
What About Getting Drunk?
So Coloradans aren't immune to hangovers while at sea level. But do they have a higher alcohol tolerance at sea level? And is the reverse true? Do people who live at sea level get drunker faster in Colorado?“We have a very precise medical term for that: bullshit," Hackett says. "That’s total nonsense."
Hackett says altitude has no impact on a person's blood alcohol level or alcohol absorption. In short, there is no scientific explanation for why your Denver-native cousin says he was able to drink an entire handle of vodka when he went to Mexico (except maybe that the drinks were watered down, or he's lying).
Hackett dismisses personal anecdotes of Coloradans drinking sea-level friends under the table as an urban myth: “There are a lot of myths around alcohol and altitude.”
Out-of-state visitors who insist they become lightweights when drinking in Colorado are likely just feeling the effects of altitude and confusing it for drunkenness, he says. And perhaps Coloradans who say they can drink more at sea level are confusing soberness for simply not feeling the effects of altitude — but Hackett doubts it.
“There might be something to the fact that they have five beers in Telluride, they might feel the altitude, whereas if they have five beers in L.A., they’re not going to feel any altitude component," he says. "But it shouldn’t matter, because they’re well acclimatized, and even if their oxygen gets a little low one night, it really doesn’t matter."
What To Do?
Hackett says it's important for a visitor to Colorado to pace themselves when they get to town, and have no more than one drink for the first two or three nights as their body adjusts to the altitude.“The real problem is you can’t tell the difference between a hangover and altitude sickness. They feel exactly the same," Hackett says. "That’s one reason we advise people not to drink much at altitude the first few days, because you want to know whether it’s altitude sickness or a hangover.”
Though uncommon, altitude sickness can occasionally turn dangerous, he says. It can cause brain swelling or fluid accumulation in the lungs, which can be life-threatening. Besides just feeling hung over, serious cases can cause patients to have difficulty breathing or become confused or uncoordinated. If those symptoms emerge, seek medical attention, Hackett advises.
You should also go to the doctor if your hangover-like symptoms don't subside after two days, he says.
For those heading from sea level to the mountains, he suggests spending one night in a transition city like Denver, Boulder or Colorado Springs in between destinations: "The worst thing you can do is go from sea level to sleeping above 9,000 feet in one day. It’s the sleeping altitude that’s important, because during sleep the oxygen levels become the lowest, and it’s the biggest stress on the body."
And if you absolutely need to get hammered this holiday, Hackett recommends taking two ibuprofen before you go to bed to prevent an altitude headache.
After this election season, getting through Thanksgiving dinner with the family is likely to take a few drinks.
