Mental resilience is the ability to bounce back from daily life stressors such as divorce or losing a job. Extensive research has demonstrated a negative relationship between mental resilience and alcohol consumption. That is, both the quantity and frequency of alcohol consumption are greater in individuals with lower levels of mental resilience. There has, however, been little scientific attention paid to the relationship between mental resilience and alcohol hangover severity. The objective of this study was to evaluate psychological factors that may impact the frequency and severity of alcohol hangovers, including alcohol intake itself, mental resilience, personality, baseline mood, lifestyle, and coping mechanisms. An online survey was conducted among Dutch adults (N = 153) who had a hangover after their heaviest drinking occasion in the period before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic (15 January to 14 March 2020). Questions were asked about their alcohol consumption and hangover severity on their heaviest drinking occasion. Mental resilience was assessed with the Brief Mental Resilience scale, personality with the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire–Revised Short Scale (EPQ-RSS), mood via single item assessments, and lifestyle and coping with the modified Fantastic Lifestyle Checklist. The partial correlation, corrected for estimated peak blood alcohol concentration (BAC), between mental resilience and hangover severity was not significant (r = 0.010, p = 0.848). Furthermore, no significant correlations were found between hangover severity or frequency and personality and baseline mood. For lifestyle and coping factors, a negative correlation was found between the use of tobacco and toxins (i.e., drugs, medicines, caffeine) and the frequency of experiencing hangovers. Regression analysis revealed that hangover severity after the heaviest drinking occasion (31.2%) was the best predictor of hangover frequency, and that subjective intoxication on the heaviest drinking occasion (38.4%) was the best predictor of next-day hangover severity. Mood, mental resilience, and personality were not relevant predictors of hangover frequency and severity. In conclusion, mental resilience, personality, and baseline mood do not predict hangover frequency and severity.

Immune fitness is defined as the capacity of the body to respond to health challenges (such as infections) by activating an appropriate immune response to promote health and prevent and resolve disease, which is essential for improving quality of life. Thus, immune fitness plays an essential role in health, and reduced immune fitness may be an important signal of increased susceptibility for disease. Lifestyle factors such as increased levels of alcohol consumption have been shown to negatively impact immune fitness. The alcohol hangover is the most frequently reported negative consequence of alcohol consumption and is defined as the combination of negative mental and physical symptoms, which can be experienced after a single episode of alcohol consumption, starting when blood alcohol concentration (BAC) approaches zero. Significant correlations have been reported between hangover severity and both immune fitness and biomarkers of systemic inflammation. The concepts of immune fitness and alcohol hangover are further linked by the fact that the inflammatory response to alcohol consumption plays an important role in the pathology of the alcohol hangover. Moreover, immune fitness has been related to the susceptibility of experiencing hangovers per se. It is therefore important to investigate the interrelationship between immune fitness and the alcohol hangover, and to identify possible predictor variables of both constructs. This data descriptor article describes a study that was conducted with adults living in the UK or Ireland, evaluating possible correlates and predictors of immune fitness and the alcohol hangover. Data on mood, personality, mental resilience, pain catastrophizing, and sleep were collected from n = 1178 participants through an online survey. Herein, the survey and corresponding dataset are described.

These proceedings summarize the presentations of the 13th Alcohol Hangover Research Group meeting held 20–22 April 2023 in Dresden, Germany. The purpose of this annual meeting is to discuss current research on the causes, consequences and treatment of alcohol hangover, to network, and to establish future research collaborations. Various topics of interest were presented and discussed, including the impact of anxiety and personality on susceptibility for experiencing hangovers, sleep, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the role of inflammation and alcohol metabolism in the pathology of alcohol hangover, novel treatments, and the changing regulatory landscape for hangover solutions.