If you're still hitting clubs in your 40s, here's another reason to retire that Ed Hardy shirt and go to a nice, quiet pub instead.  It could help with those increasingly bad hangovers you're getting . . .

Someone came across a study from 2008 that looked at how loud music affects alcohol consumption.  And it actually makes a pretty big difference.

Researchers went to bars where the music was either played at 72 decibels, or 88 decibels.  88 isn't even that crazy.  Really loud clubs can be well over a hundred decibels.

But even at 88, people drank 31% more, and also drank faster.  The average person took 14-and-a-half minutes to drink a beer when the music wasn't that loud, compared to 11-and-a-half minutes when it was louder.

Apparently it happens for two reasons:  The added stimulation gets your adrenaline going, so you drink faster.  Other studies have found the same thing happens with food.

And the other reason is it's just harder to have a conversation when there's loud music in the background.  So you end up talking less, and drinking more.

Now ya know.

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