Seniors Don’t Handle Alcohol as Well as They Think

As we get older, we usually suffer from what is called ‘cognitive decline’, which many call ‘senior moments’. Along with momentary forgetfulness there may be some degree of misperception. This may have serious consequences, when it involves self-perception of one’s abilities. For example, after a drop too much, your spouse or friends may not want to take your car keys when they should . . .

A study reported in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs describes differences between young adults and 50- to 74- year-olds in judgment and psychomotor impairment, at the same moderate breath alcohol level. The volunteers were 42 adults aged 50-74 and 26 adults aged 25-35. They each drank either a drink of lime soda with an equal part of 100% medical grade alcohol, or lime soda with a negligible amount of alcohol on the surface, to ‘blind’ the subject. A Trail-Making Test (for psychomotor impairment) along with self-reported intoxication and impairment were administered at various times, with booster drinks after 30 minutes. The intent was to keep breath alcohol measurements at about 40 mg/100mL, the level associated with social drinking.

At the same breath alcohol level, the older participants thought they were less impaired than the youngsters did. However, the older group performed more slowly in the Trail-Making Test. And when the alcohol was wearing off, the seniors felt more impaired than the senior controls, whereas there as no difference in the younger groups.

These results reinforce the fact that self-reporting one’s condition isn’t an accurate reflection of performance, and that older folk in particular can be impaired with moderate doses of alcohol, although they aren’t aware of this. So they should leave the car keys at home.