U.S. Loses $148 Billion A Year Due To Hangovers

NBC – Every year U.S. companies lose an estimated $148 billion on hangovers, says Alyson Mitchell, but experts know little about them. Hangovers cost so much because so many people miss work and if they do show, they flub basic tasks because being hung over makes people a bit, well, stupid. That’s just one example of why we need more research on hangovers, Mitchell argued during a presentation at the American Chemical Society’s annual meeting.  “The interesting thing about a hangover is that really it is a metabolic storm that is going on,” says Mitchell, a professor and John Kinsella Chair in the department of food science and technology at University of California, Davis. Hangovers involve a variety of systems, causing headaches, stomach discomfort, and immune responses like out-of-control inflammation. 

ncbi.gov - The alcohol hangover is characterized by headache, tremulousness, nausea, diarrhea, and fatigue combined with decreased occupational, cognitive, or visual-spatial skill performance. In the United States, related absenteeism and poor job performance cost $148 billion annually (average annual cost per working adult, $2000)

When I first saw that stat, I couldn’t believe it. I thought it was a ridiculous high number. $148 billion. Then you click on the study and you see thats based on the average adult losing $2,000 a year for being hungover. $2,000. I promise you I’m more hungover than just $2,000 worth per year. Back in my Cube Monkey days it was guaranteed hangovers on Fridays and Mondays. So right there is at least 1 day per work week. Days I’d come in late, leave early, and do absolutely nothing or a total shit job on anything I attempted. In the summers any given day could be a hangover. Conservatively speaking I’d say I was hungover like 40% of the time. Just fucking up all sorts of numbers. Thousands upon thousands of dollars going to the wrong place, wrong people. Just legitimately smashing my keyboard like a chimpanzee because the rest of my focus was on not throwing up and/or shitting at my desk. Now I also realize there are old people and fat chicks who probably don’t have any friends who probably had zero dollars worth of hangover per year. But you gotta imagine the vast majority of miserable cube monkeys were more like me. Putting in a solid $20,000 of hangover per year. So in reality, its like this study times 10.

Whats $148,000,000,000 x 10? $1.48 trillion dollars lost dude to hangovers ever year. Thats more like it.