You wake up. You feel rubbish. How much did you drink last night? Can’t remember exactly? The only thing you are sure of is that it was far more then you intended. Again. So why is there this tendency to drink too much? Is it just that you get carried away in the moment and lose count? Or that you are weak-willed and just can't say no? Is it just you? Is there something wrong with you? Isn't this a symptom of alcoholism? In fact there are two very specific reasons why people tend to drink too much and find they have to exercise willpower to limit what they drink, and those reasons apply to everyone. You can rest assured that there is nothing wrong with you, and it certainly doesn't necessarily mean you are an alcoholic! The first reason is to do with the differing time it takes two specific effects of alcohol to run their course; the mental relaxation and the physical intoxication. The second is to do with the body's physiological reaction to alcohol. Let’s consider them both in order. Mental Relaxation vs Physical Intoxication The most common reason people reach for a drink is for the relaxing, comforting effect. Alcohol is an anaesthetic; it anaesthetises certain feelings (such as tiredness, stress, pain, and discomfort) and the effect of this is that we tend to feel more mentally relaxed after a drink. Of course the depressant/anaesthetising effects don’t just work on our mind, causing us to feel relaxed, they also affect the rest of our body, leaving us slightly...