The Hangover Is Losing Its Place in Modern Male Wellness Culture
If you’re old enough, you’ll remember a time when being hungover was a badge of honour, especially among blokes. It showed you’d had a fun night, and that you were a bit of a laugh. It brought with it the promise of a restorative fry-up and maybe even a hair of the dog pint to put you back on the path to good-humoured tipsiness.
Now, there’s a lot less kudos attached to the hangover, to the point that many are embarrassed to admit that they’ve woken up with a fuzzy head and feelings of nausea after a night on the booze. Male wellness culture has turned away from glorifying the morning-after malaise, but why?
Social Media Scrutiny
Getting drunk is a problem for a lot of reasons, but now, with the spotlight of social media on everyone’s lives at all moments of the day and night, it’s significantly less desirable than in bygone decades.
Apart from risking being captured on camera while you’re worse for wear from drinking at the weekend, the scrutiny of social media means men have the motivation to live healthier lifestyles throughout the week. We’re all exposed to more content featuring fit, healthy people on our feeds, and that gives us the impetus to follow in their footsteps, or risk the social shame of not fitting in.
Simultaneously, social media is a place where people share the dangers of alcohol and talk about their recovery journeys. So, men who are worried about their drinking habits can learn about alcohol detoxes and the steps others in their position have taken to overcome dependency. For all the pressures and problems social media brings with it, this is one of the positives.
The Economic Realities
Hangovers used to be cheap because nights out were relatively affordable. Now, that’s simply not the case. Inflation and higher taxes on alcoholic beverages have made drinking to excess on a regular basis seriously expensive. Coupled with wage stagnation in many industries and regions, it’s easy to see why modern men are thinking harder about where their money gets spent.
Sure, there’s a cost that comes with wellness culture activities. But a gym membership each month costs a lot less than even a bog-standard night of drinking, and that’s before you factor in the additional costs that come with the hangover, whether that’s comfort food or gallons of Gaviscon.
A Permanent Change?
The hangover might be on the decline as a male experience, with wellness culture changing habits on a global scale, but it’s arguably just a reflection of how habits are moving from alcohol to other substances. The rise of ketamine as the party drug of choice for Gen Z has shown that there’s still an appetite for mind-altering narcotics, for instance.
At the same time, initial indications that Gen Z was not as into drinking as its forebears seem to be eroding over time. We might end up with the hangover making a comeback, but whether it remains shameful rather than celebrated is yet to be seen.