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Spirits make you feel ‘aggressive and sexy’

Many drinkers claim to feel teary after a G&T, or unusually aggressive after a dram of whisky – but researchers now say they have found new evidence to suggest different types of alcohol elicit different emotional responses.

Drinkers say they feel confident, energised, aggressive and sexy after drinking spirits

The study, published in the journal BMJ Open, took responses from almost 30,000 people aged 18-34 and compared their thoughts after drinking spirits, red wine, white wine and beer.

After looking at the drinking habits of people across 21 countries, the study found that different drinks affect our emotional responses in varying ways.

Its results showed that 58% of people who drink spirits said they felt energised, while just 7% of red wine drinkers reported feeling the same way, and 60% of them said they felt tired.

One third of respondents to the study were female, with the researchers noting that women were more likely than men to report each emotion as a result of drinking a single type of alcohol.

The study found that 42% of people said they felt sexy after drinking spirits, while just 25% of red wine, 24% of white wine and only 19% of beer drinkers felt the same way.

In spirits drinkers, more people said they felt restless, aggressive and energised after drinking spirits than any other type of alcohol.

For people drinking red wine, more drinkers said they felt relaxed, with 53% of respondents saying they felt this way, and 60% of people saying they felt tired after drinking.

For people drinking white wine, the most common emotion was a feeling of relaxation, with a third of people saying they felt this way. The least commonly felt emotion was aggression, with only 3% of people said they felt this way.

For beer drinkers, half of the people asked reported feeling relaxed, while the least common emotion was aggression – just 7% of people said they felt aggressive after drinking.

The study also asked how strong the respondents’ dependency on alcohol was and found that people with a higher dependency were more likely to say they felt all emotions.

It also suggested that the likelihood of a person feeling aggressive after drinking was increased among people who had a higher dependancy on alcohol.

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