Time is the coin of your life. It is the only coin you have, and only you can determine how it will be spent. Be careful lest you let other people spend it for you. ~Carl Sandburg
Even a modest amount of alcohol can make the mind prone to wandering, but drinkers may be slow to notice it, a new study suggests.
Researchers found that when they had a group of men read Tolstoy’s “War and Peace” after either an alcoholic or non-alcoholic drink, those who’d had the alcohol were markedly more prone to “zoning out” while reading. They were also less likely than their sober counterparts to realize their minds had wandered far from the book.
While most people may not reach for “War and Peace” after a drink, the findings could have implications for behaviors more likely to go hand-in-hand with social drinking, according to the researchers.
Other tasks that require “sustained attention” such as driving a car, could be affected, explained lead researcher Dr. Michael A. Sayette, a professor of psychology at the University of Pittsburgh. Sayette said the alcohol zone-out might hinder a person’s ability to resist “impulses and temptations” a task that often requires a great amount of mental effort. For example, studies suggest that when smokers are trying to quit, drinking alcohol makes them more likely to relapse.
The study was published in the journal Psychological Science. Sayette and his colleagues recruited 55 men who were social drinkers and had them slowly drink either a cocktail or a non-alcoholic beverage. The men then began reading “War and Peace” from a computer screen for half an hour.
The men were told to press a certain key any time they found themselves “zoning out” as they read the book. The study found men in the alcohol group let their minds wander twice as much as their sober counterparts. Those in the alcohol group were more likely to say their wandering included thoughts of eating, drinking or smoking.