20 Mar 2012

Students' next day wiped out by heavy drinking - study

6:00 pm on 20 March 2012

Part of a $27,000 research project has confirmed university students struggle to concentrate the day after a night of heavy drinking.

The Otago University research was done by tracking 281 second-year students through an internet-based daily diary for three weeks.

More than 60% of the men in the study reported at least one extreme night involving more than 14 standard drinks, while half the women had drunk more than 10 drinks.

Pyschology researcher Tamlin Conner says as well as feeling much sicker the day after, the students reported twice the concentration problems and trouble managing their workload.

However, Dr Conner says she was surprised to find no discernible effect on students who drank fewer than six drinks in an evening.