WATCH ABOVE: British researchers say that a single dose of liquid courage is enough to make you better looking. Your face flushes, you loosen up and you’re smiling. Too much booze and that glow can get sloppy. Carmen Chai reports.
Here’s a good reason to cut back on the alcohol: A new study suggests that if you want to appear more attractive, drink one large glass of wine and stop there.
It’s kind of like beer goggles in reverse. British researchers say that a single dose of liquid courage is enough to make you better looking. Your face flushes, you loosen up and you’re smiling.
Too much booze and that glow can get sloppy.
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“In addition to perceiving others as more attractive, a mildly intoxicated alcohol consumer may also be perceived as more attractive by others. This in turn may play a role in the relationship between alcohol consumption and risky sexual behaviour,” the researchers say in their conclusion.
The scientists at the University of Bristol wanted to know how alcohol tampers with our appearance and attractiveness.
For their study, they worked with 20 men and 20 women who had to rate photos of people while sober and after drinking the equivalent of 250 millilitres of wine (about one large glass) or 500 millilitres of wine (just over two large glasses or two-thirds of a bottle).
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The volunteers had to pick which of the images was better looking. Each time, the photos of the people who drank a single glass looked better than their snapshots taken while sober.
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But the photos of the people who drank the most were rated as the least attractive.
The scientists say a few things could be at play here: as the alcohol makes its way into our system, our cheeks flush, making us look healthy and attractive. Just the right amount of booze gets us stress-free and in a good mood “that is apparent subtle smiles and relaxation of tonic muscle tone.”
But once we go overboard with the drinking, that changes.
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“It may be that changes in facial expression become excessive – and therefore unattractive – after high levels of alcohol consumption,” the researchers guess.
The researchers say their findings could help explain how alcohol influences our social behaviours, including how we choose our partners for risky hookups. With that intel, policymakers can make better evidence-based public health messages, they say.
Their full findings were published Tuesday in the journal Alcohol and Alcoholism. Read the full findings here.
carmen.chai@globalnews.ca
Follow @Carmen_Chai
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