Why we often live to regret office parties

London: Drinks at an office party are more likely to put us at risk of embarrassing ourselves and acting inappropriately than drinks with colleagues in a bar, according to a new study.

Drinking in environments not traditionally associated with alcohol leaves us far less able to control our behaviour, the study said. While alcohol does lower our inhibitions, over time the brain learns to compensate for this effect – but only in familiar drinking environments such as a pub or at home with friends. In an environment such as the workplace, where people are normally sober and focused, the brain is not as tolerant and drinkers lose control of more inhibitions. “When you drink in the pub, we generally have experience of that and have learned to build tolerance,” the Daily Mail quoted Dr Suzanne Higgs, who led the study at the school of psychology at the University of Birmingham, as saying. “As you don’t normally drink alcohol at work, you haven’t had the chance to build this tolerance,” she added. The findings also indicated inhibition may also be reduced when drinking with less familiar people – such as colleagues. ANI