Heavy Drinking And Loud Music Linked In New Study

Ever wonder why it's easier to throw back a few extra beers when your favorite band is rocking the stage? It's not because you're an alcoholic...well, you might be -- but a recent study uncovered that there are some scientific reasons behind that as well.

According to a recent article from The Press Association (via NME), alcohol actually tastes sweeter when loud music is playing and the noise disorients you enough to throw off your sense of how much booze you've actually consumed. Universtity of Portsmouth psychologist Dr. Lorenzo Stafford conducted the study to determine why alcohol is sweeter in environments with loud music. Stafford said of his findings:

"Since humans have an innate preference for sweetness, these findings offer a plausible explanation as to why people consume more alcohol in noisy environments."

The small scale study also uncovered that loud music specifically (as oppose to just loud noise) increased the rate of consumption and sweetness. Dr. Stafford explains:

"The study found that sweetness perception of alcohol was significantly higher in the music compared to control and other distracting conditions, which is a novel finding and to our knowledge, not seen previously. This is an interesting finding as we might have expected the music to exert a more distracting effect on taste judgment. It appears that our primary sense of taste is somewhat immune to very distracting conditions, but is indeed influenced by music alone. Although individuals might well expect to consume more alcohol in club type environments anyway, it is important they understand how environment can potentially influence over-consumption and act accordingly."

Sounds like you now have a legitimate scientific excuse to get bombed at the next concert you attend, you're welcome.