Post #163235 by Thomas on Thu, Jun 2, 2005 9:48 PM

There is the potential of "cognitive consanance" at work here. When you take the "chaser," perhaps you are being more diligent in general regarding hangover avoidance. You eat more in advance. You drink more water to counteract the alcohol. Etc. Those occasions when you don't take it likely correspond to those times when you didn't expect to drink as much as you did, didn't eat as much beforehand, etc. Regarding "cognitive consonance," it's the desire to avoid feeling that you've invested in something bogus. So, even if you feel crappy the day after taking it, maybe you mentally minimize those feelings, or attribute them to such things as lack of sleep or whatever rather than overindulgence in alcohol. After all, you put faith and money into that product, so surely that wasn't a mistake, for if it was, you were acting unwisely!...

The above pontifications notwithstanding, my conclusion on the matter is "I don't know." I haven't tried "Chaser" but as the advocates of it on this site strike me as being alarmingly sagacious, I am willing to contemplate that there is some value to the product. Still, I find that voracious sexual activity is a cheaper way to work one's way through a hangover. (Woops -- did I say that? If so, I was only kidding!)