Kava hangovers will be the fact of the day and today’s paper covers this topic regarding Fijian school teachers. This paper is freely available to read via the link in the source.
Hangover is a ubiquitous word for a state of lasting intoxication and negative side effects which just won’t let up. In today’s society it’s mostly attributed to instances of overconsumption of alcohol. The hangover experienced by kava drinkers, while similar, has it’s marked differences. Kava hangover was described by kava drinkers as a feeling of mental and physical lethargy, poor memory recall, a general state of drowsiness and lack of motivation. Anyone who has experienced an alcohol hangover can attest that the state of being is something to avoid. Such is also the case with kava if enough is consumed. Borrowing from Troost 2006, kava can impart a hangover one would rather not experience. Troost wrote “‘nothing at all like a hangover,’’ but, on the other hand, that two days after drinking too much he ‘‘felt like I had been mugged, taken unawares, slugged from behind . . . a lingering sense that I was in a place far, far away, in a world of my own”.
In 2000, Fiji’s Ministry of Education voiced their concerns over kava hangovers in teachers, suggesting kava consumption negatively impacted productivity in the classroom.
“Many teachers in rural areas become involved in excessive yaqona consumption, with the result that they are less effective in their professional work . . . Yaqona has an ability to sap energy and support listlessness and there can be little doubt that it substantially inhibits performance of duties in non-traditional professional environments, including the civil service and teaching. [Tavola 2000:169]
Table 2 here is interesting as it gives an estimated total kavalactone intake per person in this study. These numbers far exceed any recommended dosage, but also are somewhat common for those kava drinkers which continue long into the night.
This paper shows that heavily consuming kava the night before did have a statistical significance when compared to those that did not imbibe in excessive kava consumption. The results returned suggest impairment to visual memory, reaction time, short-term visual perception, visual coordination and scanning ability. While kava hangover did seem to affect processing speed, it did not affect working memory. Basically, it was seen to slow the person down, but not bring them to a point of loss of control or cloudy thinking.
Aporosa, S., & Tomlinson, M. (2014). Kava hangover and gold-standard science. Anthropologica, 56(1), 163–175. https://www.academia.edu/7187653/Kava_hangover_and_gold_standard_science
Hangover is a ubiquitous word for a state of lasting intoxication and negative side effects which just won’t let up. In today’s society it’s mostly attributed to instances of overconsumption of alcohol. The hangover experienced by kava drinkers, while similar, has it’s marked differences. Kava hangover was described by kava drinkers as a feeling of mental and physical lethargy, poor memory recall, a general state of drowsiness and lack of motivation. Anyone who has experienced an alcohol hangover can attest that the state of being is something to avoid. Such is also the case with kava if enough is consumed. Borrowing from Troost 2006, kava can impart a hangover one would rather not experience. Troost wrote “‘nothing at all like a hangover,’’ but, on the other hand, that two days after drinking too much he ‘‘felt like I had been mugged, taken unawares, slugged from behind . . . a lingering sense that I was in a place far, far away, in a world of my own”.
In 2000, Fiji’s Ministry of Education voiced their concerns over kava hangovers in teachers, suggesting kava consumption negatively impacted productivity in the classroom.
“Many teachers in rural areas become involved in excessive yaqona consumption, with the result that they are less effective in their professional work . . . Yaqona has an ability to sap energy and support listlessness and there can be little doubt that it substantially inhibits performance of duties in non-traditional professional environments, including the civil service and teaching. [Tavola 2000:169]
Table 2 here is interesting as it gives an estimated total kavalactone intake per person in this study. These numbers far exceed any recommended dosage, but also are somewhat common for those kava drinkers which continue long into the night.
This paper shows that heavily consuming kava the night before did have a statistical significance when compared to those that did not imbibe in excessive kava consumption. The results returned suggest impairment to visual memory, reaction time, short-term visual perception, visual coordination and scanning ability. While kava hangover did seem to affect processing speed, it did not affect working memory. Basically, it was seen to slow the person down, but not bring them to a point of loss of control or cloudy thinking.
Aporosa, S., & Tomlinson, M. (2014). Kava hangover and gold-standard science. Anthropologica, 56(1), 163–175. https://www.academia.edu/7187653/Kava_hangover_and_gold_standard_science
