Loud Music, More Drinking
Reported July 21, 2008
(Ivanhoe Newswire) — A new report from France shows loud music can make people drink more in a shorter period of time.
Previous research has already shown fast music can make people drink fast and music itself can make people spend more time in a bar compared to when there’s no music.
Researchers discretely went to two bars for three Saturday evenings in a medium-size city in France. They watched 40 males aged 18 to 25 who ordered beer on tap. The sound levels of the music in the bar were randomly changed from normal to high. Results show high sound levels led to increased drinking, within a shorter amount of time. Researchers say there may be two reasons for this.
“One, in agreement with previous research on music, food and drink, high sound levels may have caused higher arousal, which led the subjects to drink faster and to order more drinks,” study author, Nicolas Guéguen, Université de Bretagne-Sud in France, was quoted as saying. “Two, loud music may have had a negative effect on social interaction in the bar, so that patrons drank more because they talked less.”
More than 70,000 people die every year because of chronic alcohol consumption in France, and alcohol is associated with the majority of fatal car accidents in the country.
Guéguen notes a need to encourage bar owners to play music at a more moderate level and make consumers aware that loud music can influence how much alcohol they drink.
SOURCE: Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research, published online July 18, 2008