--- title: Alcohol: This Is How Happy It Makes You, Researchers Say description: Everyone knows drinking too much can be bad for you—but the public health discussion often doesn't consider how much fun it is canonical: https://time.com/4347687/alcohol-happiness-boost/ author: Sarah Begley article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-05-25T15:34:10.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-06T09:18:15.300Z article:section: Health og:title: This Is How Happy Alcohol Makes You, Researchers Say og:description: It depends what you're doing og:url: https://time.com/4347687/alcohol-happiness-boost/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt629a15206c3cf0b6/698894d33c1639a35c45d646/rose.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 6642 og:image:height: 3736 og:image:alt: Rose wine og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: This Is How Happy Alcohol Makes You, Researchers Say twitter:description: It depends what you're doing twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt629a15206c3cf0b6/698894d33c1639a35c45d646/rose.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # This Is How Happy Alcohol Makes You, Researchers Say > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=3ec3bea7-251e-4cea-8d22-59b353729f69&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) ## Video: How Much Can Alcohol Impact Happiness [Watch (HLS stream): How Much Can Alcohol Impact Happiness](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/4cdTypBB.m3u8) (0:40)  _Published 2016-05-25. Everyone knows drinking too much can be bad for you—but that public health discussion doesn’t usually take into account how much fun it is to throw back a bottle of beer._ by [Sarah Begley](https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley May 25, 2016 3:34 PM UTC by [Sarah Begley](https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley May 25, 2016 3:34 PM UTC Everyone knows drinking too much can be bad for you—but that public health discussion doesn’t usually take into account how much fun it is to throw back a bottle of beer. So a group of researchers in the U.K. set out to quantify the [happiness](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/05/24/scientists-have-figured-out-exactly-how-much-fun-it-is-to-get-drunk/?spon%5Fcon=today10&tid=a%5Finl) boost you get from a glass of rosé or a well-made Old Fashioned. [Researchers](http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953616301344) used an app called Mappiness, created by the London School of Economics, to survey 31,000 users on their happiness at random points several times a day, on a scale of 1 to 100\. They found that when users were drinking, their happiness increased by 10.79 points, the Washington _Post_ reports. Since drinking often occurs when other pleasurable events are going on (like socializing with friends), they controlled for those outside factors to find an increase of 4 points—a significant amount, according to the researchers. Intriguingly, the researchers found, “Drinking had the greatest impact when it came alongside otherwise unenjoyable activities (traveling/commuting, waiting), and only increased the happiness of already enjoyable activities by smaller amounts (socializing, making love).” While [alcohol](http://time.com/4209491/cdc-alcohol-pregnancy/) did boost happiness in the short term, it was not shown to make users more content in the long term. The researchers believe this information should be kept in mind when policy makers seek to address alcohol abuse, since wellbeing plays a large role in people’s decision to drink. \[[_Washington Post_](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/05/24/scientists-have-figured-out-exactly-how-much-fun-it-is-to-get-drunk/?spon%5Fcon=today10&tid=a%5Finl)\] ## Transcript [ MUSIC ] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4347687/alcohol-happiness-boost/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4347687/alcohol-happiness-boost/"},"headline":"This Is How Happy Alcohol Makes You, Researchers Say","datePublished":"2016-05-25T15:34:10.000Z","dateModified":"2026-10-06T09:18:15.300Z","description":"It depends what you're doing","url":"https://time.com/4347687/alcohol-happiness-boost/","keywords":["Alcohol"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt629a15206c3cf0b6/698894d33c1639a35c45d646/rose.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sarah Begley","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt629a15206c3cf0b6/698894d33c1639a35c45d646/rose.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Rose wine","caption":"Rose wine","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/alcohol/","name":"Alcohol"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4347687/alcohol-happiness-boost/","name":"This Is How Happy Alcohol Makes You, Researchers Say"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"How Much Can Alcohol Impact Happiness","description":"Everyone knows drinking too much can be bad for you—but that public health discussion doesn’t usually take into account how much fun it is to throw back a bottle of beer.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/4cdTypBB/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2016-05-25T17:34:33.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/4cdTypBB.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4347687/alcohol-happiness-boost/","duration":"PT40S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4347687/alcohol-happiness-boost/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```