A study by the University of Missouri-Columbia has found hangovers effect women more that men. Subjects were 1,230 drinking US undergraduate students - After excessive drinking, the students were asked to grade how acutely they were experiencing 13 key symptoms - including headache, vomiting or fatigue. ‘This finding makes biological sense, because women tend to weigh less and have lower percentages of total body water than men do, so they should achieve higher degrees of intoxication and, presumably, more hangover per unit of alcohol,’’ said Wendy Slutske, an associate professor of psychology who led the research. The most common of the symptoms reported was dehydration. .Medically speaking, it is dehydration that is responsible for most of the nasty effects. Alcohol is a diuretic, and speeds up the loss of water from the body. Nausea, vomiting, and indigestion are caused by the direct action of alcohol irritating the stomach lining.Students suffered a hangover 3 -11 times a year. ‘For most of them it occurs rarely enough that it is unlikely to have a major deleterious impact on academic performance," Dr Slutske said.