Just 2 alcoholic beverages severely hamper reaction time in seniors

Just two vodka drinks inhibited elderly individuals enough to have trouble completing a walking obstacle course, a report in the BMC Research Notes journal found.

For this study, 13 healthy individuals, average age of 62 years old, were tested.

After drinking just 2 alcoholic beverages, the rate at which obstacles were hit increased 200 percent. Delays in response time and amplitude response reduction were both evident. Both reductions were most evident when fast response time was most necessary.

Participants were asked to walk on a treadmill. After obtaining a consistent pace, a fairly thin wooden stick was put at the top of the treadmill, moving consistently towards the participant. Researchers measured how alcohol affected the ability for each person to successfully step over and avoid the obstacle.

Researchers determined alcohol levels, legally considered safe for driving, significantly hinder the ability for someone to properly avoid obstacles that appear suddenly in their path.

One potential problem with this study would be using such a small sample size, but even with just 13 individuals, the outcome was very concrete.