Is Your Tequila Margarita Buzz in Your Head? Science Weighs In

Just in time for Cinco de Mayo, a scientific study we want to read: turns out that the effects of 3, 4, and 5^th margarita may actually be in your head. As in you weren’t that drunk. DUN DUN DUNNNNNNNNN.

Related: 8 Spicy Margaritas Worth the Sting

Gasp! No! It’s true. Turns out that, according to a study published in Psychological Science, you don’t actually need alcohol to feel drunk, the expectation of how your drink makes you feel is enough to do the trick. In the 2003 study, researchers made participants act drunk without giving them alcohol. They thought they were drinking vodka tonics. They were drinking fizzy water.

But the participants who were told they had alcohol showed the memory impairment usually associated with drinking. And a study in Addictive Behaviors (we take issue with that name but whatever), showed the same was true of positives you attribute to alcohol – participants were more confident, etc.

This explains why some people think certain liquors affect them in different ways. Alcohol is alcohol is alcohol – nothing makes you act a specific way more than another thing. It’s just the placebo affect.

That being said, margaritas are no joke. Why? Because sugar cocktails mask the taste of alcohol and research shows that you drink cocktails faster than single liquor drinks. So watch out. And turns out, you’re bad at estimating how much alcohol you can actually drink to begin with.

In conclusion, you’ll feel that margarita whether or not you drink it so might as well drink it? Happy Cinco.