by Alcohol might help calm your nerves if you’re extremely anxious, but it will mess up your speech and concentration, making you the worst speaker. This is supported by the study “Feeling safe but appearing anxious” (2017) with a sample of 122 people (62 with social anxiety disorder and 60 without). Probably, they needed to compare people who get really nervous versus those who get less nervous.
The 1 mixed group (both socially anxious and non-anxious participants) drank orange juice with vodka (the doses were adjusted based on each participant’s weight so that everyone reached the same level of intoxication) before their performance, while the 2 mixed control group had a non-alcoholic cocktail made of orange juice (acting as a placebo), or plain orange juice.
Then the participants delivered their speech and were rated by independent observers (i.e., the audience).
- Participants with social anxiety who had alcohol reported a reduction in their nervousness, according to their self-reports. Those without social anxiety who drank alcohol did not report any decrease in nervousness.
- However, all the participants who drank were rated by independent observers as the least competent speakers. And that includes both the nervous and the calm ones
- Yet, only the participants with social anxiety disorder who drank did not mention any deterioration in speech performance according to their self-reports
The bottom line is simple
Do not drink any alcohol to calm your nerves. Even if you are nervous, you will perform better (in the eyes of the audience) sober than you would with alcohol.
Source:
- Feeling safe but appearing anxious: Differential effects of alcohol on anxiety and social performance in individuals with social anxiety disorder, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brat.2017.04.008
