Once upon a time, a drink or two at a holiday party went down the hatch with no problems. Now, it's a recipe for misery the next morning.

Sound familiar? Dr. Monica Christmas of the University of Chicago Medicine says it's a common lament as people enter middle age.

"You are not alone," Christmas says. "I am in that age range too and absolutely, [drinks] need to be spread out or it's all going to go straight to my head and I will need to sleep half the day away the next day."

There are physiological explanations for why our ability to tolerate alcohol wanes with age. For one thing, studies show the liver enzymes that break down alcohol become less efficient.

"That means that our bodies metabolize alcohol a little bit differently," she says. "We also lose more muscle as we get older, an

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