What is Tolerance? What is Situational Tolerance?
Tolerance is a measure of how much the body has lost its sensitivity to the effects of alcohol. Having an increased tolerance means it will take a greater amount of alcohol to achieve the same effect or "buzz" than before. One of the factors that impacts tolerance is drinking repeatedly in the same environment.
Alcohol is a depressant that slows down central nervous system functions like reaction time, breathing, and heart rate. The body wants to stay in balance, and if you shove the body one way, the body shoves back the other. That is why we sweat when we’re hot and shiver when we’re cold. Alcohol slows the body down.
So if you walk in a room and drink, it slows the body down. Walk in the room another day and drink, it slows the body down. In time, walk in that room, the body starts speeding up. The cues from the environment lead the body to anticipate that a drug is on the way that’s going to slow it down, so it tries to account for it by speeding up. The result of this process is experienced as tolerance - it takes more alcohol to get the same effect.
So what if you have developed tolerance and go to a completely new environment where all the familiar cues are gone and drink the same amount as you've been drinking?
The cues that tell the body that alcohol is on the way are missing in a new environment.
You drink the same amount of alcohol as usual, but your body isn’t conditioned to expect a depressant in this environment. The same amount you've had before can have a stronger effect due to the new environment. A smaller amount of alcohol will feel like a lot. An accidental, and potentially deadly, overdose is more likely.
