Interoceptive Phenomenology of Hangover: A Proof of Concept for Bodily Mapping in Naturalistic Study Designs

Background and Aims: Alcohol hangover is the most frequently reported adverse consequence of excessive drinking and is an important predictor of future alcohol use. Yet, despite hangover being centrally related to negative physical sensations, commonly used measurement tools focus on cognitive characteristics and fail to represent its interoceptive features. Bodily mapping allows to visualize and quantify subjective bodily sensations to efficiently measure alcohol-related bodily experiences (e.g., craving, intoxication). We present the first use of bodily mapping in a naturalistic study design to understand how subjective hangover sensations shape individual differences in interoceptive phenomenology and drinking patterns in young heavy drinkers.Methods: Heavy episodic drinkers (N = 34) completed a baseline assessment and at least three follow-up sessions during acute hangover episodes. Real-time data were collected using a smartphone-adapted emBODY tool, which generates topographical maps of bodily activation and deactivation. These body maps quantified the extent and intensity of bodily sensations related to hangover. Participants also reported prior-night subjective intoxication and current hangover severity. Linear mixed models and correlational analyses were used to assess within-subject associations with session-level variables and between-subject associations with individual drinking profiles. All analyses were pre-registered. Results: Topographical analyses revealed consistent patterns of bodily activation in the head, chest and abdomen and deactivation in the lower limbs during hangover episodes. Intensity, but not extent, of bodily sensations was significantly associated with hangover severity, independently of subjective intoxication of the previous night. Participants with high (vs. low) trait-level drinking scores reported more intense bodily sensations of hangover and more frequent hangovers, as well as stronger associations between sensation intensity and hangover severity. This association was also stronger as age increased.Conclusions: Bodily mapping captured meaningful interoceptive patterns linked to subjective hangover severity and individual drinking behavior. These findings suggest that bodily sensations are a strong component of hangover experiences and may be heightened in individuals at greater risk for problematic use, offering new insight into the somatic processes that underlie vulnerability to alcohol misuse. Our results offer a proof of concept establishing the usefulness and feasibility of body mapping in naturalistic designs. They also underscore its potential as a scalable and intuitive tool to investigate embodied processes in addiction research, where interoceptive dimensions remain underexplored.