Heading off to the pub or letting your hair down after a long week at work seems like the norm for many.
Between the spirits, pints and cheeky shots the night may become blurry and difficult to piece together the next morning.
But have you ever wondered why this happens?
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Millie Gooch, founder of the Sober Girl Society and ambassador for charity Alcohol Change UK, has shared why a ‘black out’ from a night of boozing can happen.
The activist, who practices sobriety, decided to stop drinking so she could “live more” and is on a mission to aid those who want to live an alcohol free lifestyle.
In a TikTok clip, the alcohol free woman shared why people who drink sometimes cannot “remember” their night – and apparently there are two types of ‘blacking out’.
Millie explained: “Did you know that there are two types of alcohol blackouts? And neither are what they think they are.
“So we tend to think as a society that an alcohol blackout is when you are passed out drunk but in fact that’s not true.
“In a blackout you could be dancing, chatting, doing all the normal things but in fact alcohol is actually impairing part of your brain called the limbic system – which affects how you process short term memories to long term memories.
“This means there are two types of blackout.
“The first one is fragmentary where maybe you remember having a conversation with someone but you don’t remember what was said."
Millie continued: “And the second one is en bloc, where you maybe forget a few hours of your night or maybe the entire night.
“Because of the way that alcohol affects the alcohol limbic system, it means that a lot of the short term memories you’re making don’t get passed to your long term memory and that’s why the next day you can’t remember.
“You can sometimes test if your friends are in a blackout, give them something to remember and ask them half an hour later and if they if they don’t remember chances are they could be in a blackout.”
Millie added in the comments section: “There is a common misconception that blacking out is passing out drunk whereas actually you are still functioning!”
“Good tips are avoid shots, drink water between or drinking too quickly as it happens when your blood alcohol level rises rapidly.
After Millie explained why this happens, many people fled to the comments to share their experiences.
One person commented: “I think I get such bad anxiety after drinking because I can’t remember certain things and I start trying to fill the gaps in with the worst scenarios.”
Another user added: “My favourite part of sobriety is that I'll never have to experience that morning after a blackout again!!!”
While a third person pointed out: “Did you know you just described every weekend of the last few years of my life.”
Someone else shared: “Omg the second one happened to me was looking back at videos of me dancing right at the front of the stage and I didn’t remember any of it.”
Meanwhile, a fifth user related: “This happened to me Friday. One minute I was fine and then I literally didn't remember the last two hours of the night or getting home or going to sleep.”
To get more information on alcohol related issues, you can access the official NHS website here.
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