New research by psychologists at the University of Illinois has found that alcohol may help when it comes to solving brain teasers. Researchers set 40 volunteers a series of basic puzzles. Half of the group had the equivalent of two pints of beer to drink prior to the puzzles whilst the other half had no alcohol at all. 

The half of the group which had taken a drink beforehand solved almost 40 per cent more problems than the other half of the group. They also solved the problems quicker taking an average time of 12 seconds to solve them as compared to 15.5 seconds required by the non drinking half of the volunteer group.