Overcautious...*

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*In Soviet Russian drinking culture, a typical drunkard would often consume alcohol to the brink of total inebriation, or getting blotto, slammed or atkluchony ('disconnected', 'totaled'), to drown out their sorrows brought on from living inside a proletariat dictatorship. Reaching the point of pokhmelye (hangover) was considered part of the transition stage of achieving total blissful drunkenness, rather than an unwanted side-effect of excess alcohol consumption in most Western drinking cultures.

By then, the fruitful imbiber would rest and allow the alcohol to seep into the bloodstream, until the mind-numbing drug is perfectly implemented within the soul. Then the inebriate would continue on drinking to maintain a constant state of drunken hangover stupor (pokhmelitsa).

This drinking culture was not for the faint of heart, as it is "hard" work to reach the point of drunkenness, but even much "harder" work to maintain the pitiful bottom level of intoxication, while still looking after one's own metabolism, physical well-being and safety in this dangerous practice (hence the descriptive preparedness of the "professional" Soviet drunkard displayed above)

Reference: "Soviets" by Danzig Baldaev & Sergei Vasiliev, pg 124