Hangover Blues

Stay Alcohol-free For At least 48 Hours After a Hangover

Alcoholic or not, all of us know what a hangover is! For the exceptional few who are blissfully ignorant of the word, hangover is a set of symptoms and signs that occur after someone overconsumes alcohol. People drink anytime of the day and hence, are susceptible to hangover too any time of the day. But most hangovers predominantly happen in the morning after a person drinks heavily during the night.
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Hangover symptoms start sometime after the person is done with all the drinking and blood alcohol levels start dropping. Effects reach their pinnacle when blood alcohol concentration drops to zero and continue until as long as 24 hours. Alcohol or ethanol is what causes people to feel unwell as it stimulates dehydration. Drinking alcohol causes a person to urinate more which in turn leads to dehydration. Dehydration can cause a headache. Not only this, ethanol can also irritate the stomach and lead to inflammation. This can prevent digestive acid from moving through the gut and induce more secretion of gastric acid. This leads to nausea. Most common symptoms include dizziness, sleepiness, confusion, feeling sick, thirst, irritability, fatigue, sensitivity to light, nausea, vomiting and headache. Alcohol causes these symptoms through dehydration (thirst, dizziness, weakness), stomach/liver irritation (nausea, vomiting, stomach pain), low blood sugar levels (fatigue, mood fluctuations) and sleep disturbance.

The type of alcohol you drink plays a main role in increasing your chances of a hangover. Alcohol contains congeners that add taste, smell and color of the drink. The percentage of congeners determines the effect of hangover. Gin and vodka mostly cause fewer hangover effects due to decreased levels of congeners while brandy, whisky and red wine cause profound hangover effects due to more congeners.

Slaying Hangover
There is no cure for hangover and any remedies for cure are only a myth. The best cure for hangover is only time. All you can do is take preventive steps to avoid a hangover and if you do suffer from one, you can do various things to ease your discomfort.

Avoiding Hangovers

1. Don’t drink more than what your body can comply with.
2. Don’t drink on an empty stomach and when you plan to drink alcohol, ensure to eat foods rich in carbohydrates or fats (rice would be perfect) as these foods slow down the body’s absorption of alcohol. Read more on healthy carbohydrates that are essential for your body at www.firsteatright.com.
3. Avoid dark-colored drinks as they contain more congeners that can cause hangovers to dangerously high levels by irritating blood vessels and tissue in the brain
4. Drink water or soft-drinks between your alcoholic beverages as it helps to speed up absorption of alcohol into your system.
5. Drink a few glasses of water before going to sleep.

If you still wakeup feeling worse the next morning, then you have not followed the tips given above.

Easing Discomfort

1. Rehydrating the body is the best way to dodge pain due to hangover. It is advisable to rehydrate just before going to sleep after binge drinking
2. Painkillers can help with headaches and muscle cramps
3. Eat sugary foods to lessen the trembling effect
4. Avoid using aspirin and anti-inflammatory medicines if you have nausea or stomach pain. Use antacids instead that prove to be quite useful
5. Drink plenty of liquids such as water or soda to compensate for the lost fluids
6. Low blood glucose levels worsen a hangover which can be balanced with a healthy breakfast that contains the right mix of vitamins and minerals
7. Eat food before or while drinking to slow alcohol absorption into the bloodstream
   
   

Even if you are not going to follow even one of the above tips to ease hangover pain, please do not pursue ones that can worsen it. For instance, ‘the hair of the dog’ theory which encourages drinking another round of alcohol in the morning to get rid of hangover is completely incorrect and will only further aggravate the hangover effect. Stick to the basics of alcohol consumption (one drink per day for women and 2 drinks for men) to escape from the ‘hangover’ effect. Also, if you experience hangover please don’t drink alcohol within the next 48 hours. Please give some time for your body to recover.