Traveling is the best excuse most of us give to ourselves for having that extra glass of liquor. In fact, many of us travel to drink, relieve their troubles, and be careless for few days. The good news is that occasional drinking does no harm, but the bad news is that every time you drink you are become prone to hangovers. Yes, that ugly, tiresome feeling you get when you wake up other morning after a night of drinks. But there is nothing to worry about, because its not just you, hangover hits every person who drinks, and it is not permanent. It will only trouble you for one or so odd day, but what if you don’t want to waste that day too. Not to worry, there number of remedies to cure a hangover, on social media, on magazines, on internet, and in friendly gossips. But do they work? Yes some of them, here are those some of them with their scientific explanation.
The golden rule to avoid hangovers is to drink less. This may sound obvious, but it is true and often ignored. Control your intake and your body will control it. As per study, it requires blood alcohol conc. of 0.11–0.12% to develop a hangover, and 23% of all drinkers are resistant to hangovers.
Don’t drink liquor that has Congeners. They are by product of ethanol fermentation when alcohol is produced. Drinks with high congeners lead to worse hangovers as they reduce the metabolism of alcohol. Drinks like Vodka, Gin n Rum have low congeners, while Bourbon Whisky with maximum.
Start you next day after drinking with a hearty breakfast, as it helps maintain blood sugar levels. Low blood sugar levels contribute to symptoms of hangover such as headache, nausea, fatigue. Adequate blood sugar levels also combat with metabolic acidosis caused by alcohol by getting rid of chemicals.
Alcohol is found to disturb the sleep quality and duration. Thought small intake can help in quick dozing, but excessive use of it will ultimately disrupt the sleep cycle. The weakness and fatigue caused by hangovers happen mostly because of lack of sleep, so get a good sleep after drinks.
Drinking causes dehydration by two ways, first it is a diuretic which increases the production of urine leading to loss of fluids and electrolytes, second it causes vomits again leading to loss of fluids and electrolytes. Dehydration also contributes to headaches, dizziness, so drink plenty of water.
Having a small drink on next morning, also known as ‘Hair of the dog’ is another remedy. Though we don’t recommend it as it can cause alcohol dependence, but many people find it useful. Normally Methanol found in liquor is converted into formaldehyde a toxic compound, but another small drink which contains ethanol, will supress this conversion and toxic compounds get excreted.
Lining your stomach with carbs helps a great deal to prevent hangovers. Above all, never drink empty stomach. A good greasy meal before you drink is your best shot at it. The fat in it, will line your stomach and reduce the absorption of alcohol. Glass of milk, or shot of olive oil will also do.
If you are hitting a club on your drinking night, avoid dancing. A step or two will do no harm, but if you get spread on dance floor, you might wake up another morning feeling like a dead man. Dancing exhausts you, and drains all reserved energy of body, which leads to fatigue feeling in morning.
Alcohol is not going anywhere from our society, so keep calm and drink less. Recommended quantity of liquor intake is 3 to 4 units for men, 2 to 3 units for women, per day. A glass of wine is 1.5 unit, while a pint of beer is 2 unit. It takes our body 1 hour to break down 1 unit of alcohol. So be wise.
Avoid mixing fizzy drinks in your alcohol. It might taste good, but then it also accelerates the speed of alcohol absorption in body. So if you are drinking vodka, then it is better to mix it with orange or apple juice, rather than mixing it with coke or Pepsi. Next day you will thank us for the mix up.
If hangover has struck, you often will have no choice but to take painkillers. But the point is to take the right ones. The best bet is Ibuprofen in prescribed dose, though Aspirin can also deal with dizziness and headaches, but it can be terrible if you have a sensitive stomach, which usually happens after having drinks. (Alcohol makes your body sensitive and often vulnerable).
Dehydration is the biggest evil of drinking, as said before. But apart from intake of waters, you can also take in salts and sugars. Gatorade or Powerade are the next level of curing hangovers. They will not only rehydrate you but also energize you, and replace lost sugars and salts. It always work.
On the day of hangover Fruit juices help a great deal, as they compensate for loss of water, minerals, and energy. Milk will also work well. One good stuff that will help is Ginger tea, or even ginger by its own. A good homely mix that can help a great deal is Boiled water with honey and lemon.
On the day of hangover, the last thing you will want to do is run of the treadmill or take rounds of park downstairs, or maybe do a little bit of cycling. But trust us, this helps a great deal. A little exercise will release endorphins to bring you back in action. But remember to stay hydrated.
Hangovers can be minimized also with long showers. Water does a great deal in squeezing out toxins from your body. You might consider yourself scrubbing a bit too. Apart from this, it will freshen you up. While taking long showers you can also choose to open up that little window for fresh air too.
Little by little, one travels far!
