So you’ve managed to do it to yourself again. After promising not to go too hard the night before, you wind up getting goaded into singing “Livin’ On a Prayer” by your friends at karaoke and now have the world’s worst hangover to accompany your embarrassment.
The good news is hangovers, unlike poor renditions of Bon Jovi tunes, can be moderated to a point where they cease to become a problem. This handy guide will help you through the process so you can go the distance while still being functional the morning after.
First of all, it is important to understand just what causes the symptoms of a hangover and what exactly happens to the body when large amounts of alcohol are consumed.
One of the main problems with alcohol is its diuretic effect – simply put, it causes frequent urination. This frequent urination leads to dehydration which is one of the root causes of many hangover symptoms, including morning dry mouth and the dreaded hangover headache.
As an added bonus, when alcohol breaks down in the body, it causes the liver to release glucose, which is also let out through urination. The loss of glucose in the body causes general weakness and fatigue, and also explains why you may fall out of bed after a bout of heavy drinking.
Ever heard the phrase, beer before liquor, you’ve never been sicker; liquor before beer, you’re in the clear? There actually is some truth to this. When alcohol is produced through fermentation, impurities called “congeners” are created. Different types of alcohol will have varying degrees of congeners, with dark liquors generally possessing the most. These impurities are thought to amplify many hangover symptoms. So what does this have to do with beer? The carbonation of beer leads to a faster absorption of alcohol into the bloodstream. When you chase beer with hard liquor, the body cannot process the congeners as quickly.
As if drinking wasn’t doing enough to the body already, there are still a few more lovely side-effects from a binge, none more important than the spectacular amount of vomiting excessive booze can cause. When alcohol gets to your stomach, it irritates the stomach’s lining and causes hydrochloric acid to be released. If enough alcohol gets into the stomach, the brain will purge the stomach to stop it from potentially hurting the body, leaving you to paint Richmond Row with the poutine you had a few hours ago.
So now that you know how alcohol is going to do its best to ruin your night, you can find out how to prevent it. Like the Scouts, it always is best to be prepared. While you may find yourself caught up in the moment when out with a bunch of friends, as long as you act before things get too out of hand you can avoid spending the next day as a grouchy, tired, hangover zombie.
In an ideal situation, you’ll know when you’re in store for a heavy night of drinking. To prepare, it’s best to consume a really fatty meal or a lot of carbohydrates. The food will remain in your stomach and help soak up the tequila like a greasy ShamWow. To further toughen up your gut, drink a couple of glasses of milk with dinner. This will coat the sides of your stomach, preventing the alcohol from irritating the lining.
There are a few other potential preparations you can include, such as taking multi-vitamins to replace the ones your body will shortly be losing, but such actions are entirely optional.
Next, when drinking, carefully consider your alcohol choices. To avoid congener overload, it’s best to stick with just one type of alcohol. Clear, distilled liquors like vodka generally have the mildest hangovers, but avoiding mixing will generally keep you clean.
Most importantly, remember water is your friend. Learn to drink it all the time. Water will keep you hydrated while the alcohol does its best to drain you out. The more water you drink the less dehydrated you’ll be in the morning and the less likely you will be to have harsh symptoms.
To tame the beast the morning after, it’s important to remember your job is to replenish what the alcohol has taken out of your body. You can do this by either sleeping it off (the body will take care of itself, after all) or you can speed the process along by consuming food and drink with lots of vitamins and nutrients. A meal of eggs, fruit and cereal accompanied by a sports drink such as Gatorade can really put a spark into your morning after. If you feel like heading out, London has a wide arrange of restaurants catering to hungover students, with many close to the downtown core.
As a word of caution, do your best to avoid coffee or other caffeinated drinks after a hangover. Unless you plan to continue consuming them throughout the day, the initial stimulating buzz will wear off and you will crash as a result. To make matters worse, caffeine is itself a diuretic, which will in the long run lead to an enhancement of your hangover symptoms.
Similarly, if you must have a painkiller in the morning, avoid Tylenol. Acetaminophen, one of Tylenol’s main ingredients, is already mildly harmful to the liver, but when combined with alcohol the damage is greatly heightened.
And for the final note, unless you plan on beginning a never-ending bender, avoid the “hair of the dog” remedy. While it is true consuming more alcohol will cover up many of your negative hangover symptoms, it is merely a cover-up. So unless you plan to keep drinking ad infinitum, lay off the sauce until at least the next night.