Hangovers vary from person to person, but usually involve a headache, nausea, tiredness and dehydration.
In short – they are the WORST.
Alcohol – one of the first drugs known to man, is the perfect social lubricant.
For some students who are serial party animals, it’s usually more than that.
It’s a habit, which comes from coping with the stress of heavy course loads, and wanting to party all the time. Maybe it’s the sudden freedom from dictator-like parents. There’s hundreds of reasons that a student might drink their face off.
As a result of – well, whatever – some students tend to imbibe way more than they should, which leads, for some, to almost constant hangovers.
Some lucky ducks seems immune to hangovers, due to genetics, ethnic background, or a combination of factors, while other people get absolutely DESTROYED for days upon days.
The consequences of hangovers aren’t always visible, but they are always unpleasant.
Let’s take a quick of what actually is a hangover and how can we get over it.
What is a hangover?
A hangover – that never ending headache and nausea, grumpiness and sore muscles and others.
The thing is, hangover differ from person to person.
Depending on how much you drink, what you drink, bodyweight, and what you ate before you started drinking.
As you can see, there are a lot of factors behind a hangover – different intensities, with different symptoms.
Alcohol contains toxic chemicals that are being absorbed into your body every time you drink.
Depending on how much you drink , the hangover will be proportionally equal to the amount you drink.
The three main parts of our body that are being affected by alcohol drinking are the stomach, the liver, and the brain.
As we drink more, we get more dehydrated.
Our body is mostly made out of water, including our brain, so when we drink too much our brain literally shrinks because of dehydration and that’s the main reason for that awful headache in the morning after.
Google “reactive dendrites and drinking” sometime…later, not now. No!!
Also, our stomach gets irritated because of the acidity in alcohol.
Secondly, we have to consider our liver.
The liver is the organ that handles how most of the stuff we eat and drink goes into our bloodstream.
It’s the main guard between toxins and our circulatory system. Alcohol contains ethanol and other toxins, that our liver has to process.
This is the main reason why alcohol abusers get cirrhosis – their liver can’t handle all those toxins and it can’t do it’s main job, of filtering and processing the good and the bad nutrients.
Preventing / mitigating a hangover
Ok. so we now whats being affected by alcohol, now we have to protect it.
Water – we should drinks lots of water before, during and after a drinking session.
This will prevent dehydration and will make our body function properly.
I know it’s sounds weird, drinking water between beers, but I can say from my experience that it’s worth it. It could mean half the hangover you would have had if you do that.
It became a habit for me to drink water during a drinking session, as opposed to just shot after shot after shot.
Food – eating properly before drinking alcohol can get us rid of the after-effects.
Fatty foods will slow down alcohol absorption and will ease the irritation to the stomach.
A high carb meal will also get you rid of the nausea effect and vomiting due to carbs main components – sugar.
Last but not least, drink smart.
That means don’t drink beer and then 3 types of liquor, then beer, then some absinth. The more you mix, the worse your hangover might be.
Most likely, you won’t know what happened by the time you’re done with that routine.
Once I woke up on a couch 8 hours I tried to wrestle a bouncer – seemed like a fun idea at the time after 5 whiskey shots and a few beers.
I was lost in the sauce. The bouncer apparently tossed me out of the place like a rag doll, but I have no memory of this – just hearsay.
What to do when I have a hangover? (Does anything work?!?)
There is no such thing as the perfect hangover remedy. We have to understand the causes and we have to respond accordingly.
This is the tough part. The entire room is moving with you (again), your mouth tastes like something weird and you don’t know what to do.
You are very tempted to drink again thinking it’s the fastest way out, but are you really sure about that?
Again, water is essential. Hydrate yourself as much as possible to shorten the hangover duration.
Lemonade or lemon juice is also good to cleanse your liver.
If you drink a glass of warm water with lemon juice this will also be good for your stomach because it will reduce its acidity.
Apple cider vinegar with “the mother” is another good option, as it is said to be a cure of sorts.
Now you should get some vitamins inside you. Vitamins will accelerate the process through which toxins are eliminated out of your body.
I like to eat bananas and apples. A glass of fresh fruit-juice will do just fine.
As a personal trick, I like to take cold, bracing showers for a fast recovery. It’s not that pleasant for everyone, but you should try it!
Lastly, I’ll say this – if you consume a lot of alcohol (toxins), you have no choice but to process the toxins somehow.
The bottom line is, once you’re done abusing your body with these toxins, your only option now is to be nice to yourself, and allow the toxins to work their way out of you.
If that means sleeping for 20 hours and drinking apple cider vinegar and water periodically, then that’s what you have to do.