Healthy Hangover Habits
You’ve been eating healthy and working out when a holiday comes around and you decide to relax and drink with your friends and family. Enjoying your social life is equally important so no one blames you but hopefully the holiday hangovers taught us not to drink too much. If not, maybe you can pick up a few tips to at least mitigate that hangover.
Cure For A Hangover?
The goal of this blog is to talk about the ways to cure the dreaded hangover, but in order to do that, we must first define the problem.
A hangover is a self-inflicted condition which typically consists of a few different symptoms such as headache, nausea, moodiness, as well as an overall feeling of being tired. A hangover is actually caused by dehydration in the body, Acetaldehyde intoxication, hypoglycemia, and an overall lack of the vitamin B-12 in the body.
This could vary person to person so there is still a little bit of trial and error to find the most effective cure for yourself.
1. Hangovers Can't Be "Cured"
First, a hangover can't be "cured" until the toxins and remnants of alcohol have left the body. One of the main toxins that are in the body in excess is acetaldehyde.
Since the body does not under normal circumstances have to deal with excess amounts of alcohol, the liver isn't able to convert massive amounts of alcohol into harmless products as quickly as some of our other biological processes.
2. Alcohol Is A Diuretic
Secondly, alcohol is a diuretic. This is because alcohol has an inhibiting effect on the body's Anti-diuretic hormone production. This hormone is one of the key factors in the body's ability to retain water, meaning that without this hormone, you would pee every five minutes.
This is exactly why you have to pee so often when you're drinking. This can't really be readily stopped, so as long as you drink alcohol, you will lose water at a rapid rate. And no, holding your pee in (not "breaking the seal") doesn't stop this water loss. Your bladder will continue to fill as water leaves your bloodstream.
3. Alcohol Causes Changes In Digestive Patterns
Third, alcohol causes changes in digestive patterns. This is the major cause of the nausea involved with alcohol intoxication. Normally, there is a constant flow of food products into waste products that are then excreted from the body. Partially due to the changes in hydration in the small intestine, the contents of the small and large intestine can come to a halt or even move in the opposite direction.
Nausea is a general symptom in the body which is intended to let the person experiencing it know that something is not right in the body, so be wary because nausea can be a representative of something more serious than a hangover, so if symptoms don't subside within 24 hours of your last drink, be sure to seek medical attention.
4. Alcohol Decreases Digestive Enzyme Secretion:
Finally, alcohol inhibits the body's ability to break down nutrients into usable molecules by decreasing the secretion of digestive enzymes from the pancreas. This is due to the stress that is placed on the body with the excess of alcohol circulating around.
Alcohol is toxic to the body, so the body essentially puts all of its efforts into the removal of it, and its toxins from the body. This is one of the reasons that alcoholics look so malnourished.
A Few Possibilities
Since we've looked at what happens to the body during a hangover, we suggest a few possibilities in attempting to cure a hangover:
1. Drink Plenty Of Fluids
Dehydration is the easiest hangover side-effect to deal with. Depending on your body type and the amount of alcohol consumed, the amounts of fluids necessary to re-hydrate the body can vary. People will argue what to drink, but clearer liquid is the easiest on the stomach.
Drinks with added electrolytes such as Pedialyte and others are my suggestions. Basically, if you wake up with a hangover, drink more than you think you need. This will aid in recovering from a hangover in two ways. The first is that it will re-hydrate the body, the second is that the extra fluid will aid in the excretion of the toxins and metabolic byproducts.
2. Take A Multivitamin
Now you should already be taking a multivitamin to aid in your muscular gains, but if you're not, a hangover is an essential time to get the proper amounts of vitamins and minerals.
Since alcohol doesn't allow normal nutrient absorption, you really need to take a multivitamin and not only for hangover recovery, but for regular daily use.
3. Avoid Painkillers If You've Had A Drink Within 12-14 Hours
Painkillers and alcohol most certainly do not mix. Oddly, many people suggest them as the ultimate hangover cure. Combining alcohol and the common painkiller Ibuprofen has side effects such as bleeding stomach, inflammation or even permanent ulceration.
Alcohol remains in the body for approximately 24 hours after consumption, but is relief from one headache really worth permanent stomach problems? No it isn't. So if you want to take painkillers to relieve some of the suffering, wait as long as possible, ideally 12 hours of so, where the alcohol has had the chance to leave the digestive system.
4. Relax, Take It Easy
Remember that alcohol remains in your body for almost 24 hours after consuming it. When you wake up the morning after a night of heavy drinking you are almost certainly still over the legal limit, and shouldn't drive anywhere.
Avoiding A Hangover
Obviously, as you have guessed the simplest way to avoid a hangover is to not drink. Personally, the most effective preventative measure I found is to drink as much water as you can before lying down to pass out for the night. This aids in preventing the dehydration part of the hangover.
Since the presence of toxins and other physiological changes that alcohol causes can't be prevented, it's good to take advantage of the fact that dehydration can be.
First, drink plenty of fluids to prevent dehydration and aid in flushing toxins from the body.
Second, be sure to take a multivitamin the morning after a night of drinking. It will supply essential nutrients that are lost and supply the vitamins and minerals necessary for proper body functions to resume.
Finally, take it easy the day after. Hangovers are a rough thing to deal with, but time lapse remains the ultimate and unarguable cure.
Disclaimer: The information on this site is intended to provide general educational information only, and does not constitute, nor is it a substitute for, medical advice.
