Everyone knows the symptoms of a hangover: nausea, headache, tiredness, lack of concentration, irritability, and sensitivity to light, among others. Even opening your eyes is a struggle that causes an immediate backlash as your head throbs. You try to tell yourself the fun you had last night was worth it but at the same time you’re also making a (false) promise to never drink again.
There’s no exact cure for a hangover, and everyone has different methods that work for them, but the best way to relieve your symptoms is to attack the main causes of a hangover: dehydration and loss of vitamins/salts. Alcohol contains ethanol, a diuretic that makes you pee more. So you lose a ton of fluids/water and vitamins and minerals, leaving your body useless the morning after. For some help with relieving your suffering, we have some tips for you to try and see what works for you, with information from Fitsugar.com, Drinkaware.com, Lifehackery.com, and Wikihow.
If you want to stop the hangover before it happens, here are a few ways you can try:
1. Drink water while you’re drinking. Go 1 for 1: every alcoholic drink you have, follow it with a glass of water. It will help to replenish your fluids.
2. Drink water before bed. This will help to rehydrate you, and also to help flush the toxins out of your body more quickly.
4. Don’t drink on an empty stomach. Food, especially complex carbs, will lower the concentration of alcohol in your stomach, so make sure to eat before or during.
4. Darker liquors like whiskey contain more congener, which contribute to hangovers. Stick with clear liquors like vodka to help eliminate your hangover.
5. Don’t mix with fizzy or sugary drinks, as they will cause the alcohol to be absorbed into the blood stream faster.
Of course, when you’re out with your friends, most people won’t be thinking about drinking a glass of water for every drink they have or worrying about their hangover tomorrow. So when the inevitable hits, here are some ways to feel better.
1. Drink water. Water is the best way to rehydrate yourself, so this is a must.
2. Sports/fruit drinks. Sport drinks have electrolytes that will help to rejuvenate your body, plus I know for me at least, I’d rather drink something flavored than plain water. Fruit juices will restore vitamins that you lost, just stay away from more acidic juice like orange juice because it may upset your stomach. Apple juice would be a good choice.
3. Eat. Getting food in your stomach will help, even if it’s a greasy breakfast sandwich. Alcohol causes your blood sugar level to drop, so eating will help to stabilize it. If you can’t stomach real food, eat toast or crackers. Put a little honey on it to help, as honey contains high levels of fructose, which is thought speed up the body’s ability to metabolize alcohol. For this reason, you should also try to eat fruits, which contain high levels of fructose. Bananas and kiwis are good to eat because they’ll replace all the potassium you lost from frequent bathroom trips. Food rich in amino acids (like eggs) will also help.
4. Drink coffee, but not too much. It can also help to wake you up a little and get rid of your headache. Coffee is a vascoconstrictor, so it lessens the swelling of blood vessels that can cause headaches. However, it is also a diuretic, which means you’ll be further dehydrating yourself, so don’t drink too much.
5. Medication. You can take a painkiller and an antacid to help settle your stomach and your head. Just be careful, as your stomach and liver lining will be sensitive from the toxins that you’ve already put into your body, and definitely don’t take anything before bed. Other things you can take are Vitamin B pills or Pedialyte, which is great for curing dehydration.
6. Wait and sleep it off. Hangovers will go away with time, and if you can fall asleep (and you don’t have to spend the day doing homework), then try and sleep it off. With any luck, once you wake up, most of your symptoms will be gone, especially if you combine sleeping with any of these other suggestions. And contrary to popular belief, exercise won’t make you sweat it out, and afterward will usually leave you feeling worse as you are still dehydrated. Resting is a better choice, and if you must, just do a light cardio workout or yoga.
Here’s an infographic from Greatist that has even more tips and tricks to help with hangovers.
So the next time you wake up with that pounding headache and dryness in your mouth, try out some of these suggestions and see what works best for you!
Pictures from here, here, here, and here. Cover photo form here.
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