THE ONLY WAY TO SHAKE A HANGOVER: SIT IT OUT
Once you have a hangover, there is only one certain way of getting rid of it: you have to sit it out.
While folk remedies, black coffee, jogging, fatty food or a ‘hair of the dog’ might make you think you feel better, alcohol will still be taking its toll on your body.
Some doctors suggest drinking lots of water or swallowing an aspirin, a Panadol, vitamins, electrolytes or amino acids, but none of these has been conclusively shown to lift a hangover. Not only is there no scientifically proven remedy, but there is also no agreement as to what causes hangovers. It is, however, generally accepted that three different mechanisms are at work.
The first is mild poisoning. When the liver breaks down alcohol, it produces a highly toxic substance called acetaldehyde. Most of this is excreted, but if a small quantity accumulates, it can cause mild symptoms of poisoning such as headaches, flushing, a rise in blood pressure and an increased pulse rate.
The second mechanism is withdrawal. You don’t have to be an alcoholic to suffer withdrawal. It is possible to get mild withdrawal symptoms after a single heavy bout of drinking. While drinking, you build up a high blood-alcohol content (BAG). When you stop drinking, your BAC gradually falls, and below a certain level, you develop symptoms such as headaches, tremors and nausea.
To stop this, some reach for another drink, believing that a ‘hair of the dog’ will make them feel better. In the short term it does, because it raises their BAC, but it also perpetuates the problem. Early-morning drinking of this kind is well recognised as one of the first symptoms of dependence.
The third mechanism is disturbed sleep. Although you may go home and sleep a full night, the alcohol will have changed the nature of your sleep. If your drinking is usually confined to a glass of wine with dinner, but you go out and have several drinks, you could return with a BAC of 0.06 to 0.08, which is above the legal drink-driving limit.
You will probably fall asleep easily, but in the first 4 hours, instead of having natural alternating phases of dreaming sleep and slow-wave deep sleep, you will have no dreaming sleep.
In the second half of the night, dreaming sleep will come rushing back and may fragment the remainder of your rest or wake you with sweating, palpitations and a sense of stimulation that prevents further sleep. It may also bring florid dreams.
The combination of mild poisoning, alcohol withdrawal and disturbed sleep doesn’t make you feel too good. You get that thick, fuzzy hung-over feeling. And while nothing will speed up the rate of recovery, a Panadol may relieve your headache, and water will rehydrate you.
Although it is widely thought that alcohol is a diuretic and leads to dehydration, it may also cause fluid retention. Every hangover is different, and the symptoms you experience will depend on how your body handles the alcohol.
The amount of alcohol needed to cause a hangover varies according to genetic make-up, drinking history and other variables. The nausea common with hangovers may also result from an inflammation of the lining of the stomach. In an unaccustomed drinker, a single bout of heavy drinking will make the lining so red and swollen that it will look as though a truck just ran over it.
There is a view that hangovers can be delayed. Sometimes, they do not kick in until halfway through the next day. Timing depends on metabolic rate and the quantity of alcohol consumed.
Some believe that additives in alcoholic drinks have different effects on hangovers. Chemicals formed in the manufacturing process that colour and flavour are called congeners. Clearer drinks, such as vodka and gin, have fewer congeners than bourbon or rum. White wine, which has fewer than red, is thought to cause less of a hangover.
Methanol has been accused of being the real villain in hangovers. It is thought that an amino acid, sold as L-cysteine, might be a mini-cure, but this is far from having been proved. At present the best way to prevent a hangover is to drink sensibly.
PREVENTING A HANGOVER
Eat as you drink – food makes you absorb less alcohol.
Pace yourself – keep your BAC below 0.05. (One drink causes a BAC of 0.02. Your body takes an hour to get rid of it.)
Never have more than six drinks in 24 hours (four if you are female).
Drink slowly – sip, don’t scull.
Don’t get caught in a shout.
Drink alternatives to alcohol.
Drink water.
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