What’s the best cure for a hangover??
Why does alcohol cause a Hangover?
Most adults have experienced a hangover at some time in their lives- the tremulous vomiting, the violent headache, the clammy dehydration. Not to mention the regret and the dark cloud associated with the excesses of the night before. But why do we get these symptoms when we’ve drunk too much grog? And is there any effective cure for a hangover?
How Ethanol affects the body
Hangovers are caused by ethanol, the type of alcohol contained in alcoholic drinks. Ethanol can affect the body in many ways:
Increased urination
- Ethanol makes you wee more!
- Ethanol stops your body releasing a hormone called Vasopressin- this hormone normally reduces the amount of water your kidneys remove from your bloodstream.
- With less Vasopressin in your system due to the effects of ethanol, more water is removed from your bloodstream and more urine is produced.
- If you drink more water to compensate, you’ll improve the situation a bit – but not quite as much as you’d hope. Much of that extra fluid will simply be wee’d out too, due to the effects of ethanol.
- This is why you feel dehydrated.
- It’ll often cause a headache too.
Nausea (feeling sick)
- Ethanol is broken down (metabolised) into other chemicals by your liver.
- One of these chemicals (acetaldehyde) can hang around in your bloodstream until your liver finally manages to eliminate it.
- Acetaldehyde causes nausea.
Balance and coordination
- Ethanol depresses the parts of your brain that coordinate your movements.
- This causes you to lose balance & impairs your ability to complete simple tasks.
Sleep
- Ethanol profoundly alters sleep, so you won’t wake feeling refreshed – instead you’ll feel tired and weak.
Gastritis- inflammation of the stomach
- Ethanol can inflame the lining of your stomach – this is known as “gastritis”.
- This will cause nausea and stomach pain.
Low blood sugar
- Ethanol causes your body to use up reserves of sugar more quickly, which can lead to a low sugar level during a hangover – feeling “hypo”.
Diarrhoea
- Ethanol can cause the bowels to move faster, leading to diarrhoea in some people.
Effects on your immune system
- There is evidence that ethanol causes your immune system to create inflammation by releasing chemicals into your bloodstream
- This may cause fatigue, nausea & headache.
Mood changes
- Ethanol is a depressant – so it can cause significant mental illness, both immediately and when used over longer periods.
How long does a hangover last?
Hangovers can last anywhere from a few hours to 3 days!
Are some drinks worse for causing hangovers?
- Surprisingly, yes!
- Darker-coloured drinks are slightly worse for hangovers. This is because they generally contain larger amounts of “congeners”. Congeners are chemicals that are created during the fermenting process and often add to the flavour of a drink.
- However, the difference is only minor – if you drink enough light-coloured drinks your hangover will be just as bad!
Does mixing drinks make a hangover worse?
- The best evidence available says no – the total amount of alcohol you drink is the only significant factor.
- And, by the way, the 2 old-fashioned sayings, “grape or grain but never the twain” and “beer before wine and you’ll feel fine; wine before beer and you’ll feel queer” – have no evidence to back them up!
Does coffee sober you up?
- No.
- It may make you less tired.
- It doesn’t improve your reactions when driving.
Am I still over the limit to drive when I have a hangover?
- The average person can process a unit of alcohol (half an average alcoholic drink) every hour.
- If you drink 1 pint of average-strength beer or 1 standard glass of 12% wine it will take you about 2 hours to become safe to drive.
- If you drink 10 of those drinks it will take you about 20 hours.
- So the short answer to this is yes – if you’ve drunk enough to get a hangover, you’re almost certainly still over the legal limit to drive.
Can a hangover kill you?
- Yes
- Alcohol can make you so unwell that you die
- There are several ways in which it can do this- a topic for another day!
So what’s the best cure for a hangover?
- There is no way to prevent a hangover other than to reduce alcohol intake.
- And unfortunately there’s no highly effective cure for a hangover.
- Drinking more slowly can allow your liver to keep a better pace with the ethanol it needs to process.
- Drinking clear drinks rather than darker ones may help.
- If you have a hangover take the following measures:
- Take regular sips of fluids to treat the dehydration (oral rehydration salts may be helpful).
- Take paracetamol for the headache.
- Eat something if you’re not feeling too sick- this will raise your sugar level.
- Rest.
- Don’t drive.
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