Alcohol is essentially a poison and drinking too much
is actively poisoning yourself. Your body does its best to rid the poison and
that can be very hard on your liver.
Drinking too much leads to unpleasant symptoms –
headache, nausea, vomiting, thirst and dryness of mouth, tremors, dizziness,
fatigue and muscle cramps. It can also lead to death. Hangovers are thought to
be an early stage of alcohol withdrawal.
In addition, elevated levels of certain hormones are
found in people suffering hangovers. These may contribute to excessive
urination and dehydration. Dehydration can trigger migraines in some people and
nasty headaches in the rest.
Some of effects of drinking that lead to hangovers
include excessive urination, dehydration, headaches, inflamed immune system,
increased stomach acid, drop in blood sugar, and dilated blood vessels.
In addition, as your body metabolizes alcohol, there
are toxins released that add to the misery of a hangover. Helping your body
flush these toxins is vitally important to feeling better.
Avoiding a Hangover in the First Place
The first step to not getting a hangover is not too
drink too much. The second is to choose your poison carefully!
Dark liquors like brandy, wine, tequila, whiskey seem
to cause hangovers more frequently than do light liquors like white rum, vodka,
and gin. Eat food, drink slowly, and in moderation, don’t mix your liquor, and
remember that smoking, loud music, and flashing lights make hangovers worse.
There is no one cure for hangover. Unfortunately, only
time will get rid of a hangover. However, you can help yourself feel better by
drinking water and eating carefully.
Replacing all the water lost from urinating and
vomiting is very important. Take pain killers with caution as some like
acetaminophen are hard on the liver (as is alcohol). Enough lecture. Now for
the good stuff.
Drinks
Because you have dehydrated yourself, you need to
replace the water in your system. The hair of the dog (a morning drink) is not
a good remedy and will only make your hangover hang on longer.
Instead try coconut water. It is very high in
electrolytes and has a flavor that might make it easier to stomach if you are
at the vomiting stage of a hangover.
Tomato juice may boost liver function and thus
speeding up alcohol digestion, and all the antioxidants and vitamins will
replace those you lost.
Lemon water helps detoxify your overworked liver. It
will also help tame the cellular inflammation that comes with drinking alcohol.
Sprite helps your body turn acetaldehyde (a byproduct
of metabolizing alcohol) into acetate more quickly and helps gets rid of
hangovers faster. Sprite may be the closest thing to a hangover cure.
If you prefer something hot, try ginger tea, made from
real ginger root. It will help with nausea when grated into hot water and
steeped. Green tea is another excellent source of antioxidants and will help
with liver detoxification.
Coffee, the standby of drunks, dilates blood vessels
and helps get rid of headaches. It can upset a tender stomach, so drink with
care. Add a bit of honey to sweeten it. Honey is great at helping hangovers
feel better.
Food
Once food sounds appealing, try some of the following.
Steamed asparagus help break down alcohol and may act similarly to drinking
Sprite.
It’s also full of vitamins that will help you feel
better. Make an omelet or a scrambled egg to help – they are full of an amino
acid, cysteine, that breaks down acetaldehyde.
Bananas are full of potassium that helps calm the
shakes. Plus, you can turn them into a smoothie if chewing is too much effort.
Other fruits are good as well because of the fiber, nutrients and vitamins.
Cayenne pepper and spicy food help you sweat and make
you drink more, so a spicy meal can help clean out toxins. And finally, a
spoonful of honey can help the hangovers go away.
Conclusion
The easiest way to cure a hangover is not to get one.
While it takes time for a hangover to go away, you can support your body and
help regain some of the vitamins, minerals, and water that you lost.
Your liver
must work very hard to get rid of all the alcohol, so do your best to support
it with lots of good quality liquids like water; foods rich in vitamins,
minerals, and antioxidants; and try not to add to the abuse by overdoing
liver-unfriendly pain killers.
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