Nights out are great fun aren't they*? Having a laugh with your mates, playing drinking games, throwing some crazy shapes on the dancefloor, getting the rounds in... then you wake up the next morning (afternoon) feeling like death. A pounding headache, sore throat, scratchy eyes, aching limbs- not quite as much fun. Welcome to hangover land! A horrible place that people go to the morning after the night before. But what exactly are hangovers and why do we get them?
What are they?
Hangovers are your body's response to excess amounts of alcohol. Alcohol is basically legal poison so it doesn't exactly have great effects on your body (although they may seem great at the time) meaning you feel ROUGH the next day as your body attempts to right itself after its ordeal. Common symptoms of hangovers include headaches, tiredness, irritability and generally feeling grim.
Why do we get them?
The main reason for hangovers is dehydration. Alcohol is a diuretic which means it removes liquids from your body, essentially causing you to dry out. Getting all technical about it, it's because alcohol inhibits vasopressin. I know... you don't want suppressed vasopressin do you? That doesn't sound fun. Basically, that's the hormone that helps transport water expelled from the kidneys back into the body. Since alcohol makes it go all dodgy, the water heads straight for your bladder rather than going back into your body to do nice things like hydrating you. Come the morning, your body is seriously lacking the water that would have been reabsorbed and it needs to find it from somewhere. That somewhere is your brain, which is about 70% water. Your brain's water levels drop causing it to shrink, leaving you with an almighty thumping headache. Add the general tiredness from the mere four hours' sleep and the withdrawal from the excess glucose intake from the sugary energy drinks and you've got yourself the perfect recipe for a hangover!
How can you prevent them?
Obviously all this can be avoided by simply not drinking alcohol... but that's not much fun really is it? Another solution is to drink in moderation and know when to stop... but that's often an unrealistic goal too. So, achievable preventative measures for hangovers include:
- Eating before your night out:
Lining your stomach with something nice and absorbent, like bread or pasta, means your body absorbs alcohol slower. Eating on an empty stomach might get you wasted in no time, but you'll feel far worse off later!
- Drinking water throughout the evening:
Intersperse your alcoholic beverages with glasses of water to rehydrate as you go.
- Drink water before you turn in:
When you've finally stopped partying, down one last drink... a pint of water. It can get to work over night meaning less is borrowed from your brain in the morning. Keep a glass by your bed too in case you wake up parched. In the morning take one dioralyte or berocca and some paracetamol to rehydrate faster and ease the pain. The chances are you'll still feel slightly groggy but that's the price you pay for a good night out!
Share your hangover tips and cures with us in the comments.
*Always make sure you consume alcohol responsibly.
