One of the major side effects of alcohol is a hangover. It is an extremely unpleasant feeling
and can leave you with symptoms including headaches, extreme thirst, nausea and sensitivity
to light and noise.
This phase can last for many hours as the body is still trying to process the alcohol. The only way in which to
lower the effect of a hangover is to drink some water before sleep in order to replace bodily fluids. Alcohol is a
diuretic, which means it will cause you to urinate more as you drink, and if you don’t rehydrate your body, you are
much more likely to suffer the effects of a hangover.
You can reduce the effects of a hangover by eating a meal before you start drinking. Many people believe that
food absorbs the alcohol before it gets into your system; this is not really the case. The facts are that the valve in
your stomach closes to start the digestion process and this lengthens the time it takes for the alcohol to get into
your bloodstream. Drinking without eating beforehand allows the alcohol to work its way into your system without
any delays from the digesting process - think of it like queue-jumping. The best foods to eat to slow the
absorption of alcohol into the body are fatty foods as they remain on the stomach lining for a longer time. If you
are in the process of digesting a steak your body has more time to process the alcohol and its by-products,
which will decrease the chances of a hangover.
Things That Dont Work!
- Hair Of The Dog - Drinking more alcohol will not cure your hangover. All it does is put it off until later, whilst
boosting the existing toxicity of the alcohol already in your body. - Beer before liquor - never sicker - It’s the amount you drink, not the order of your drinks that cause a
hangover. - Taking aspirin or ibuprofen - if taken before drinking, aspirin has been shown to increase the levels of
alcohol in your blood by 26%. Taking ibuprofen while drinking may increase the chance of side effects
such as bleeding in the stomach or intestine. - Taking Paracetamol – this can be very dangerous as the toxic dose is very close to the prescribed dose.
After consuming alcohol it is very easy to forget how much Paracetamol has been taken.
For more information see:
