Have a hangover? Try H2O

Go easy on the liquor and drink in more water for a headache-free festive season

Eisha Sarkar
Posted on Times Wellness on Thursday, December 24, 2009

It's a rare occasion when Christmas comes on a Friday. And there's no better reason to party hard and long through the weekend. After all, you've been waiting for months to let your hair down. Out go calorie-counters and clocks, in come the Santa caps and wine dispensers. But hey, go easy on the liquor this time. We don't want to be wet blankets but there's nothing that kills the festive spirit more than a terrible hangover the morning after. And if you've downed too many already, we'll tell you how to deal with it:


1. Drink, drink, drink: Now, before you get any ideas, We're talking water here. Staying hydrated is critically important to combat the dehydration symptoms the alcohol has left behind.
2. Eat carbs: Complex carbohydrates such toast, cereal, bread and crackers help absorb the alcohol, boost your blood sugar, and settle your stomach.
3. Have fruit: Have food or drinks that contain fructose to help you burn the alcohol faster. Eating fruits and drinking fruit juice might make you feel better. A 1976 study suggests, however, that while fructose eases the metabolic effects of alcohol, it might not ease the symptoms of a hangover.
4. Don't pop a pain reliever: Be careful when taking a pain reliever for a headache. Aspirin can irritate your stomach further. Acetaminophen (found in Tylenol, Excedrin and many other OTC pain relievers) can cause liver damage when it interacts with alcohol in your system. Avoid it. And never take pills with alcohol.
5. Alternative therapy: The homeopathic remedy Nux Vomica has been associated with hangover relief.
6. Stock up on vitamins: Before going to sleep, drink a lot of water and take 1-2 multi-vitamins. The water eases the dehydration and the vitamins replace many of the vital nutrients lost during the dehydration process. Some studies have found large doses of Vitamin B6 (several hundred times the recommended daily intake) can help to reduce hangovers.
7. Don't stay in bed: It is better if you take a walk to help your system metabolise the alcohol. Exercise is actually best. Take a hot steamy bath so that you can sweat it out and release the toxins.
8. Caffeine cure: Drink a cup of coffee. The caffeine in coffee will help reduce your swollen blood vessels. Inflammation of the blood vessels is the cause of hangover.
9. Sweet remedy: Honey will help you breakdown the alcohol and speed its metabolism.
10. Cola's good too: To help get rid of the nausea, one thing you can do is to drink cola. Do not believe on the treatment of drinking the same thing that you drank the night before because this will only let the hangover come back late on the day.

While these steps help unpleasant symptoms go away faster, there are really only two true cures for a hangover - abstinence and time.

Go easy on the booze
Having a good time doesn't mean you have to flood your blood with alcohol, right? Like all ailments, prevention is better than cure here too. If your friends egg you on, stand your ground. These handy hints can save you from a hangover

• Eat something hearty before or during your drinking session. This slows your alcohol absorption and provide some nutrients.
• Limit your consumption of congeners. Darker liquors tend to contain more congeners than lighter and clear liquors. Congeners are chemicals produced during the fermentation process and are toxic to us humans. This explains why a whiskey hangover is worse than a vodka's.
• Stick to one type of drink. If you start off by drinking Vodka, don’t change whisky or you run the risk of getting sick and suffering a bad hangover the next morning.
• Drink one glass of water between each alcoholic drink to keep yourself hydrated.
• After you’re done partying, stay up a few hours until the alcohol starts wearing off. This will give you time to re-hydrate, get little real food in your stomach, and ‘expel’ much of the poison you’ve ingested, making your sleep higher quality.

Even without treatment, a hangover should last no more than 24 hours. If you're still feeling bad after that, call a doctor. If you can't remember what happened while you were drinking, or if you get hangovers on a regular basis, you may have a drinking problem. Call your doctor to discuss treatment options.

What's a hangover?
A hangover or delayed alcohol-induced headache describes the sum of unpleasant physiological effects following heavy consumption of alcoholic beverages. The most common symptoms are headache, nausea, sensitivity to light and noise, lethargy, dysphoria, diarrhea and thirst.

Hypoglycemia, dehydration, acetaldehyde intoxication, and vitamin B12 deficiency are all probable causes of hangover symptoms.