With a birthday coming up this week, I’ve decided that I should take a look at Hangover cures because yes, I will be getting hooned on my birthday.
Now let’s get to the basics:
Alcohol helps to speed up the loss of water in the body, aka a diuretic, which causes us to have hangovers and to break the seal, aka to go to toilet really early on and then having to pee all the time after that. But also from our bodies trying to get rid of the alcohol, it uses up a lot of energy leaving us with a horrible night’s sleep (or passed out night’s sleep).
Add this, and the fact that we’re really dehydrated already and we have the makings of a hangover.
Women have been advised not to drink more than 2-3 units a day and men 3-4 units a day according to NHS Livewell. They also say that to avoid a hangover you shouldn’t go over this limit and that you should know how much your body can handle alcohol before drinking it.
However, if a single 25ml on a spirit is 1 unit then on average a student, male or female, would go over their recommended unit by at least four times (if they wanted a good night out anyway).
When you wake up in the morning you have:
1. A spinning room – or wherever you’ve woken up, this could be a spinning person, floor, pool of sick etc.
2. A banging headache,
3. Churning stomach,
4. Horrible taste in our mouths,
5. Tired,
6. Weak
7. And a definite lack of concentration – if you’re in a seminar or lecture anyway
As much as this is a biology lesson it’s also a lesson in saying that, yes, there are some ways of treating this so when you do go out before a lecture or an important seminar there are steps you can take to stop this being like ‘the time where you couldn’t even move’ hangover.
Step one.
Have a big meal like a McDonalds or a takeaway or pasta. Drinking on an empty stomach is a no-no (even though we’ve all done it more than twice). Eat something heavy as it will help fill and line your stomach making you want to drink less.
Have a glass of milk too, if you can. This will help line your stomach and throat.
Step Two.
Take your time drinking. You don’t have to down a drink as soon as you get it.
Common sense people, we all have it (somewhere).
From a BBC article on hangovers, it says not to drink fizzy drinks but let’s face it, we’re at university that’s a given you’re going to have your vodka with cokes or archers and lemonade. However, fizzy drinks let the alcohol seep into your bloodstream quicker so I’ll leave you with that to ponder on next time you order that Jack Daniels and coke.
Step Three.
You've danced, you've jived, you've broken the seal and you've possibly snogged some random person that you'll never see again but you've had a good night!
It's time to snack into that kebab and go to sleep... Think again! Put down that kebab it only makes things worse.
Get some fresh air - this will help clear your head. So maybe walking home will both save you money and sober you up. Brilliant!
Next, you need to soak up the alcohol already in your system and by eating anything from pizza to bread/toast (anything starchy) will help do this.
Plus, don’t forget the pint or two of water. Drink as much as you can but at least a pint before you go to bed. This will help eliminate the horrible taste in your mouth in the morning and hopefully the headache.
Another good idea is to have some vitamin C - it will help speed up your metabolism so the alcohol will leave your system quicker.
Had some water? Orange juice? Right, collapse on your bed in a heap and sleep, probably try to get changed into your PJ’s too if you can.
Step Four.
Now the step four is a mixture of all types of hangover cures.
this has been given by random people and if you are a Twitter fan then you're in luck because I'll be looking at each of these different cures and trying them out over the next couple of weeks.
You've woken up, still not feeling the best but you've felt worse... you've checked your alarm and you've got university in an hour. How do you make sure that you'll feel and look even better than you do now?
Drink more water. You're still dehydrated so it's best if you have some water by you all day (not caffeine, it dehydrates you even more because it’s a diuretic too).
You have a couple of choices. Since you've lost a lot of water in your system you've also lost quite a bit of vitamins and minerals your body needs to feel better so, you could have:
· Some Berrocca - to replenish all you've lost, obviously not all of it but it will help you feel better - just try not to puke everywhere because it tastes bad.
· Fizzy drink or a sports drink to give you that 'kick' that you need to actually get up and shower
· Bananas will help put some potassium in your system
· A milkshake - but make it a super healthy one.
· Some more vitamin C, remember it takes 11 hours for alcohol to fully leave your system and if you've only had five-eight hours sleep, you've still got a while to go
· A classic - fry up. It just works.
· But here's the worst one - salty water. Apparently your 'poisoned' system will rehydrate if you take a glass of this horrible water since its isotonic. But it's definitely up to you on how brave you’re feeling.
Step Five.
Shower, get ready, get out.
Head off to uni still feeling ill but better than you did before.
And there you have it!
Five steps to the cures of having a hangover from a great night.
Now, if you want to see me tweet all the horrible cures, like the salty water, be sure to check out my tweets :)
I'll '#' it: #hangovercures.
Survival of a University Student =)
