How To Avoid A Hangover on 1/1/11
Let’s face it, most of us will follow this pattern tonight:
- Happy New Year!
- Sip champagne/wine/drink/shot
- (Lather, rinse, repeat)
Start off 2011 on a headache-free note by following the hangover redux tips below. Happy New Year!
1. Champagne is obviously a must on Friday night—and mixers will also likely abound. Are there certain types of alcohol that are more prone to result in hangovers?
Alcoholic beverages that use sulfite as preserving agents, such as most wines and beers, may produce a worse hangover for most people. Sulfites are largely present in wine to protect from oxidation, which is also known to cause bad hangovers. Many drinks produce “congeners,” which are toxic metabolic byproducts that are distributed throughout your system as your liver breaks down the alcohol. Though congeners are not the sole cause of a hangover, they definitely play a part in production of a hangover. More expensive drinks tend to have less congeners because they go through a more intensive distillation process. Darker-colored drinks like wine, whiskey, and brandy have more congeners, so these drinks will probably produce a worse hangover, while lighter drinks such as vodka, gin, and white wine have less.
2. Vodka it is! Any advice on what you should eat before a night of hard partying to adequately prepare your body?
Eating regular meals throughout the day is more important than trying to consume a last-minute high-carb dinner right before you go out. Having a normal amount of food in your system will definitely help slow down the absorption of alcohol.
3. What if you’re planning a Veuve Clicquot-only type of evening? Can carbonation or bubbliness increase or decrease the prospect for a raging headache the next day?
It actually has no effect whatsoever. The reason that people tend to complain about hangovers (especially headaches) the day after drinking Champagne is because it is high in sulfites, again, to prevent oxidation.
4. So it sounds like sulfites are the big enemy here. What about dehydration and dreaded cotton mouth?
It is very important to drink a lot of fluids the day before, the day of, and in between drinks when drinking. Drinking small amounts of vodka with a high water content will also likely reduce a hangover—try a vodka and water with lime or a vodka and cranberry juice. If you don’t stay hydrated while drinking, you will almost definitely wake up with a pounding headache that could last the whole day. Not fun and pretty easy to avoid. When you get home from a night of drinking, you should also consider drinking a bottle of water before going to sleep. If you have only had a couple of drinks, take a Tylenol.
5. Do you have a fail-safe plan for the “morning after”? Any truth to the “hair of the dog” mentality?
I can’t recommend it enough—water, water, water. Even if you have to force yourself to drink it, dehydration is the biggest cause of the hangover and it is the best way to get your body back on track and to start feeling better. Also, an Alka-Seltzer is a great cure for the headaches and fatigue that tend to accompany the hangover, and supplements such as magnesium can help replace the magnesium depleted from your body while it processed the alcohol. Besides what you can consume to feel better, exercising is also a way to get the alcohol out of your system and feel more energized.
As far as “hair of the dog” goes, that’s just going to put off the hangover more than cure it. Some people may swear by it, but I wouldn’t advocate it. Instead, cure your hangover the old-fashioned way: water, a Tylenol, and a good, long run in the fresh air. Drinking the morning after a night out is just going to put more toxins in your body and wear you out.
Referenced article HERE.
