Planning a night out for a few drinks this weekend...or even tonight? Linda has a few tips on how you can make the ‘morning after the night before’ a little more bearable...
If you’re planning on binge drinking this weekend, this might make you want to rethink your decision. Getting on the turps will not only harm your liver and kidneys, but it can also leave you with damaged pride and a really nasty hangover. But I guess you know all of that so I won’t give you another lecture on the evils of alcohol.
But if you or your mates are still keen to go ahead and get plastered, here are a few tips to make the ‘morning after the night before’ a little more bearable.
First of all there is no such thing as a perfect hangover cure. This is because researchers disagree on why we even get hangovers in the first place. Therefore, home remedies are based on educated guesses rather than the proof of science.
However, the most popular hangover cure of all time is the good old fashioned fry-up of bacon and eggs. But did you know that eating fried eggs might actually have an actual scientific benefit. Eggs are rich in the chemical cysteine, and the liver uses cysteine when it processes or metabolises alcohol. So by increasing the amount of cysteine in your body you’re actually metabolising the alcohol more efficiently.
One nasty hangover symptom is ‘morning-after grogginess’. This occurs because alcohol alters the flow of electrolytes ions through your brain cells, slowing the speed at which neurons fire. And the shakiness and feeling of weakness following a night of drinking is caused by alcohol causing the body's store of blood sugar to be depleted. The liver normally stores sugar as glycogen, but the effect of the alcohol breaks it down to glucose, which is then lost with urine. So before your big night out head to the supermarket and stock up on electrolyte drinks and lollies!
Another hangover remedy is to drink loads of water. Alcohol suppresses the production of a hormone that normally keeps the body's fluid reserves in balance by ordering the kidneys to reabsorb water from urine. But without that hormone to help re-hydrate, kidneys begin to steal water from other organs such as the brain, which shrink as a result. It's that shrinking of the brain that sometimes causes those massive headaches.
So, while it might seem a little ironic, after drinking too much, the best remedy appears to be drinking more before going to bed...just make sure it's water this time!
Planning a night out for a few drinks this weekend...or even tonight? Linda has a few tips on how you can make the ‘morning after the night before’ a little more bearable...