How to prevent a Hangover

A pound of pain for an ounce of pleasure

There you were, enjoying the party. After a few drinks you are feeling the buzz. You are feeling loose and relaxed, enjoying the tunes and the alcohol induced attention of all the pretty ladies in the room. But that was last night.

All too often we find ourselves having overdone it at some social event. Now we pay the price of our satisfaction and face a day of "ice pick in the eye" pain. Though, with a little thought and preparation, this need not be the case. There are some very basic rules for avoiding a hangover.

Do not drink booze; Thinking we have to be intoxicated to loosen up is a mistake and a cry for mental help
Do not mix your drinks; Alcohol and sugar only go together on the tongue. The rest of your body finds this mixture to be rather toxic. This is the primary cause of hangovers (damn coolers)
Do not drink cheap wine; Not only do we not want to suffer the social ramifications of drinking cheap wine, we certainly do not want the wicked cruel hangover in the morning. Make sure whatever wine you drink is not "gassy" or "fizzy" and is served at the appropriate temperature
Do drink lots of water; As crazy as it sounds, a hangover is nothing more than being dehydrated. You can literally drink yourself dry. Though you will find you are making more trips to the bathroom, I suggest drink a glass of water for every alcoholic drink you have, including beer

With these basic rules, you should avoid most hangovers. Of course if you are getting stupid, puking, fall down drunk, chances are you may forget a few of these protocols. To help treat a hangover, drink lots of water, eat eggs, and don't fight throwing up. Your body will try to get rid of all the toxic alcohol in your system, better just let it do its thing.

Scott

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hubber-2009 says:
12 months ago

very good tips.. hope you might have shared your experience.. LOL...

Tom Rubenoff says:
12 months ago

Personally I like a 20-mile bike ride in freezing rain. After the first few miles, the hangover does not seem so bad.

Trsmd says:
12 months ago

Thanks Scott Mandrake for posting this page for my Request..

Knowingest J. Drawbridges says:
11 months ago

Scott,

All things in moderation, #1 is wrong, because you can drink and not get a hangover. Just do not take things to excess.

#2, What? What does alcohol and sugar have to do with mixing drinks? Many (if not all) alcoholic drinks have sugar in them ... in the bottle... how are you supposed to avoid that? Even a dry wine has some sugar in it.

#3, How can you believe that the quality of the alcohol will affect the severity of being dehydrated, since you state:

#4 "a hangover is nothing more than being dehydrated." Admittedly dehydration is a factor in exacerbating the misery of a hangover, saying it is nothing more, is just plain wrong, there is MUCH MORE complexity to a hangover.

When grain alcohol or "Ethanol" is broken down by enzymes from the liver the products are 10 to 30 times more toxic than alcohol itself.

Next time you want to give advice, do some research first, if you'd have bothered to check wikipedia (not the be-all end-all of information but a popular starting point) you would have found more information.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hangover

I'm looking forward to your response, hopefully this hub was not articulated properly and there was a gross misunderstanding on my part.

Scott Mandrake says:
11 months ago

When I mention mixing drinks, I refer to the addition of various soda/pop such as Pepsi or coke to your whiskey, rye, etc. When you add large amounts of sugar to your drinks, or in the case of many coolers which come already premixed, the effects of a hangover are increased exponentially. As I am sure many have found this to be true by experience, I did not feel the need to overburden my audience with a lesson in bio-chemistry.

As for "a hangover is nothing more than being dehydrated." This hub, though not being entirely accurate as you pointed out, is geared towards general understanding of the effects of toxicity brought upon by excessive alcohol consumption and how to prevent them. Be assured, if I were answering a request such as "what exactly is a hangover?" the details of said hub would be in much greater detail.

I appreciate the expectations you have developed of me Knowingest. Please keep it up as I find having a personal editor conducive to my study of human interaction :)

Scott

Knowingest J. Drawbridges says:
11 months ago

And what of those who mix with diet soda?

I submit that the acidity of soda speeds the absorption of the drink in the digestive tract, and that is what exacerbates a hangover.

Here we go again Scott, chastising me for operating in the boundaries that you yourself set. The original question was"How to prevent Hangover?", then you tell me we have to understand a hangover to better prevent it ... then you tell me that a hub defining a hangover is would be too long.

I think that your points are half valid, like you're almost there IMO. If I were to edit those points just a little ... this is what would make me happy. Since I am now your personal editor.

1) abstinence : the surest way to not get a hangover is to not drink, however, if you don't over do it you can enjoy a drink or two with out paying the penalties: Try the one drink per hour rule.

2) don't mix your drinks : stick to one kind of alcohol, different kinds of alcohol have subtly different effects and stacked against you they can add up, to no good.

3) avoid cheep booze : yup, *you should write a hub on wine*. cheap anything is not great ... like a nice steak is good but expensive ... compared to McD's ... cheap and if you can keep it down it just wrecks up the other end :-\

4) drink lots of water : definitely. while keeping you hydrated it has many other benefits: like Alcohol is hygroscopic it's going to bind up some of your water, simple dilution, alcohol is a diuretic (makes you pee, not just from having excess fluids in the system) and you are replacing that loose there.

To elaborate on #4 having some food in your stomach is a good idea, if you feel full you are less likely to guzzle that drink. The food will act as a kind of inhibitor, slowing the direct absorption of alcohol like in an empty stomach.

My final thought is :your #1 comment was "Thinking we have to be intoxicated to loosen up is a mistake and a cry for mental help", I could not agree more.

If you (the proverbial you) drink for the express purpose of "getting smashed", then you have earned your hangover and should suffer it.