New Year's Day Hangover Cures: Let's Get Scientific
Categories: Booze Hound, Drinking Rituals
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| Wikicommons/popculturegeek.com |
| The Hangover: Part II (of Your New Year's Celebration) |
Your body might be a temple, but praying to the porcelain gods for mercy never saved anyone. To deal with a hangover, one must turn to science.
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| Wikicommons/Roger McLassus |
A hangover is, for all intents and purposes, a medical condition. You're severely dehydrated, you've lost essential vitamins, minerals, and nutrients, and your body is processing and desperately trying to rid itself of some uncomfortable toxins.
An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, so hydrate properly, eat the right foods (greasy), and take a multi-vitamin before you down your first cocktail.
After, the best medicine isn't pain pills which will further thin your blood (Aspirin), irritate your stomach (Advil, aka ibuprofen), and tax your liver (Tylenol, aka acetaminophen). Caffeine or "hair of the dog" might make you feel better in the moment, but in the long run will only make your hangover worse. You've abused your body and you need to give it what it needs to heal itself. Let us break it down for you:
1. Hydration
This means water. Lots and lots and lots of water. More water than you thought you could drink. Now, don't guzzle it all at once. Water intoxication is a thing and can kill you. The key is to keep drinking water, slowly and steadily. This not only rehydrates you - because you probably failed to drink 8 oz. of water between every alcoholic beverage - but also helps the toxins being produced from the digestion of the alcohol get out of your body that much faster. And you want them out of your body. Sports drinks or chicken broth can also be helpful because they are full of electrolytes, but water is life. Drink a bottle before you go to bed and as soon as you wake up.
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