Drinking an excessive amount of alcohol can cause you to feel hangover symptoms a few hours later. This can include a headache, tipsy mindset or feeling nauseated. Hangovers are caused by consuming a great deal of alcohol at one time. The amount of alcohol it takes to produce a hangover will be dependent on your personal tolerance. Your weight, genetics and height can all play a role in determining this. This means that general rules determining how much you should drink to avoid a hangover may not necessarily be helpful. Hangover remedies can help you better manage your symptoms throughout the day after a long night of drinking.
Hangover Remedies
1. Get Enough Sleep
Sleeping will give your body a chance to recover. Make a point of avoiding regular activities throughout the day and getting the rest you need to help get yourself back on your feet.
2. Drink Fluids
Drinking alcohol can make you dehydrated so it is important to get plenty of fluids to help replenish your symptoms. Avoid caffeine as this can also help dehydrate your system. Stick with water or fruit and vegetable juice. Juices with vitamin C can also be helpful to ease a hangover. Sports drinks are a good choice as well because they can help you replenish your electrolytes as well as glucose.
3. Eat Proper Foods
Eating proper foods is one of the hangover remedies that can be of great help. Once you can, it is important to eat foods that are high in carbs and protein. This will help settle your system and provide you with energy so you can get moving and shake your symptoms. Foods high in vitamins and minerals can also help you replace the nutrients that were depleted from your system during your night of drinking.
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Food to Try |
How It Helps |
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Bananas |
Bananas are high in potassium which can help replace the stores that were depleted from your body while you were drinking. Eating these can help you feel more alert and give you more energy. |
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Tomatoes |
Tomatoes contain plenty of vitamins and minerals as well as enzymes which will help replace the fructose that was depleted from your system while drinking. Drinking tomato juice with a touch of sugar, lime and cayenne pepper is a common hangover remedy. |
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Ginger Root |
Ginger root is commonly used for nausea. Drinking ginger ale or brewing ginger tea can help you get your stomach feeling better. To make ginger tea, you can cut a few slices of ginger root that are fresh and boil them in 4 cups of hot water. Strain and add the juice of half a lemon, the juice of an orange or and a cup of honey and consume as necessary. |
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Honey and Lemon |
Drinking honey and hot water can help get fructose into your system, boosting your metabolism. Keeping your metabolism stead can also help you avoid the rapid change in alcohol levels that can cause you to develop a hangover. You can also make a hot toddy with by boiling a cup of water with hone and lemon juice to get similar effects. |
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Soup, Rice or Toast |
You may not feel like eating when you are hung over, but it is important to try to get some nourishment into your system so you can boost your energy. Start out eating clear liquids or foods like toast that are easy to digest and work your way back to eating normally. |
4. Take a Shower or a Bath
Taking a hot shower or bath can help you rid your body of the toxins that are causing your hangover, thus making it one of the effective hangover remedies. Much of the body's toxic waste is released through the skin. Soaking in the tub or taking a hot shower can help draw out these substances, helping you feel better. Adding a few spoonfuls of wasabi to your bath can increase this process.
5. Apply an Ice Compress
Applying an ice pack or cold compress to the head can help relieve the headache associated with hangovers. Just be sure to avoid placing ice directly on the skin as this can cause damage.
6. Avoid Certain Things
Concerning hangover remedies, there are things that you should avoid if you do not want to worsen the symptoms. Following are some things to avoid when you are hung over:
- Another morning drink: Sipping a Bloody Mary or similar drink is commonly recommended to cure a hangover. However, this is actually just prolonging your symptoms. If you continue to drink alcohol when you are already hung over you are not giving your body a chance to recover from its exposure to these toxins, increasing your risk of additional symptoms.
- Greasy Breakfast: Greasy foods can be hard to digest, making it harder for your system to right itself. Stick with foods that are bland and easy to digest, so your body can get the nutrition it needs without strain.
- Alka-Seltzer: These medications contain sodium bicarbonate which will help neutralize excessive stomach acid. However, additional ingredients in the tablets like citric acid or aspirin can make your stomachache worse.
- Ibuprofen or Aspirin: Taking painkillers to ease your headache may seem like a simple solution, but if you tend to drink heavily on a regular basis you may have damaged the lining of your stomach. Taking painkillers can damage this exposed tissue and could cause bleeding. Stick to acetaminophen instead of aspirin or ibuprofen to reduce this risk.
- Hangover Pills: There are plenty of pills that claim they will magically cure your hangover. However, most of them are either scams or are significantly overpriced. Instead of counting on these so-called cure all's, stick with taking a regular multivitamin. This will allow you to replace the nutrients that you lost during your night out without the expensive price tag.
- Coffee: Sipping a cup of coffee after a night of drinking may seem like a normal part of your routine, but the caffeine in coffee can raise your blood pressure. This can make a headache worse. Start with a very small cup of coffee to see how you feel before indulging in your normal large sized cup.
- Exercise: If you have been drinking you are probably dehydrated. Exercising when you do not have proper hydration or nutrition in your system can make your symptoms worse. Try to rest until you are feeling better rather than exerting yourself.
- Sauna: While taking a warm shower or bath can help you with your detox, a sauna can be a bit too warm. This can cause your blood flow to change, disrupting your cycle and making it difficult for your body to recover. Avoid any activities like these that can cause excessive sweating throughout the day.
Learn About Prevention
While hangover remedies can be effective in relieving the symptoms, it is best that you can prevent it from happening in the first place. In order to avoid a hangover, limit your drinking to one alcoholic beverage every hour. This will give your body time to metabolize the alcohol so you do not become overwhelmed. Eat before you go out drinking and follow each alcoholic beverage with a glass of water to help keep your body stable.