Everything You Must Know About Hangover

New Year is one of my favorite holidays of the year. The elegant evening dresses, Champaign sparkling in crystal glasses, delicacies on the table, multicolored confetti, laughter, smiles, presents… But there is one detail that can ruin the holiday spirit on the 1st of January – hangover. So how can you avoid the body aches, feeling fatigue and irritated the next morning?

Let’s start off by defining what a hangover is. Hangover is a sum of unpleasant physiological effects following heavy consumption of alcoholic beverages. Not a lot of people know that bowel produces its own alcohol, which is created as a result of biochemical process of food fermentation. When we increase the amount of alcohol in our system, the liver is not capable of filtering all of it and the excess amount that gets through the “liver barrier” slows down the reactions of nervous system. As a result we feel like a Superman, we lose our orientation in space and coordination of movements. We feel buzzed which inevitably leads to hangover. Our body can not cope with the abundance of alcohol in the blood which leads to intoxication or poisoning.

Hangover usually involves one or more of the following: headache, upset stomach, nausea, diarrhea, weakness, shivering, thirst, fatigue, elevated body temperature, difficulty concentrating, irritation and just feeling miserable overall. So why do we feel like this? The most common reason is mixing various drinks together. Wine chased with vodka and topped with beer usually leads to your stomach’s protest. If you have to mix drinks then at least follow the good old rule of increasing the alcohol’s proof or in other words if you are switching to a different drink then make sure it’s a stronger one. The worst hangover usually happens after drinking excess amount of cognac, whiskey, brandy, champaign and sparkling wines. Strong headache can be caused by red wines in big amounts. Good quality vodka or light white wines in moderate amounts as a rule do not lead to hangover. The reason different drinks have different effects on your body has to do with the so called congeners, which are the impurities of the fermentation process or additives to improve the taste. As a rule, darker drinks such as red wine and whiskey have higher levels of congeners than the light-colored drinks such as white wine or vodka. The more congeners there are, the worse the hangover in the morning.

There are various factors for hangover’s symptoms. The first factor is withdrawal which comes with shivering and sweating. The second one is dehydration. Alcohol interferes with the production of the hormone that restrains urination causing us to pee more often than usual. The resulting dehydration leads to feeling thirsty and weak. Abundance of alcohol may also be causing low level of blood sugar, which results in light-headedness and muscle weakness. While all of this is going on, in order to break down the alcohol, our body is also trying to produce chemicals, which sometimes could be more dangerous than the consumed alcohol, and this is what causes us to feel nauseated. Alcohol also causes inflammation in our body, which triggers the white blood cells to release molecules called cytokins into our bloodstream. These molecules are the source of pains and discomfort when we catch a cold. The purpose of them is to make us stay in bed and get rest so that our body had the energy to fight the virus.

In order to avoid hangover in the morning, one should learn the rules of drinking right. This science is actually taught as a whole separate course at diplomat schools. The teachers of this course recommend taking a spoon of butter or vegetable oil an hour before drinking, which will slow down the process of getting drunk. A raw egg is an alternative to butter or oil. Red caviar is also known to neutralize the alcohol. Cabbage is an excellent option, especially the sauerkraut. It has a high amount of potassium, which prevents the hangover depression and gets rid of the harmful toxins. Fried potatoes with mushrooms is also a great absorbent. There are foods that are forbidden to be consumed with alcohol, vodka should never be followed by lamb, boiled fish or cheese. These foods worsen the assimilation of alcohol. Under no circumstances should you ever chase alcohol with tea, water or especially sparkling drinks, which accelerate the absorption of alcohol into blood and increase the intoxication.

There are a lot of pills sold at the pharmacy to help cure hangover. Usually they act as absorbents that are absorbed into blood and neutralize the effect of alcohol. But you can also make the remedy yourself. Before sitting down at the holiday table, take 2 pills of aspirin and 3 pills of ascorbic acid, grind them thoroughly together, add a pinch of baking soda and mix it all in a glass of warm water. Put the glass by your bed. If you feel hung over in the morning, drink the mixture.

Doctors recommend curing the hangover with mint tincture (20 drops for a glass of cold water), it cures the headache and heaviness in your stomach. Mineral water has a great effect as well. Different nations have their own remedies – the Russians use the pickled juice; the French prefer the garlic soup – take a piece of French bread, chop up garlic into fine pieces, fill it up with boiled water and let it sit for a while; the Japanese use the gauze mask saturated in sake, the American cowboys prefer the national drink Coca Cola. However, the Mongolians have invented the most original cure. Into a glass of tomato juice they add up finely chopped and dried out… sheep eyes and drink it all in one gulp.

These are just some ideas on remedies to help cure hangover, not all of them will work for everyone, so, try one of the ones mentioned here and if it doesn't help go on to the next one, until you find the perfect one for you. So go out there and enjoy your drinking... but as everyone always says... be safe doing it.