Holiday Hangovers and How to Fix Them

The holiday season is upon us and it’s that time of year where most of us overindulge at least a little. It’s a Friday night, you are celebrating with friends and family and you might have a few too many drinks – we’ve all been there.

The next day is a very different story though, you are now suffering from a classic holiday hangover. Hangovers are a problem of vast proportions and by one estimate, hangovers cost $160 billion in lost revenue every year in the US alone.

So what exactly happens to your body when you drink too much? The effects of alcohol are highly dependent on how much you drink and how quickly. Your drink travels to your stomach and very quickly gets absorbed into your bloodstream and transmitted throughout the body, leaving you feeling happy and possibly a bit silly. In the meantime your liver is doing all of the heavy lifting.

Your liver detoxifies and removes alcohol from the blood through a process known as oxidation. But when you’ve had a touch too much alcohol for your liver to process quickly, the alcohol begins to take its toll on your body, leaving you under the weather the next day. The good news is that fatty liver build up is usually completely reversible in about four to six weeks if you completely abstain from alcohol, but unfortunately that won’t help you with today’s hangover.

Interestingly enough in the past five or six years, a small group of researchers have dedicated themselves to the hangover, peering into both its causes and the truth of so-called hangover cures. They’ve even made some progress on a few cures of their own. In 2009 a Dutch researcher named Joris Verster got the world’s hangover researchers together for an informal meeting. They dubbed themselves the Alcohol Hangover Research Group and they have some great tips to help you recover this festive season that I thought I would share with you here.

how much you drink

The easiest way to skip the hideous hangover is simple – reduce your alcohol intake. Both the intensity and number of hangover symptoms increase with the amount of alcohol you consume. Interestingly, studies have found that you must reach a peak blood alcohol concentration of –% to develop a hangover. Of course there are many factors, including body weight, gender, when you last ate, what type of alcohol you drink and how long you spend drinking, that can affect your blood alcohol concentration. So know your limits and keep an eye on how much you are drinking to avoid those hangover blues.

2. Eat a hearty breakfast

This brings me to my second point – breakfast. As we all know, breakfast is the most important meal of the day , and so it goes without saying that if you plan on drinking, treat yourself to a good breakfast at the beginning of the day. One reason is that a good breakfast can help maintain your blood sugar levels. Low blood sugar could also contribute to some hangover symptoms, such as nausea, fatigue and weakness . In addition to helping reduce certain hangover symptoms, eating a healthy breakfast can provide important vitamins and minerals, which may become depleted with excessive alcohol intake. Make sure you have started your day off correctly before heading off to your festive fun.

3. Stay hydrated

We all know this one! Drink your water. Drinking alcohol can lead to dehydration in a few different ways. Alcohol has a diuretic effect. This means an increase in the loss of fluids and electrolytes that are needed for normal functioning. Although dehydration is not the only cause of a hangover, it contributes to many of its symptoms, such as increased thirst, fatigue, headache and dizziness. Increasing your water intake may help take the edge off of some of hangover symptoms and even prevent them altogether.

4. Avoid drink with congeners

I found this one super interesting. Congeners are toxic chemical by-products that are also formed in small amounts during the fermentation process, and it turns out that different types of alcohol have different amounts of congeners in them. Congeners increase the frequency and severity of a hangover and may also slow the metabolism of alcohol and cause your hangover to last for longer. Drinks that are low in congeners include vodka, gin and rum, with vodka containing almost no congeners at all. Meanwhile, tequila, whiskey and cognac are all high in congeners, with bourbon whiskey containing the highest amount. So stick to a vodka tonic or try my delicious gin and rooibos ice tea cocktail rather than hitting the tequila.

5. Get up and go

There’s no sense in wallowing in your suffering all day – it won’t chase your hangover away any faster. Rather distract yourself and get up and do something. Exercise is an excellent choice as it not only distracts you from thinking about your hangover but will also help your body to process out all the nasties a bit faster. If you can’t stomach the thought of exercise try watching a film or reading a book – anything that will take your mind off the hangover.

No matter how you choose to celebrate your festive season this year, whether it’s with champagne on New Year’s Eve or a brandy at Christmas, I hope you have a wonderful and happy holiday season.