By: Chad Melius
Based on an article by Avery at ilovewine.com
Have you ever awakened after an evening of wine drinking with a horrible dizzy feeling? Perhaps you regret not being a bit more perspicacious the night before. You may not know exactly how your body became so painful, but you certainly know what you did wrong. The wine tasted too good; you were having too good a time; and the party went on for too long.
So what do you do about it? The first “hangover cure” in recorded history was prescribed by an unknown doctor in ancient Assyria. He said to make a potion using ground bird beaks and myrrh. In light of modern science, this would actually exacerbate the problem, but it shows that overindulgence in wine has been around for a while.
What is a hangover?
Basically, a hangover is caused by the alcohol in the wine. Ethanol is the least poisonous of the alcohol compounds. All the others – methanol ( wood alcohol ) for example – are extremely toxic. As you know, the severity of a hangover depends on a person’s ability to metabolize the poison. This depends on their weight, and their past experience at drinking ( tolerance ).
Ethanol enlarges the blood vessels. This in turn causes (1) a disorientation or tipsy effect, (2) a greater excretion of fluids, and therefore (3) dehydration. When you stop drinking, the blood vessels contract again, causing pain due to the increased blood pressure — a hangover.
How can I prevent a hangover?
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Of course, it is always better to try to avoid trouble ahead of time, rather than to try to ameliorate it later. Once your liver is damaged, not much can be done to patch it up quickly. You’ll just have to find ways to exacerbate the pain. Here are some things that might help, and some that won’t:
1. Don’t drink too much. This will certainly help most people, but there are some people who are so sensitive to alcohol that it means they shouldn’t drink at all.
2. Dilute the wine. My doctor recommended that I mix my wine with club soda. That way, I can be sociable without getting drunk and without suffering a hangover the next morning. It works! An alternative for people who don’t want to tamper with the wine is to have a glass of water or soda in between each glass of wine
3. Choose a quality wine. Instead of buying the cheapest wine in the store, consider getting a good wine instead. That way just a few sips may assuage your desire, and you’ll avoid gulping it down.
4. Eat when you drink. This will help your liver by diluting the ethanol, to prevent it from a full frontal attack. But you should avoid sweets since they will increase the damage done by alcohol.
5. Take herbal remedies. Although alternative medicine is not recommended by most doctors, it really does work for some people. So why not give it a try? – it can’t hurt anything. Take some before drinking, and it can also help reduce the hangover after. Prickly pear cactus helps reduce nausea and dry mouth. And milk thistle is good for your liver.
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How can I treat a hangover?
OK, it’s too late to prevent the hangover. Here’s some ideas on how to get through it:
1. Hair of the dog. Drinking some more will surely reduce the headache and jitters. But it not only prolongs the inevitable – it increases your dehydration.
2. Eat a big breakfast. This helps. Just avoid carbohydrates, such as sugar and pastries, since they are bad for your sensitive liver.
3. Drink lots of water. You need this to counteract the dehydrating effect of the ethanol. Don’t hold back – more than a quart is necessary for most people.
4. Take a cold shower. I know this sounds horrible, but the cold water will help to lower your blood pressure.
5. Exercise. This will increase your endorphin level ( reduce the pain ). If you’re not a member of a gym, just go for a brisk walk, or even do pushups at home.
6. Drink coffee. Basically, a cup of coffee can raise your morale, but too much of it is bad, since it retricts the blood vessels and raises your blood pressure. And definitely drink it black!
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7. Take a nap. If you can get to sleep, this is probably the best cure of all. You can sleep off part of your hangover – let your natural bodily functions go to work while you avoid the pain.
Conclusion
Our best advice about hangovers is moderation. “Too much of a good thing” is true, but you shouldn’t quit altogether – that’s being extreme also, but in the wrong direction. Just be careful about overdoing it.
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