You might’ve toasted the holidays or partied the night with lots of bubbly or other choices of alcohol where you wake up the day after with a pounding headache, cottony feeling in your mouth and the contents of your stomach feels like it will soon defy gravity and spew out. Welcome to hangover hell.
If you’re searching online to find a ‘cure’ to your hangover, we hope that you’re sober enough to read this and we have bad news. There is no elixir to cure hangovers. Although there are commercial products out there that market themselves as hangover cures, experts have all agreed that there isn’t any medical proof that they work, as tested in a trial done in the UK in 2005.
However, on the brighter side of things, with better knowledge on hangovers, you’ll probably be more aware of your alcohol limit and stop before you hit your threshold.
What causes a hangover?
Besides the obvious reason of alcohol…perhaps, the more precise question would be, “What is it about consuming a lot of alcohol which causes a hangover?” Alcohol is a diuretic, meaning that it causes dehydration and irritation of the gastrointestinal tract, leading to nausea and dilation of blood vessels, which can cause the headaches associated with hangovers.
Hangover cures?
Some people might tell you to drink more to chase the hangover away, but that obviously does not work because you may just become more tipsy or drunk. Coffee is another popular beverage offered as a ‘cure’ due to the caffeine’s ability to relieve some symptoms but coffee is a diuretic as well, meaning that you may be further dehydrating your body and it does not reverse the effect of alcohol.
Some commercial ‘cures’ claim that one drink or one pill will prevent the effects of the hangover but as experts have found out, it’s either a placebo effect or there are electrolytes in the drink which treat the dehydration issue. Thus, you’re better off simply consuming an isotonic drink.
Nursing the hangover
If you’re already suffering from a hangover, what you can do is rehydrate your body by drinking isotonic drinks or coconut water. Eating and taking a shower will also help relieve some of the symptoms, making you feel better so that you can sleep it off and let your body do it’s natural detoxification.
Photo credits: Pixabay
