Many of us have experienced the horrible feeling known as a hangover after a night of consuming lots of alcohol. A hangover consists of feeling physically and psychologically irritable and nauseous, and can include muscle aches, fatigue, and photophobia. Depending on how much alcohol was consumed a hangover can last anywhere from a few hours to a couple days. The good news about hangovers though is that there are lots of things you can do in order to get over a hangover fast.
The first thing you should do after you wake up with a hangover is to consume lots of water or juice. Heavy alcohol consumption causes your body to become very dehydrated and this dehydration is a huge part of what makes your hangover feel horrible. It can also be helpful to drink sports drinks to rehydrate as they contain minerals and electrolytes that will help your body to recover. It’s important to remember to stay away from beverages that have caffeine in them like coffee, cola, or energy drinks during a hangover. The caffeine acts as a diuretic which will ultimately worsen your hangover as caffeine will further dehydrate the body.
After drinking lots of fluids eat some sugar or honey. You can mix this in with water or some milk. This will help your body to start metabolism and raise your blood sugar. Much of the irritability associated with a hangover is the result of low blood sugar. By eating sugar or honey you help to jump-start metabolism. It’s important though that after this you should eat some actual food. Make sure to eat small amounts of food as eating too much at once could cause you to become even more nauseous.
The best foods to help you get over a hangover are bacon, cheese, or eggs. The reason these foods are particularly good to consume is because they are rich with an amino acid called cysteine. Cysteine is beneficial because it is used by your body for the production of the antioxidant glutathione. Glutathione plays a big part to help your body get over a hangover, because it works to detoxify your system of alcohol and it’s harmful metabolites.
The best way to get over a hangover though is ultimately to avoid it in the first place. The most obvious way to do this is not to drink excessive amounts of alcohol, but there are also a few other things you can do. I find that taking a multi-vitamin before going out to drink goes a long way to help you feel better the next morning. Make sure to eat something before going out drinking, and don’t drink on an empty stomach. Also make sure to drink lots of water after drinking right before you go to bed. This will help your body to rehydrate and will help lessen the chance of a bad hangover the next morning.
Finally, remember how horrible it feels to have a hangover, and keep that in mind so next time you can better regulate how much you drink and prevent a hangover from happening in the first place.
