Everything you need to know about a hangover (and its remedies)

What to eat and drink when you have a hangover? Is there any scientific remedy? Is it recommended to train? We review the most common remedies and the myths to banish.

Popular wisdom says that after happy nights you wake up with sad mornings (or middays). Behind the coined grace there is a whole experience accumulated among all those who have exceeded with alcohol either with excuses of special celebrations or simply because of a day with too many drinks. Despite the experience in the unhealthy habit, there are many who are well aware of migraines and the effects of what is popularly known as a hangover , but they are mistaken with a tangle of topics, legends, errors and successes to prevent and mitigate a very popular evil on the 1st of January.

Cause and symptoms of a hangover

The cause of a hangover is one of the most obvious and clear issues: excessive alcohol consumption . From approximately 0.11% of alcohol in the blood, it is already known that the hangover will act as an alarm clock the next day , although everything will depend on the physical conditions of the subject (the larger the body, the more alcohol is necessary) or tolerance.

Dehydration is the basic starting point for understanding hangovers and their solutions . Drinking alcohol causes less water to enter the body than it is dislodged. In turn, this process causes some organs to suffer in the following hours due to the demand that the body demands for the damage caused.

Added to the problem of rehydration is tiredness due to less than optimal rest (alcohol prevents you from falling asleep well ) and fatigue , which adds more ballots to general malaise and the feeling that recovery is slow and costly, which multiply the symptoms.

Identifying a hangover may be very simple for some, but there are those who have confused the effects of drinking a lot of alcohol with the symptoms of the omicron version of the coronavirus. Although approximately one in 5 people does not suffer from the problem the next day after drinking alcohol, it is also true that each person is affected in a different way.

However, these are the most common symptoms of a hangover :

• dehydration
• Fatigue
• Headache
• Sickness
• Anxiety
• Diarrhea
• vomiting
• General discomfort

Alcohol and liver toxins

In reality, what causes so much damage to the body is the sum of several processes driven by alcohol consumption. For example, the arrival of alcohol in the liver means that this part of the body has to work to metabolize toxic (and carcinogenic) substances. This organ is responsible for getting rid of 80% of the alcohol, while only 10% is dislodged through breath, urine and sweat.

"The liver can only metabolize a limited amount of alcohol, about 0.35 liters of beer or 0.15 liters of wine in an hour," explains Indra Cidambi, founder and medical director of the Center for Network Therapy . According to science, on the way to this transformation of substances into water and carbon dioxide, it ends up facilitating cognitive deterioration, memory loss, dry mouth, fatigue and other unwanted effects.

The attack on the stomach of alcohol

" Alcohol consumption, both acute and chronic, can cause gastritis . Stomach pain and nausea or vomiting are well-known symptoms of alcohol intoxication and hangovers," recall Antonio J. Chamorro Fernández and Miguel Marcos Martín, from the Alcohol and Alcoholism Group of the Spanish Society of Internal Medicine.

Stomach problems from a hangover are due to the effect of alcohol on the layers that protect the stomach . The acids will punish this part of the body due to the alteration produced by the components of these drinks.

Dehydration from drinking too much alcohol

On the other hand, most of the unwanted effects are caused by dehydration . The body reacts with tiredness, dizziness and headache , among other symptoms.

The reason for this succession of processes is that alcohol inhibits the antidiuretic hormone, which controls the reabsorption of the water molecule by concentrating urine and expelling it . During massive alcohol intake, there is a diuretic effect that forces fluid to be constantly released, which causes dehydration because the body runs out of water reserves. When it tries to recover its normal course over the hours, it interprets that it must retain more water and overloads the kidneys (those responsible for filtering waste through urine).

Sleeping more from a hangover does not mean resting more

Another added hangover problem is that the quality of sleep is much lower . Hence, rest is worse and the feeling of fatigue increases, which in turn is accentuated due to the recovery processes of the different organs in operation for the return to normality. Alcohol attacks two neurotransmitters in the brain that are key to rest and wakefulness . Within the already euphoric effects of drinks, it adds a boost to the central nervous system .

Although some may wonder how it is possible that it negatively affects sleep when one of the effects of drinking too much is the desire to sleep anywhere, it is explained because the effects impede the necessary sleep cycle. In this case , the passage through the REM phase -one of the key periods of night's rest- is much faster and the time needed to recharge the brain and muscles is reduced.

What's more, various scientific studies have proven that no matter how many hours of sleep are increased after binge drinking, it will not be possible to recover the repair process no matter how many more minutes lying down are added . Even if someone spends more hours in bed than usual, their sleep is of poorer quality and the restorative effects are reduced.

home remedies for hangover

There is a way to reduce the effects of a hangover before it hits . The obvious one is not to overindulge in alcohol (if you don't drink anything, you won't have a hangover for sure). Although many think before the binge that they will be able to control themselves, it would not hurt to take some preventive measures.

hangover prevention

The advice is not that complicated to remember. If you drink a glass of water between drinks, the hangover will not be so serious because the body has been provided with a certain hydration despite the alcohol punishment. It is a matter of common sense based on science: the higher the intake of water, the less dehydration in the body . In addition, it is better to drink slowly and calmly, since rapid intake accelerates all the intoxication processes (and lack of control of what is drunk) and makes it difficult to dislodge the harmful parts.