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A hangover comes after consuming excessive amounts of alcohol. The result of this overload of alcohol is that your body becomes depleted of essential nutrients and water and your body becomes dehydrated. Your body makes up for this dehydration by taking water from where it can, which basically is your brain. The brain then shrinks and the result is a really bad headache. Dehydration also gives you what is referred to as “cotton mouth”. Many individuals experience nausea and vomiting as a result of all the alcohol and sugar that has now upset the stomach.

Symptoms of a hangover:

Signs of dehydration
Dry mouth
Fatique
Headache
Nausea
Weakness
Anxiety
Irritability
Negativity
Difficulty concentrating
Light and sound sensitivity
Difficulty sleeping

Alcohol does not affect everyone the same way. What causes one to have a hangover and not the other?

There are a number of factors that play a role in why one person experiences a hangover after drinking alcohol and another individual won’t. Other than the amount of alcohol consumed and the type of alcohol ingested, how fast you drink it and how many you have in what time frame can also have a role in whether or not you become drunk. There is also the factor of how well your body metabolizes alcohol. Our bodies metabolize the things we drink and eat in different ways. Metabolism depends on what is being consumed and if it being consumed with other things like are we eating at the same time we are drinking alcohol? The body absorbs alcohol faster when we eat food at the same time.

Water has an effect on the impact of alcohol on our bodies too. When we drink lots of water before we start drinking alcohol, during the time we are drinking and after we are finished with our drinking event then the water that we drink can lessen the effect that alcohol has on our system and we become less dehydrated than what we would have become had we not had the water. Alcohol contains ethanol, which is what causes the dehydration.

Alcohol consumption causes chemical reactions within the body including the way the liver has to work to break down the ethanol contained in the alcohol. The reaction in the cells of the liver when it is trying to breakdown the ethanol impairs the liver’s ability to supply glucose to the tissues within the body such as the brain tissue. Glucose in the brain is how the brain gets energy. When the brain does not receive the glucose, we experience fatigue, weakness, moodiness and sometimes it can affect our ability to concentrate.

Congeners are the chemical by-products of the process of alcohol fermentation. These congeners can exaggerate (make worse) the symptoms of a hangover. Dark alcoholic drinks contain more congeners, which is why those who drink dark alcoholic beverages have more intense hangovers than those who drink clear colored alcoholic beverages.

Cheaper alcoholic beverages have more impurities and are thus more likely to cause greater hangover symptoms.

Those who smoke while they drink exacerbate their symptoms because of the nicotine.

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Scott Meyers is a staff writer for It’s Entirely Natural, a resource for helping you achieve a naturally healthy body, mind, and spirit. You may contact our writers through the web site. Follow this link for more information on Hangover Cures.

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Tags: dehydration, fatigue, Hangover Cures, headache, irritability, metabolism, nicotine

Alcohol is a staple at most adult party’s. While the responsible drinker won’t drink themselves into a stupor, everyone is entitled to a little irresponsibility now and then (just do not drink and drive). If you do end up going overboard then you are probably going to face the inevitable hangover the next day.

The scenarios behind a hangover tend to be pretty similar – too much to drink, mixing drinks, etc. The symptoms are often the same: migraines, nausea, dry mouth, dizziness, and a general feeling of discomfort. Here is a look at how you can prevent yourself from feeling this way should there be a next time.
Never drink on an empty stomach. Eat something with greasy, fatty foods loaded with oil or butter. Others will swear by having a couple of tablespoons of olive oil before leaving the house. Remember to wash it down before going to bed with a couple of glasses of water.

Drinking water, in general, before bedtime will help with dehydration along with something to dull the pain.
If you need help waking up in the morning, you can try a red eye. Take some whiskey, fresh coffee, Tabasco sauce, a raw egg, pepper, and orange juice and blend it together in a blender. If you are able to choke it down, fans say that you will start feeling better within 15 minutes. If you need a faster cure, try a Black Mary. Mix coffee with tonic water, honey, and orange juice. Again, it might be a little rough to get down, but there are those that swear by its effectiveness.

Some other preventatives have to do with when you are actually out drinking. Following these rules can help keep you feeling good the next day.

First of all, avoid mixed drinks. If you prefer the harder drinks, take them straight or over ice. Avoid drinks that have colas or juices mixed in, since these will often get you drunk faster and without realizing it. This leads to more toxins needing to be flushed from your system, and a higher likelihood of a hangover the next day.
Do not mix low alcoholic drinks with highly alcoholic ones. For example, drinking both beer and hard liquor is a thing to avoid. Choose one or the other, otherwise, your body gets confused and you end up taking in more alcohol. And, the more alcohol that gets absorbed, the more likely you are to have a hangover.

Avoid dairy when you are drinking. Milk, cheeses, ice cream, and cream sauces can really upset your stomach when you mix them with alcohol. So unless you enjoy the view of your toilet bowl, stay away from them until afterwards.
Always keep in mind that while hangover “cures” can help to alleviate the symptoms of your hangover, only time and your metabolism will officially end it. So keep that in mind when you are out drinking, particularly if there is somewhere that you want to be the next day.

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Scott Meyers is a staff writer for It’s Entirely Natural, a resource for helping you achieve a naturally healthy body, mind, and spirit. You may contact our writers through the web site. Follow this link for more information on Hangover Cures.

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Tags: coffee, dehydration, Hangover Cures, honey, olive oil, toxins

Just as almost everyone has their favorite alcoholic drink, many people also have their favorite hangover cure. Here are some easy remedies that you can try to before or after drinking to prevent a hangover.

One idea is to eat a medium bag or two small bags of potato chips before going out drinking. Another option is to make a sandwich out of salami and butter on a baguette or ciabatta bread. The idea is that the fat and carbohydrates will help to absorb some of the alcohol.

Other people swear by not mixing drinks. If you start with beer, finish with beer. Do not mix different liquors. Mixing different alcohols can cause you to feel the effects sooner, increase your likelihood of a hangover, and, if you throw up, even decrease the effectiveness of your oral contraceptives.

The Native Americans ate raw almonds before drinking to reduce hangovers. Other people swear by a few spoonfuls of peanut butter. Again, the fat content may help prevent some of the alcohol from getting absorbed.

Drinking sports drinks can help hydrate you and replenish lost vitamins and minerals. If you drank so much that you are throwing up, this can be especially helpful. There is some thought that the taurine found in energy drinks can also help with hangovers and liver damage.

Going to bed dehydrated is a surefire recipe for a hangover the next day. Drink a couple of glasses of water before going to bed to help hydrate you and dilute the alcohol. This can help lessen the severity of the hangover in the morning.

Be wary of using any painkillers while there is still alcohol in your system. Some can cause kidney or liver problems when mixed with alcohol, and others can irritate your already tormented stomach further.

For the morning after, try pouring the juice of one lemon into a cup of black coffee. Drink straight up, without sugar or cream.

Chicken soup is thought to work on hangovers as well as it does on colds, so a bowl or two may help get you going in the morning.

Some people swear by honey. Take two tablespoons every half hour until you feel better.

Fruit is also popular. An apple a day may keep the hangover away, as well as the doctor. Or, try blending together three bananas with some milk and honey until smooth. It should settle your stomach and help you replenish nutrients.

All in all, the best home remedy for a hangover is don’t drink. But, if you must, drink responsibly, and avoid drinking to excess. Try to time your drinks so that you are not having more than one alcoholic drink per hour. And remember when it is time to call it a night - sometimes, the decisions you make when drunk are harder to live with the next morning than the hangover itself.

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Scott Meyers is a staff writer for It’s Entirely Natural, a resource for helping you achieve a naturally healthy body, mind, and spirit. You may contact our writers through the web site. Follow this link for more informaton on Hangover Cures.

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Tags: almonds, chicken soup, coffee, dehydration, fruit, Hangover Cures, honey, potato chips, sports drinks

When you wake up from a night of drinking with a pounding headache and your head in the toilet, the last thing you are thinking about is what’s for breakfast. Chances are, you would rather stay in bed with the covers pulled over you rather than risk putting something on your stomach only to have it make a return visit. However, since many of the side effects of a hangover are due to dehydration, lack of essential vitamins and nutrients, and low blood sugar, having something to eat may be a vital part of your hangover cure that you are missing out on.

Now, this does not mean that you should take advantage of the all-you-can-eat breakfast buffet at your local greasy diner. Instead, you should eat something light and healthy to see how your stomach reacts. You should avoid carbohydrates and fatty foods since these are only going to make you feel worse.

To drink, you can start out with a simple cocktail of tomato juice, Tabasco sauce, lemon juice, and a shot of vodka. This works well for a variety of reasons as a hangover cure. First of all, the tomato juice is packed with vitamins and antioxidants that will help your body to cleanse your blood from any leftover alcohol and impurities that are still lurking around.

Another reason that you feel terrible the next morning is the fact that you essentially overdosed on alcohol the night before - and now your body is going through withdrawal. Having the shot of vodka in your juice will help put some alcohol back into your system, and allow you to start some of your other hangover remedies before the hangover comes back. However, keep it to only a shot - any more and you are setting yourself on the road to alcoholism.

Once you have gotten the juice down, and are hopefully starting to feel a little better, you can make yourself a protein-packed breakfast. Try 3 pieces of back bacon, 3 canned tomatoes, 2 scrambled eggs, and an orange to start out with. The eggs have protein that will help build your strength back up, as well as a chemical that is known to fight some of the toxins that are still left in your system. Canned tomatoes, like the tomato juice, also have the vitamins and antioxidants that you need to revitalize your system. The bacon has fat that helps bind to the alcohol left in your blood, and the orange has citric acid to make that fat easier to digest - not to mention vitamin C, one of the essential vitamins that you lost through dehydration.

For best results, you should have a second breakfast with more of the same foods within four hours of your first one, and try to stay awake in between them instead of going back to bed, since going to sleep slows down your metabolism. If you need help staying awake, try taking a nice hot shower, followed by a cold rinse, to help wake you up.

Time is the best cure for a hangover but since you can’t hurry that up, a good healthy meal is the perfect alternative.

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Scott Meyers is a staff writer for It’s Entirely Natural, a resource for helping you achieve a naturally healthy body, mind, and spirit. You may contact our writers through the web site. Follow this link for more information on Hangover Cures.

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Tags: antioxidants, dehydration, Hangover Cures, nutrition