Body and Mind

5 Ways to Prevent A Hangover

By Ian ⋅ November 30, 2007 ⋅  Email this post ⋅  Print this post ⋅ Subscribe By Email ⋅ Post a comment

We as a society have a lot of “tips” for avoiding hangovers. How many of them are legitimate and how many are myths?

To explain and make sense of the tips in this article, it’s best we all know what exactly a hangover is in scientific terms. According to everyone’s favorite online encyclopedia, Wikipedia, “Hypoglycemia, dehydration, Acetaldehyde intoxication, and vitamin B12 deficiency are all theorized causes of hangover symptoms.”

Admittedly, I binge drink two or three times per month (the version where one drinks 5+ drinks in one evening). I know this isn’t especially good for my physical well-being, but being a 28 year old male in New York City it’s a common or even conservative amount. I am not proud of this fact, but know I do it and admit that it’s not healthy. I try to drink in a way where it affects me the least. I try to not ruining the following day, by avoiding a hangover. Below are a few ways to help you do this if you don’t already have your own method.

1. My Method. An old colleague once gave me his method of hangover prevention. It always worked for him, so I tried it, and I’m a fan. You must do this before you go to sleep, but it’s easy to do. After you finish drinking alcohol, drink a sports drink or a liquid with mostly water and electrolytes. Any drink with glucose will do. My colleague always liked Gatorade. I like Glacéau Vitamin Water. Drink as much as you can without feeling too water logged. With this drink, take a pair of ibuprofen pills.

2. Eating. Eating before you drink will help slow the absorption of the alcohol. Starchy foods like bread and pasta are best for this. Drinking also causes loss of essential minerals like vitamins B & C. Eat foods to get these back. Fruit is a great solution.

3. Water. Drink lots of water before, during, and after drinking. This will prevent dehydration.

4. Know what to drink. Don’t drink drinks that hide the taste of alcohol too much. You will drink fast and too much. The exception here is fruit drinks have the vitamins you lose through alcohol. If you must drink hard liquor, get cranberry with it once to get those vitamins back.

Avoid beverages that have given you hangovers before. Pay attention to which alocohol triggers a hangover, as results vary from person to person. Red wine has a exceeding negative effect for many people.

Some says additives make a hangover worse. I’m not sure about this, but I would be willing to bet artificial added chemicals and ingredients don’t help the situation.

Side tip: Have any chemistry ambitions inside you? Start to brew your own beer! In college, I joined a beer brewing club. It’s a great way to meet people, have fun, and learn to make and drink great beer! You can save money this way too. But I bring this up because of another great reason to brew, the lower hangover effect. Homemade beer has most of the vitamins you lose when drinking! Yeast is filtered out in most macrobrews, but usually not in homebrews. This yeast is rich in B vitamins. I never had a hangover from our homebrews.

5. Pills and Medicine. Though I prefer eating because you also get the sugars and water you need from food, you can directly ingest the vitamins you are losing by drinking with supplements. Some companies also have cocktail type pills with everything you need supposedly. I tried Chasers a few times. They worked, but am not really sure if it was the pills or the fact I also took the measures I always take.

Another point worth mentioning is the choice of pain killers before or after going to bed. Although acetaminophen is one of the most popular pain killers, alcohol metabolism increases the toxic effect acetaminophen has on the liver. Go with Asprin.

I know this may sound like a public safety announcement, but I also have to mention it because of so many people I know have been affected by it in one way or another, including myself. Don’t drink and drive!