Busting 6 common myths about hangovers and hangxiety : NPR
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- February 9, 2023
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But the best hangover cure is to wait it out and drink lots of water. The most important thing to consume while you are recovering from a hangover is liquid, in order to avoid further dehydration. Any liquid (except alcohol!) that you find palatable is acceptable, such as boullion, chicken soup, sports drinks, or water. Drinking dark liquors (such as whiskey) tends to lead to more severe hangovers due to chemicals called congeners in the drinks.
- An over-the-counter (OTC) pain medication may relieve hangover headaches and muscular pains.
- The temporary effects include immediate and delayed effects—a hangover is caused by the delayed effects of alcohol.
- As a 2021 study pointed out, many of these alleged treatments contain potentially harmful amounts of certain vitamins and minerals.
- The liver starts working overtime to detoxify the blood of ethanol and acetaldehyde, and cannot keep blood sugar adequately regulated.
- Dehydration symptoms include dizziness, lightheadedness, fast heartbeat, irritability, and fainting.
What questions should I ask my healthcare provider?
Hangovers tend to go away on their own, even if you don’t do anything. As your body readjusts to the lack of alcohol, you start to feel better. As we get older, our body’s ability to process toxins slows down.
When should I see a healthcare provider?
But they can cause major health issues, especially if you are not in good health to begin with. Headaches, for example, are triggered by alcohol’s vascular changes in the brain and by dehydration. Dizziness is exacerbated by alcohol toxicity, as well as by dehydration. There are several factors that contribute to a hangover.
While it’s a common practice to reach for over-the-counter pain relievers to try and minimize your headache in the morning, Marino says you could potentially do a lot more harm than good. But that’s only one symptom of over-imbibing, says Marino. Drinking can cause inflammation, gastrointestinal irritation, disrupted sleep and low blood sugar.
“But your hangover is just going to be pushed down the road.” They can last 24 hours or longer depending on how much you drank, according to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. Unfortunately, no, says Dr. Ryan Marino, a medical toxicologist and an emergency physician at University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center. “I wish there was some magic drink everyone could have, but there isn’t.” However, the progression and severity of symptoms over time can vary from one person to the next. Read on to learn more about what congeners are, which drinks to avoid, tips for recovery, and more.
Medication-Assisted Treatment (MAT)
Some kinds of liquors may make hangovers more unpleasant. Generally speaking, the more congeners an alcohol has, the worse the hangover is likely to be. But drinking water or other hydrating beverages during a night out is still a good idea, he says. It can help you practice moderation and remind you to space out your drinks. Don’t expect products like sports drinks, vitamin-infused patches or hydration packets to work any miracles before or after a night on the town, says Marino.
Congeners are chemical by-products of the fermentation process that gives alcoholic drinks their distinctive flavor. These symptoms vary from person to person and can range in intensity from mild to severe. As stated in the “Causes” section, certain alcohols have different hangover-causing properties based on their congener content.
Hangover Headache
The stomach lining may become irritated, increasing nausea and the chance of bleeding. The extra calories consumed often become converted into fat. Some of these effects are caused by ethanol itself, and others are from an even more toxic byproduct of its metabolism called acetaldehyde. This chemical builds up in the blood as the liver breaks down the alcohol into a form that can be eliminated from the body. Even if you fell asleep after drinking, the chances are that it was not restorative. If you wake up exhausted after a night of drinking, taking more time to rest your body will help ease the discomfort.
Often, intravenous (IV) fluids can help alleviate the How Long Does Fentanyl Stay In Your Body For symptoms. But sometimes severe issues, such as vomiting or coughing blood need to be addressed with more intensive medical attention. Hangovers tend to occur after heavy alcohol consumption. But you can have symptoms after consuming just one or two drinks the night before, while other times, you might not experience a hangover even after consuming large amounts of alcohol. A hangover can be a mild form of alcohol withdrawal, according to the NIAAA. Hangover symptoms peak — and likely, feel their worst — when the body’s blood alcohol concentration returns to zero.
As a result, you might be down for the count on less alcohol (and for longer) than before. There are several factors that influence how long a hangover lasts and how bad you feel. Fortunately, hangovers typically go away within 24 hours. There are some reports online of them lasting for up to 3 days, but we can’t find much evidence to back this up. In his post-graduate clinical work, he later applied the tenets he learned to guide his therapeutic approach to substance use treatment.