How to minimise the post-party hangover (From The Northern Echo)

How to minimise the post-party hangover

1:55pm Tuesday 27th December 2011 in Health

Too much Christmas spirit can be hard on your health. Lisa Salmon asks the experts how to minimise that post-party hangover.

IN this season of general jollity your average partygoer will be drinking a bit, or a lot, more than usual – and then facing the inevitable truth that the morning after the night before is no fun at all.

Research by food intolerance company Yorktest found people endure post-party headaches and nausea for a total of about 24 days a year, or 1,452 days in a lifetime. And with a good chunk of those days popping up over Christmas, there could be a Santa sackload of misery on its way for many during the next few weeks.

Of course, the best solution is to stay off the alcohol completely. But if that’s not an option, then understanding why it causes hangovers – and what can be done to reduce their impact – is a sensible way to ease the symptoms.

All too many of us will have experienced a headache, dry mouth, nausea, tiredness, dizziness and even depression the morning after.

GP Dr Roger Henderson explains that this is because alcohol is toxic. “The body really doesn’t like alcohol, it’s a big poison, which is why you can get alcohol poisoning,” he says.

THINK ABOUT DEHYDRATION

DR Henderson says the driving factor behind hangover symptoms is dehydration. Alcohol acts as a diuretic, making you urinate more and thus lose water.

Even the brain loses some of its water, and the lining of the brain becomes inflamed, resulting in a pounding headache. This lack of water is also why you have a dry mouth and feel thirsty the morning after a big night.

“Try to alternate your alcoholic drinks with a non-alcoholic drink,” advises Dr Henderson.

“Ideally that would be water, but any nonalcoholic drink is okay.”

“If you’re embarrassed about not being seen to keep up with the drinking, have a tonic water with ice and lemon, because that looks like you’re having a gin and tonic.”

REDUCED BLOOD SUGAR

ALCOHOL can lead to alterations in the metabolic state of the liver, resulting in low blood sugar, says Dr Henderson. This can cause symptoms including feeling faint, tired, dizzy and wobbly the next morning.

Professor Jonathan Chick, a consultant psychiatrist at Royal Edinburgh Hospital and author of Alcohol and Drinking Problems (Family Doctor Books, £4.95), says people can feel energised while drinking, due to their blood alcohol levels going up. But by the following morning, levels plummet to cause lethargy.

DON’T GO HUNGRY

MAKING sure you eat before and during the consumption of alcohol will help reduce hangover symptoms, and also mean you’re less likely to be sick. Prof Chick says that a lack of food when drinking can lead to vomiting. “Alcohol poisons cells throughout the body, and the first cells it hits are in the stomach lining,” he says.

So if there’s no food in the stomach, the poison will have direct access.

“Some people even vomit blood during the night or the next morning because their stomach lining’s so inflamed,” he says.

“When food is taken, the alcohol’s absorbed more slowly so high peaks aren’t achieved and the body copes with breaking it down more easily.”

DARK OR LIGHT DRINKS?

A 2009 study by US researchers found the severity of a hangover is worse after consuming darker drinks, such as red wine or whisky.

Bourbon drinkers reported feeling worse than vodka drinkers, rating higher on scales that measured the severity of hangover malaise, including headache, nausea, loss of appetite and thirst.

The study concluded that dark drinks contained more chemical by-products than lighter ones and these harmful by-products, called congeners, exacerbated hangovers.

HAIR OF THE DOG

NO matter what you’ve been drinking the night before, having any alcohol, or a ‘hair of the dog’ the next day to relieve your hangover symptoms, isn’t a good idea.

While it may reduce any hangover jitters you’re experiencing, it won’t help in any other way, says Prof Chick.

“It’s a kind of withdrawal symptom, and that’s why some people feel better with the hair of the dog. But that would only help the jittery, nervous feeling, and it’s a very risky path because it’s the path towards establishing a serious chemical addiction.”

EASING THE AFTER-EFFECTS

DEALING with a hangover depends on the symptoms, says expert Professor Jonathan Chick, but paracetamol or ibuprofen can help if you have a headache, and caffeine in coffee can give an energy boost if you’re tired.

Eating will also help to improve blood sugar and make you feel better.

“My own personal hangover cure is a full English breakfast,” says GP Dr Roger Henderson. “But the ideal thing is something like toast with honey, because you get a slow release of sugar throughout the morning rather than a quick fix from something like pastries or cereal.”

He also suggests eating baked beans and scrambled eggs on toast, because the beans and the bread will help to steady blood sugar levels, while eggs contain an amino acid called cysteine, which is thought to help mop up alcohol toxins in the body.

But the bottom line, says Prof Chick, is to be mindful of your food and non-alcoholic liquid intake before and while you’re actually drinking. “If you’re drinking alcohol, always take some food and add extra nonalcoholic liquids,” he advises. “It might not prevent you from having a hangover, but it’ll definitely make you feel better.”