Hangover Cures

There are almost as many hangover cures as there are kinds of alcoholic beverages, and everybody knows someone who will be glad to let you in on his or her secret to getting rid of a hangover.  However, one of the best cures for a hangover is not another drink, hangover foods or hangover pills; and it’s free and as close as your kitchen.  You may have heard it before, it’s plain old water. Water is good for you anytime, but how does water help cure a hangover?  Well, it’s actually all about chemical reactions in your body.

When you drink alcohol, it causes the pituitary gland to stop producing an anti-diuretic hormone called “vassopressin.”  Water in your body is then sent straight to your kidneys and is filtered out to your bladder without being absorbed.  That’s one reason why you have to go to the bathroom so often while drinking alcohol.  The effect of this reaction is that despite the amount of liquid you are drinking in the form of alcohol, you are slowly dehydrating. Have you ever awakened with an extremely dry mouth after a night of drinking?  Dry mouth is the mildest of hangover effects.  If your body gets dehydrated enough, it will try to steal water from the brain to replenish itself.  This process is what causes the headache and discomfort of a hangover.

Now that you understand the chemistry behind a hangover, it’s easy to understand how water eases the unpleasant side effects and can even help prevent a hangover in the first place.  If you start your night of drinking with a large glass of water, and, if possible, try to sneak in a couple of more glasses throughout your evening of alcohol consumption, you can slow the dehydrating effects of the alcohol, and perhaps avoid a hangover.  If you are unable to drink any water throughout the evening, then drink several glasses when you get home, before falling asleep. In addition to fighting dehydration, water will assist in continued frequent urination that helps your body process and expel the alcohol faster.

If you wake up and already have a hangover, resist heading for the coffee pot. Caffeine may wake you up, but it does not help a hangover; in fact, it further dehydrates your body and can prolong the agony. Start drinking water immediately to replenish the dehydration. If you have it available, a drink that replenishes electrolytes, such as Gatorade, is even better.  However, if you don’t have any, then plain water is just fine.  The priority is to reduce the discomfort of a hangover by getting water in your system as soon as possible.