Hangover: Why can’t some people get a Hangover?

Daily Know More
5 min readAug 25, 2022

--

Image: Laura Tancredi

Do you have a hangover experience? After a whole night of drinking and having fun, or socializing outside, and didn’t expect that the next day would be followed by a whole day of headaches, nausea, and other symptoms, it was really uncomfortable! Is there any way to alleviate it? What to drink if you feel sick with a hangover? At the end how to do it? Below is the therapy!

What is a hangover? Why get a hangover?
Consuming too much alcohol leads to headache, nausea, dizziness and other uncomfortable symptoms the next day, which is the so-called “hangover”. This is because alcohol needs to be metabolized into acetaldehyde by the liver, and acetaldehyde is actually toxic to the human body. Too much acetaldehyde in the body will cause discomfort. The hangover occurs when the blood alcohol concentration drops rapidly.

What are the symptoms of a hangover?
1. Headache

Alcohol stimulates the dilation of blood vessels, which can cause headaches if they occur in the blood vessels of the brain.

2. Nausea, bad stomach
The irritating nature of alcohol will make the digestive tract violently peristaltic, and at the same time produce more gastric acid, resulting in nausea.

3. Dehydration
Alcohol is a diuretic, causing you to drain 3–4 times the normal amount of water after drinking, which can make you thirsty, and many people drink more alcohol at this time, causing dehydration. When draining water, electrolytes are also lost, which indirectly affects the water content in the blood and is also responsible for nausea, headaches, and weakness.

4. Weakened immunity
Alcohol and metabolized acetaldehyde are both harmful substances to the body. In fact, these uncomfortable symptoms can be said to be mild poisoning symptoms. In fact, our body’s immune system is affected and is protesting against you! Excessive intake of alcohol for a long time has a very large impact on health.

5. Sleep disturbance
Some people are used to having a drink before bed to help sleep; this is a misconception! Alcohol can help you fall asleep quickly, but it actually interferes with your sleep cycle, preventing you from falling asleep and waking up tired the next day.

6. Hypoglycemia
This is because the liver is busy metabolizing the alcohol for you! Usually, the liver is also responsible for storing glycogen, which is released to the blood and transported to cells everywhere in a timely manner, but at this time the liver is concentrating on decomposing alcohol, and there is no way to take into account blood sugar. The reason for the glass of honey water.

How long will a hangover last?
Of course, the more you drink, the more time it takes your liver to metabolize the alcohol, and the longer your hangover will last. Generally speaking, it takes about 2–3 hours for 300 ml of beer to be completely metabolized, about 10 grams of alcohol per hour. And this process also depends on your liver function, plus the amount of enzymes that decompose alcohol, the more important ones are superoxide dismutase (SOD), alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) and aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH) .

Image: Marta Branco

Therapy
1. Drink plenty of water and electrolyte drinks
This is the simplest but also the most critical method. Drinking more water not only replenishes the water lost after drinking but also dilutes the alcohol concentration, which can also help the body to circulate and allow the alcohol to be excreted as soon as possible.

2. Supplement with fruits and vegetables
A glass of refreshing vegetable juice is rich in water, antioxidants and electrolytes, helping you replenish the nutrients lost with alcohol while relieving a hangover. Fruits can choose bananas rich in potassium ions to balance electrolytes. Or watermelon, coconut water to add water and sugar, while diuretic to help alcohol discharge.

3. Eat turmeric
The most fundamental reason for a hangover is that there is too much alcohol in the body before it can be metabolized by the liver. Then we can’t help but mention the liver-protecting artifact “turmeric”! Eating turmeric is like helping the liver to turn on the turbo mode, helping the liver function efficiently and maintaining it at the same time.

Extended reading: [Recommended by nutritionists in 2022] 5 major effects of turmeric and comparison table of 12 brands

4. Vitamin B
Wine is usually fermented with grains, so it is also a carbohydrate. In the process of carbohydrate metabolism, vitamin B plays the role of coenzyme, which can promote the entire metabolism, accelerate the decomposition of alcohol, and the symptoms of natural hangover will disappear.

What should we do if we have a headache from a hangover?
Headaches are probably the most “headache” of the hangover symptoms. In addition to using the above foods to help metabolize alcohol, replenish nutrients and electrolytes, and solve headaches, you can also do this.

Avoid strenuous things: Since exertion also raises your blood pressure, it may increase the feeling of a headache, and you should also avoid nervousness. Quickly allow yourself to relax, lie down and calm down.
Ice compress: The headache is caused by alcohol dilation of blood vessels. At this time, ice compress to help vasoconstriction can relieve discomfort.
If the condition is really serious, with symptoms such as numbness of the hands and feet, cold sweats, chills, etc., it is recommended to seek medical attention as soon as possible!

How to avoid a hangover?

Eat turmeric, vitamin B complex, do not drink alcohol on an empty stomach.
Learning how to avoid a hangover in the first place may be more needed than relieving an already hangover. Don’t want to go through the pain of a hangover, make sure to take notes.

1. Eat turmeric, vitamin B
That’s right, it’s vitamin B and turmeric again! These two are important supplements that can keep people away from hangovers. Turmeric and B complex help the body to metabolize alcohol at different stages. It is more effective to supplement it before drinking it than to relieve it after it has occurred!

2. Do not drink alcohol on an empty stomach and supplement with good fats
Without protection, the stomach wall will accelerate the absorption of alcohol, which not only hurts the stomach, but also increases the chance of a hangover. Eat something to cushion your stomach before drinking. Good oils can also form a protective film on the stomach wall, so that your alcohol concentration will not skyrocket.

Thank you for reading. I hope you have a healthy life. Claps and Tips to support the spreading of positive energy.

About Daily Know More

I share about health and knowledge to improve our daily life, mentally and physically. Follow me to know more about health. Your support is my motivation. By joining the membership through this Link, could gain access to all articles on Medium and keep track of my updates. Thanks.

--

--

Daily Know More

To share knowledge and spread positive energy through Medium. Follow me to Daily Know More.