Hangovers are terrible with the body aches, the headaches, sour stomach, and the mental hangover as well. When you have a hangover, your body is dehydrated and it is in a way looking for more alcohol. There are certain things you can do and drink to alleviate a hangover.
Curing Hangovers
You have to replenish the body and at the same time get the alcohol out of your body. The liver is trying hard to cleanse your body, but you can also help.
These things could help you feel better quicker from a hangover.
- Drink plenty of water. You probably wake up very thirsty after a night of drinking that is the sign your body is dehydrated. Drink 2 to 3 glasses of water before going to bed and throughout the next day.
- Eat lightly while you have a hangover. A large meal will make you feel worse. Stay away from heavy foods, fried foods and a lot of red meat.
- Take a good multivitamin or a B-complex vitamin. The B vitamins will help you with the shaking and the nervous feeling.
- Sweat. If you can handle it do some exercise like riding a stationary bike until you sweat. You could also try a steam bath, a hot bath, or just sit in the sun and sweat out the toxins from the alcohol.
- Potassium is an excellent way to help your body feel better. Have a baked potato or make a smoothie that has lots of potassium like bananas, strawberries, and yogurt.
- It is not advisable to take something like Tylenol for hangovers, prolonged use of Tylenol or other painkillers with alcohol can cause liver damage.
- A sports drink with electrolytes in it, this will replenish your kidneys and body. Sports drinks might have too much sugar in them. Another good drink to replenish your body is called Pedialyte, which has a good amount of electrolytes and is not loaded with sugar.
- Too much alcohol can also damage your stomach lining and digestive system. Real yogurt like Greek yogurt can heal your stomach and digestive system.
- Rest and time is sometimes the only thing that will get rid of a hangover.
Avoiding Hangovers
Some alcoholic drinks will make a hangover even worse, too much wine for one. Sweet drinks can also make a hangover much worse like mixing soda pop with alcohol.
So try not to have coke and rum too often. Having a drink of water in between drinks can help you keep your body hydrated while drinking.
Eat some food before and or while drinking alcohol, as this will help the alcohol be absorbed, instead of going directly into your liver to be metabolized.
Try not to eat foods high in saturated fat though, try to eat leaner foods and light foods. Drinking water and eating a little food while drinking can not only help you avoid hangovers, but also help you from drinking too much or binge drinking.
Supplements for Hangovers
There are no sure supplements for curing a hangover, though there are some mixtures of supplements being sold as a cure for a hangover. One supplement that some say keeps them from getting a hangover is NAC or N-acetyl cysteine is an amino acid that is sold in supplement form.
Taking 200 mg of NAC prior to drinking alcohol can help you from getting a hangover, or at least as bad a hangover as you might get.
NAC is an antioxidant, is good for the liver and increases the body’s production of the glutathione which helps the liver to detoxify poisons out of the body. You can take NAC, magnesium and vitamins C prior to drinking alcohol.
It is recommended you do not take NAC after drinking.
Potassium drink:
- One or two bananas
- Some strawberries or blueberries for the extra nutrients
- Add some good quality yogurt or Greek yogurt
- And about 8 ounces of orange juice
- Mix this in a blender and enjoy
This drink is refreshing, has a lot of vitamins and plenty of potassium and magnesium plus the yogurt to help your body recover from the alcohol helping you get rid of the hangover, making you feel better faster.
About the Author
Sam Montana is a certified Food Over Medicine instructor from the Wellness Forum Health Center and certified in optimal nutrition from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
Copyright © 2008-2019 Sam Montana
