After a night out of drinking, you wake up with a pounding headache and a queasy stomach and you promise yourself never to partake again!! A promise which is easily broken the following weekend. You obviously feel horrible and you’re desperate for a quick solution. Lucky for you, we have some remedies that are guaranteed to get rid of that shitty hangover.
First, it’s important to know what actually causes a hangover and it might get a little sciency, but just bear with me as it will help you pick out the best hangover cures. So when you down that shot at the club, the alcohol you drink is absorbed in the stomach and broken down into a less poisonous form in your liver. Think of your liver as your waste management/recycling plant. Not all the things we eat are safe enough to be absorbed into our blood so the liver does the work of breaking down these components making them safer. In the liver, ethanol (the stuff in alcohol that makes you drunk) is broken down into acetaldehyde. Then, a special enzyme breaks down the acetaldehyde into acetate and then the acetate is gotten rid off as waste.
Now when alcohol goes through the entire process of break down, then you’ll be fine in the morning. No hangover. But, the process that breaks down the alcohol into acetate is long and the enzyme is limited in number so if you consume more alcohol than your liver can break down, the alcohol remains as acetaldehyde.
Acetaldehyde is not good for your well being. It’s what’s responsible for the headache, the fatigue, your inability to keep any food down and basically you feeling like shit when you wake up. The process of alcohol breakdown is also very energy consuming so it uses up a lot of the glucose reserves in your body. That’s also part of the reason (aside from slowing down alcohol absorption) that you’re advised to eat well before you imbibe.
Alcohol is a diuretic which means it will make you pee a lot leading to dehydration. When you pee, your body not only loses water but important minerals like potassium and sodium.
Which brings us to the point of this article. How do I cure my hangover!
Rule 1: Prevention!
The best remedy for a hangover is to not have one in the first place. You can do this by eating well. Fatty food is recommended because they take longer to be digested. Alcohol will be absorbed slower into your blood giving your liver time to fully metabolize the alcohol you drink.
Hydrate! You can never drink too much water. This will replace the water you are losing as you drink. I would say if you drink more than a liter before bed than you’re on the safe side.
Eggs
Eggs contain cysteine which is a compound that helps to break down alcohol. Some eggs in the morning will provide your body what it requires to break down the remaining alcohol from acetaldehyde into acetate and help cure that hangover
Water
Your head is pounding because you’re dehydrated so drink up.
Bananas
Bananas contain potassium which is one of the viral minerals your body lost during your numerous visits to the toilet. The potassium will help your body function properly in order to break down that booze.
Other notable mentions
Painkillers before bed
I’m not sure how this works but I have tried it twice and the person who recommended it swears by it. Swallow maramoja before you sleep and you’ll wake up fine (hopefully)
What are some of the hangover cures that you swear by?