Alcohol Abuse Advice

What exactly is a Hangover?

Hangovers are a hateful ill caused by over-drinking, great times the night before are often replaced by a range of needling symptoms. These may include a severe headache, sensitivity to loud noise and bright light, diarrhoea, loss of appetite, shaking, nausea, fatigue, dehydration, inability to concentrate and anxiety. A number of factors contribute to how severe a hangover may be, of course these include how much the person has to drink and the tolerance of the individual. Other contributing factors include drinking on an empty stomach, lack of sleep, dehydration before drinking or being physically active while drinking (e.g. dancing). When alcohol enters the bloodstream, the kidneys begin sending water directly to the bladder instead of re-circulating it around the body, hence the frequent visits to the bathroom that the drinker makes. These are made all the more frequent and necessary because the body begins to expel four times as much as it digests, this rate decreases as the amount of alcohol in the bloodstream increases but it still has a detrimental effect on the hangover the following morning. This dehydration causes headaches as the body’s organs steal water from the brain to replenish their own supply, causing the brain to decrease in size, pulling on membranes that connect the brain with the skull and thus causing strain and ache. Frequent urination also expels an excess of sodium and potassium that is not good for the nerves and can cause nausea and fatigue. And we lose too much glucose during many trips to the bathroom – loss of glucose, our key energy source causes fatigue and messy co-ordination. It also matters what type of alcoholic beverage you consume as some have a higher concentration of congeners which are by-products of fermentation.

The biggest offenders of this are red wine, bourbon, whiskey, brandy and tequila. Also, combining these different impurities can make the hangover all the more severe. Also, the carbonation in beer speeds up the absorption of alcohol, so following beer with liquor is not a great idea. Even getting to bed early and managing to get a long sleep still may not completely eradicate some of these symptoms. Whilst drinking, the creation of the natural stimulant glutamine is inhibited, when you stop drinking, the body makes up for this loss and beings to overproduce glutamine thus stimulating the brain while the person is attempting to sleep, therefore preventing the deepest sleep being had. The best remedy for a hangover is simply – don’t drink alcohol! But if you insist on a few sups there are a few cures that are bandied about that are rumoured to beat the dreaded hangover. One of the most common is the ‘hair of the dog that bit you’, which simply means drinking a little more alcohol the following morning -sometimes this can be a fate worse than death and all is really does is stave of the inevitable. Another proposition is to swallow down as much burnt toast as is humanly possible, the thinking being that the carbon in the toast will act like a type of filter. It’s not true, nor are several other propositions such as black coffee or fatty foods. There are some things that can help but bizarrely they are not bandied about so much. Eggs can help clear up toxins and bananas can help enhance potassium levels.

Russell Shortt is a travel consultant with Exploring Ireland, the leading specialists in customised, private escorted tours, escorted coach tours and independent self drive tours of Ireland. Article source Russell Shortt, http://www.exploringireland.net  http://www.visitscotlandtours.com