{"id":2468,"date":"2023-01-01T14:00:15","date_gmt":"2023-01-01T20:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/claremontcoloniccenter.com\/?p=2468"},"modified":"2023-01-01T10:12:25","modified_gmt":"2023-01-01T16:12:25","slug":"myths-and-facts-about-treating-a-hangover","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/claremontcoloniccenter.com\/?p=2468","title":{"rendered":"Myths and Facts About Treating a Hangover"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Myths and Facts About Treating a Hangover<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Are you celebrating the first day of 2023 with a hangover?

\n\nIf so, you might be looking for a method to ease your misery. There are certainly a lot of so-called hangover cures, some dating back centuries.<\/b><\/i> \n.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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\u201cThe ancient Greeks believed that eating cabbage could cure a hangover, and the Romans thought that a meal of fried canaries would do the trick,\u201d said Dr. John Brick, former chief of research at the Center of Alcohol Studies, Education and Training Division at Rutgers University in New Jersey, who authored \u201cThe Doctor\u2019s Hangover Handbook.\u201d

\n\n\u201cToday, some Germans believe that a hearty breakfast of red meat and bananas cures hangovers. You might find some French drinking strong coffee with salt, or some Chinese drinking spinach tea,\u201d he said. \u201cSome of the more unusual hangover cures are used by some people in Puerto Rico, who rub half a lemon under their drinking arm.\u201d

\n\nIn truth, the only cure for a hangover is time, according to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism<\/u>.

\n\n\u201cA person must wait for the body to finish clearing the toxic byproducts of alcohol metabolism, to rehydrate, to heal irritated tissue, and to restore immune and brain activity to normal,\u201d according to the institute. That recovery process can take up to 24 hours.

\n\nAre there things you can do to ease your transition? Possibly, experts say, but many common hangover \u201ccures\u201d may make your hangover worse. Here\u2019s how to separate fact from fiction.

\nMyth: Drinking a bit more helps<\/b>

\n\nHaving another drink, or the \u201chair of the dog that bit you,\u201d is a well-known cure for a hangover, right? Not really, experts say.

\n\nThe reason some people believe it works is because once the calming effects of alcohol pass, the brain on a hangover is overstimulated. (It\u2019s also the reason you wake up in the middle of the night once your body has metabolized alcohol.)

\n\n\u201cYou\u2019ve got this hyperexcitability in the brain after the alcohol is gone,\u201d said Dr. Robert Swift, a professor of psychiatry and human behavior at Brown University\u2019s Warren Alpert Medical School in Providence, Rhode Island.

\n\n\u201cIf you look at the brain of somebody with a hangover, even though the person might feel tired, their brain is actually overexcited,\u201d he said.

\n\nConsuming more alcohol normalizes the brain again, \u201cbecause you\u2019re adding a sedative to your excited brain,\u201d Swift said. \u201cYou feel better until the alcohol goes away and the cycle repeats in a way.\u201d

\nFact: Drinking coffee can speed up recovery<\/b>

\n\nThe answer is yes, depending on hangover symptoms, Brick said. If you\u2019re a coffee drinker, skipping your morning cup of joe may lead to caffeine withdrawal on top of your hangover.

\n\n\u201cIf you have a hangover, have a quarter of a cup of coffee,\u201d Brick suggested. \u201cSee if you feel better \u2014 it takes about 20 minutes for the caffeine to start to have some noticeable effect.

\n\n\u201cIf coffee doesn\u2019t make you feel better, don\u2019t drink anymore. Obviously, that\u2019s not the cure for your hangover.\u201d

\nMyth: Eating greasy food helps<\/b>

\n\nForget eating a greasy breakfast in the wee hours after a night of drinking \u2014 you\u2019re adding insult to injury, Swift said: \u201cGreasy food is harder to digest, so it\u2019s probably good to avoid it.\u201d

\n\nEating greasy food also doesn\u2019t make much sense. The alcohol we drink, called ethyl alcohol or ethanol, is the byproduct of fermenting carbohydrates and starches, usually some sort of grain, grape or berry. While it may create some tasty beverages, ethanol is also a solvent, Brick said.

\n\n\u201cIt cuts through grease in your stomach much the same way it cleans grease off oily car parts,\u201d he said.

\n\nInstead, experts suggest using food to prevent hangovers, by eating before you have that first drink.

\n\n\u201cEating food loaded with protein and carbohydrates can significantly slow down the absorption of alcohol,\u201d Brick said. \u201cThe slower the alcohol gets to your brain, the less rapid the \u2018shock\u2019 to your brain.\u201d

\nFact: Electrolytes help<\/b>

\n\nAlcohol dehydrates, so a headache and other hangover symptoms may be partly due to constricted blood vessels and a loss of electrolytes, essential minerals such as sodium, calcium and potassium that your body needs.

\n\nIf you\u2019ve vomited, you\u2019ve lost even more electrolytes, and all of this can lead to fatigue, confusion, irregular heart rate, digestive problems and more.

\n\nReplacing lost fluids with water or a type of sports drink with extra electrolytes can help boost recovery from a hangover, Swift said.

\nMyth: Taking acetaminophen before bed can prevent a hangover<\/b>r

\n\nTaking over-the-counter pain meds can be dangerous, especially if you take too many while intoxicated, experts say. Taking an acetaminophen, such as Tylenol, can further damage your overtaxed liver, while aspirin and ibuprofen can irritate your stomach lining.

\n\n\u201cYou should never, never take alcohol with acetaminophen or Tylenol,\u201d Swift said. \u201cYou can actually cause liver damage from an overdose of Tylenol.\u201d

\n\nBut aspirin, ibuprofen and naproxen are \u201ctheoretically\u201d OK, he added.

\n\n\u201cEven though they tend to be anti-inflammatory in the body, they can cause inflammation in the stomach,\u201d Swift said. \u201cDon\u2019t take them on an empty stomach; always take anti-inflammatories with food.\u201d

\nFact: Drink as much water as you can<\/b>

\n\nWhile most alcohol is handled by the liver, a small amount leaves the body unchanged through sweat, urine and breathing<\/u>.

\n\nGet up, do some light stretching and walking, and drink plenty of water to encourage urination, Brick said.

\n\n\u201cBefore you go to sleep and when you wake up, drink as much water as you comfortably can handle,\u201d he said. You can also take a multivitamin \u201cbefore you hit the shower in the morning (to) replenish lost vitamins, minerals and other nutrients.\u201d

\n\nIf you would rather have something warm and soothing, Brick suggested broth or other homemade soups.

\n\n\u201cThese will also help to replace lost salts, including potassium and other substances,\u201d he said, \u201cbut will not make you sober up faster or improve impairment due to intoxication or hangover.\u201d

\nMyth: Hangover pills can help<\/b>

\n\nStore shelves are packed with so-called hangover cures. Unfortunately, there\u2019s no proof they work. In 2020, researchers published<\/u> what they called the \u201cworld\u2019s largest randomised double-blind placebo-controlled\u201d trial of supplements containing vitamins, minerals, plant extracts and antioxidants and found no real improvement in hangover symptoms.

\nEven if one solution works, it likely won\u2019t fix all your symptoms, experts say.

\n\n\u201cThe effects of alcohol and alcoholic beverages are so complicated, so complex,\u201d Swift said, \u201cthat any solution might address one or two of the symptoms but won\u2019t address them all.\u201d

\nWhat does work for a hangover? Time. It will take time for your body to release all the toxins causing your misery, experts say. And the only way to prevent a hangover is to abstain.


\nContributor: Sandee LaMotte, CNN<\/i>\n<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Myths and Facts About Treating a Hangover Are you celebrating the first day of 2023 with a hangover? If so, you might be looking for a method to ease your misery. There are certainly a lot of so-called hangover cures, some dating back centuries. .<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,4,9,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2468","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-health","category-lifestyle","category-news-and-information","category-nutrition"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/claremontcoloniccenter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2468","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/claremontcoloniccenter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/claremontcoloniccenter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/claremontcoloniccenter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/claremontcoloniccenter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2468"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/claremontcoloniccenter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2468\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2472,"href":"https:\/\/claremontcoloniccenter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2468\/revisions\/2472"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/claremontcoloniccenter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2468"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/claremontcoloniccenter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2468"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/claremontcoloniccenter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2468"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}