All good things must come to an end and never was this more true than in the case of a hangover. A fun night out with your friends can very quickly turn into the worst morning of your life. Reeling under the effects of a terrible hangover, we might tell ourselves that we’re never drinking again, but who are we kidding. There’s always going to be a point when we have one drink too many, but that doesn’t mean we have to always feel like death the next day. These five tips could help you party hard and live to tell the tale.
1. Replenish Your Electrolytes
The first step to beating your hangover is to understand why it’s happening in the first place. Alcohol suppresses a hormone called vasopressin which is responsible for making us pee only when we need to. Without vasopressin, you’d be peeing way too much and would be permanently dehydrated. This is why when you’re downing drinks, you’re also running to the bathroom every fifteen minutes. Because you’ve urinated out all your essential electrolytes the night before, the next morning, your body is severely dehydrated and fatigued. Drinking plain water hoping it will bring you some relief won’t cut it. In the extreme electrolyte-depleted state you’re in, you need to supercharge your water. Always keep a stash of electrolyte powders with you for these situations. Mix it with water and drink plenty of it to give back your body all the essential salts and minerals it lost the night before.
2. Refuel With The Right Foods
While battling nausea the next morning, few people would want to eat something. However, starving yourself will only make things worse since you’re not giving your body any fuel to mend itself. The foods you should be getting plenty of when you’re hungover are foods that are naturally rich in potassium. Potassium is an essential mineral for our body since it makes up a part of every cell and is responsible for the healthy functioning of our bodily processes. But the diuretic effects of alcohol from the night before virtually empties your body of its potassium store. Because of this, you feel fatigued and sick. Bananas are a great source of potassium and are easy enough to eat when you’re hungover. Avocados have an even higher amount of potassium in them, so a slice of avocado toast could help you return to normalcy. You could even combine bananas and avocados to make the ultimate hangover-busting smoothie.
3. Drink Ginger Tea
Aside from a throbbing headache, one of the worst side effects of a hangover is vomiting and nausea. Ginger tea has long been used to quell feelings of nausea and calm down an upset stomach. Brew yourself a hot cup of ginger tea and drink up to feel better. While suffering from a hangover, many people can’t keep food down. Eating potassium-rich food won’t help you at all if you throw it back up ten minutes later. Ginger tea is an important addition to your hangover recovery strategy because it will help you keep your food down so your body can utilize it. Sipping on something hot can also help you feel better by reducing your headache and calming you down.
4. Try Some Easy Yoga Poses
Getting out of bed to do yoga can seem like an impossible task when you’re hungover, but it could ease some of your discomfort. One pose in particular can be particularly effective in beating a hangover: the downward dog. This pose causes blood to rush to your brain and can kick-start it back into normalcy. You might feel a wave of nausea overcome you for the first minute when you hold this pose, but it should clear up soon after and leaving you feeling rejuvenated.
5. Learn From Your Mistakes
With these four tips under your belt, you might be better equipped to battle a hangover the next time, but the best strategy is to stop it before it even happens. Drinking more responsibly can help you wake up the next morning with no side effects apart from great memories of the night before. The old technique of drinking one glass of water after every glass of alcohol really does work. It combats the diuretic effects of vasopressin and prevents you from becoming dehydrated. You could even go one step further by drinking electrolyte water along with your drinks. This ensures your body won’t lose any essential minerals and punish you for it the next morning.
Another way to prevent a hangover is to make sure you never drink on an empty stomach. Downing drinks can make you feel full and that you don’t need to eat, but don’t let it fool you. Eating plenty of food before you even start to drink will prevent alcohol from getting absorbed into your body faster. This doesn’t mean you can drink how much ever you want as long as you’re eating plenty of food on the side because it can’t completely prevent you from getting drunk. Know how much alcohol you can handle and try not to exceed your limit.
