5 Tips on How to Prevent a Hangover

You know the feeling.  It’s late morning or early afternoon and you just woke up from a long night of partying. Your head is pounding, your mouth is dry, and you want to go to the bathroom but it’s just too much effort to get out of bed.  Compound that scenario multiple times if you wake up in someone else's bed, or let's say on a park bench naked.  Do you remember the night before? Is that puke you taste? Is that a used condom? At this point, chances are you have a terrible hangover.   

  Has anyone seen my dignity? I've seem to have misplaced it...

One of the saddest parts you'll learn about aging is that as you get older these hangovers will only get worse.  Your body will not be able to handle the abuse the way it used to when you were younger.  I remember when I was ummmm let's just say 21, and I could go out and drink all night, puke all over the place, keep drinking, and still wake up feeling like a million bucks.  However, as I age my ability to recover quickly from all night drink fests greatly diminishes.  Now I drink a few beers or a bottle of wine and the next day I feel like my liver was harvested and sold on the black market.  Even worse is that hangovers no longer take a day to get over, but instead take at least two.  That’s a couple days of misery for a few hours of intoxication and debauchery… 

      What age and experience does give me though is a few tips on how to prevent the dreaded hangover.  Before we get into that though let’s get a few things straight.  First off, alcohol is a poison, at least your body thinks so.  That’s why you can get alcohol poisoning and why your body will force you to puke it up if you drink too much of it.  Secondly, these are only prevention tips, so don’t go off into the wild thinking you can now drink more than ever before just because you know how to prevent a hangover.  Lastly, drink with a little responsibility.  Drinking and driving is idiotic and there are no prevention tips for being a jackass.

              1. Keep Hydrated

      This one is pretty simple.  Alcohol dehydrates your body when consumed.  That’s why it’s better for you not to drink mixed drinks that contain a lot of salt or other substances that will help dehydrate your body faster like fruit juices.  Oh your brain hurts? Well that’s because you are so dehydrated that your brain is actually swollen inside your skull.  Best cure for this is to drink water, and lots of it.  You want a sure fire way to tell how hydrated your body is?  When you go to the bathroom take a look at the color of your urine.  Normal healthy urine should be the color of a manila folder. The darker and yellower it comes out means the more dehydrated you are.  I recommend drinking at least two glasses of water before going to sleep after a night of drinking.  Sure it might force you to get up sooner than you intended to take a pee, but trust me it's worth it.  Nobody wants to wake up the next day with their brain pushing against the inside of their skull and the worst cotton mouth imaginable.  

 How I feel when I wake up dehydrated

          2. Food

      I know what a lot of you are thinking right off the bat.  If I don’t eat before I go out drinking I get smashed easier and I don’t have to spend so much money on drinks! Well, let me ask you this.  Next time you do that and get a bad hangover ask yourself how much money you would be willing to pay in order to feel better? I bet it would be more than how much you would have spent on drinks.  All you have to do is eat something before you start drinking, or maybe a little snack before you go to bed.  I’m not suggesting you stuff yourself, either.  I’ve been that guy at the club not able to drink because I just had to have one more bite at dinner.  I hate that disgusting bloated feeling you get when your stomach is full of food and you’re trying to shove alcohol down your throat.  It is very uncomfortable and makes you feel like a fat slob, especially when you realize you can't feel the alcohol because all the food you ate is absorbing it.  Try eating a normal sized meal.  You will not only help protect your stomach lining but help protect your body from mal-nutrition.  Maybe it's just me but I’ve been so hung-over before that even though I was starving I couldn’t manage to get up and go to the kitchen to get something to eat, not to mention if you are dry heaving or nauseous.  Good luck trying to keep food down then.  Next thing you know its been 24 hours since you last ate...

 Uh Oh! Grandpa was drunk again last night and can't hold down his breakfast burrito...

             3. Drugs

      Not those kind of drugs you junkie. I'm talking about aspirin, and believe me it is your best friend. It is an over-the-counter medicine that can be bought anywhere, literally.  I carry a bottle of this stuff everywhere I go, and if I know I’m going out drinking I carry a few in my pocket just in case I don’t make it home.  Many people will tell you to not take aspirin when you drink because like alcohol it is a blood thinner.  However, as long as you aren’t getting into a sleep-walking-knife-fight you should be alright to take it before you go to bed.  Try drinking it with a glass of water though, and not your last beer.  Ibuprofen is great too, but stay away from it if you have stomach issues because it can irritate your stomach when mixed with alcohol.  However, what you should stay away from is acetaminophen, or commonly known as Tylenol.  This can cause liver damage when mixed with alcohol.  And let’s be honest, I think we damage our livers enough already.  But hey, if you think you can live life without a healthy liver go for it! I'll make sure to have a drink for you at your funeral.  The bottom line here is that it's a preemptive strike against any headache you might get later when you wake up no matter how well you feel before you passout.  

    This is how you look when I'm hungover and you try talking to me. 

             4. Strenuous activity

Any activity that makes you sweat is great for beating a hangover.  When you sweat you release alcohol through your pores.  It may be a small amount as opposed to vomiting, but every little bit helps.  You know what goes great with alcohol? Sex! Believe it or not sex is a great way to help prevent hangovers.  If you do it right you can get quite a workout from banging.  Anything that gets you going can help you sweat and in turn can help expel all the alcohol you ingested.  But once again be careful of our friend dehydration.  Make sure you drink plenty of water after a marathon session, you stud you.

 No, that doesn't count you sicko.

 

5. Sober Up

When in doubt the best way to prevent any hangover is to sober up before you go to sleep.  I know this may seem difficult when you are black out drunk and just want to pass out, but it is ultimately the best prevention.  If you follow the first four tips and follow it up with this you are guaranteed never to have a hangover.  Maybe you can catch up on all those episodes of Glee you missed on your DVR.  You know, the ones you're girlfriend recorded that you secretly watch when she's not around?

All in all the best prevention for a hangover is to drink in moderation.  I know that this is harder said than done.  Especially because of social attitudes like peer pressure, or because you don't want to look like a wuss for not taking a tequila shot in from of a hot girl/guy.  Always try to remember how bad you felt the last time you had a hangover and how you swore to yourself that you would never drink again, you liar. 

Sas Martini Lounge would like to remind everyone to drink responsibly.  Do not drink and drive, and remember to tip your waiter or bartender.  Follow the links below if you would like to know more.  And if you like what you read here please subscribe to our blog for weekly blogs just like this one.

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