All people who have previously drunk large amounts of alcohol experience a hangover syndrome. As a rule, the symptoms of a hangover are pain in the head, a person periodically feels hot, nauseous and shivering, feels very weak and has high blood pressure, and is thirsty.
There are people who, in this state, are unable to even get out of bed. They feel very unwell.
In our article we will talk about hangover syndrome, as well as how to get rid of a hangover at home, what to drink for a hangover.
What not to do if you have a hangover
Despite the claim that like can be treated with like, drinking beer or other alcoholic beverages with a hangover is not recommended. Drinking in the morning can relieve the condition for a short time, but the intoxication will only intensify, leading to even more severe symptoms.
In addition, not everyone is able to limit themselves to a shot of vodka or a glass of beer. This behavior leads to binge drinking and the development of alcoholism.
I would like to improve the health of those people who are already dependent on alcohol. If a person is not an alcoholic and he feels bad from a hangover, then in the morning it will not occur to him to continue. Those who have such a desire need to think about it.
Strong coffee is prohibited if you have a hangover.
Strong coffee, contrary to popular belief, should also not be drunk with a hangover. This is an additional burden on the heart and liver. The drink invigorates, activates the nervous system, and if a person is used to drinking it in the morning, then he can drink one cup. The important thing is to add sugar. This will help replenish energy losses and launch metabolic processes in the brain. Large volume causes vomiting. Strong black tea has a similar effect.
Fatty, heavy food will not help with a hangover. This is a burden on the digestive tract and liver, and after drinking alcohol you should make their work easier. It's better to drink strong chicken broth.
How to relieve a hangover: factors and causes
With a severe hangover, a person experiences nausea due to a deficiency of vitamins in the body, which are responsible for the functioning of the digestive organs and other systems. The cause of headaches is the dilation of blood vessels in the brain.
It's worth noting that a bad hangover affects people differently. Some tolerate it quite well, while others are so exhausted that they are unable to get out of their own bed. As for the question of how to relieve a hangover at home, there cannot be a definite answer, since the approach must be individual, based on the symptoms occurring.
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Factors of hangover syndrome
- Disruption of brain activity due to the breakdown of alcohol in the body into acetalhyde and other components. Pronounced stimuli, such as loud noises and bright lights, cause extremely unpleasant sensations. Against the background of high alcohol content in the blood, the body develops adrenaline melancholy , which causes an unreasonable feeling of shame and guilt.
- Dehydration of the body . The fluid entering the body is distributed incorrectly throughout it, resulting in dehydration. Drinking liquid can actively accumulate in the facial area, as a result of which we quite often observe bags under the eyes and swelling on the face.
- Poisoning of the body with toxic substances that are formed as a result of the breakdown of drunk alcohol. The most harmful alcoholic drinks include: rum, whiskey, tequila, as well as other drinks that were obtained by distillation. Such drinks contain various impurities that need to be further digested by the liver.
Mineral water
Each person’s set of hangover symptoms is individual, but everyone suffers from thirst. It is caused by a lack of moisture that the body experiences. If a feast is planned in the evening, you need to stock up on a bottle of mineral water in advance. We are talking specifically about medicinal drinks saturated with metal salts. Table and drinking water will help cope with dehydration, but mineral water containing compounds of micro- and macroelements will restore the balance of electrolytes.
If you are intoxicated, you need to drink a drink with an alkaline property.
You need to choose a drink with alkaline properties, since when intoxicated with alcohol, the pH shifts to the acidic side. This drink will restore the correct balance of substances in the gastrointestinal tract.
Natural mineral waters improve the formation and transport of bile and enhance mechanical contractions of the intestines. This helps to quickly free the gastrointestinal tract from ethanol and its metabolites, undigested food and feces.
To get rid of hangover symptoms, you need to gradually drink at least 1.5 liters of mineral water. If you wake up with unpleasant sensations, you should immediately drink a glass. The healing drink will quickly penetrate the bloodstream, diluting the blood poisoned by toxins. Dehydration is a deficiency of circulating blood, not the total volume of moisture in the body. Alcohol intoxication provokes improper distribution of fluid, so people with a hangover look edematous and swollen. Drinking mineral water will restore the required blood volume.
The microelements contained in the mineral water enhance diuresis and promote the flow of fluid from the intercellular spaces into the bloodstream. Accelerated urine excretion helps cope with swelling and headaches.
Mineral water for a hangover will help cope with swelling
When you have a hangover, you need to drink water gradually. Drinking a bottle in one fell swoop can harm your kidneys. When you wake up, take a glass, and after 20 minutes another one. A liter is distributed over about an hour. With this intake regimen, moisture enters the bloodstream, reducing the concentration of toxic compounds and removing them from the body along with urine.
After drinking water in the morning, some people become drunk with renewed vigor. This means that there is unsplit ethanol in the stomach, and, diluted with liquid, it is absorbed into the blood. In such cases, you should clear your stomach by inducing vomiting. You need to do this two or three times until clean water appears. After this, anti-hangover measures begin.
Life without a hangover
In order not to wonder how to get rid of one or another unpleasant symptom of a hangover, it is advisable to prevent such a condition from the beginning. The best way is to completely abstain from alcohol, but not everyone can do this. It is extremely difficult to talk about complete sobriety, and in general, moderate alcohol consumption does not cause serious harm to health. Drinking a glass of wine in the evening will definitely prevent you from suffering from a headache the next morning.
Leave the race for the leader among alcohol to others. It is enough to skip some toasts or just take a sip of alcohol. It is better to pay attention to low-alcohol drinks or wine.
If drinking along with others is a matter of honor for you, then pay attention to the abundant snack. To get rid of a hangover before it starts, you should not drink alcohol on an empty stomach. Before the feast, be sure to have something filling to eat and take activated charcoal with food (one tablet per 10 kilograms of weight). Activated carbon is a sorbent and will absorb some of the alcohol during the party.
Large amounts of snacks consumed with alcohol will fill your stomach, leaving less room for alcohol. It is better to consider carbohydrate-rich foods as snacks. It could be potatoes or rice. Fish and meat will help slow down the process of alcohol absorption and normalize metabolism. Fatty foods are not very suitable for snacks, especially if you have gastrointestinal problems.
Alcohol involves consuming large amounts of liquid. You should give up sweet sodas. It is better to drink mineral water or regular drinking water. If you smoke, give up this bad habit during the party, or at least set yourself a limit - no more than two cigarettes per evening. The fact is that usually when intoxicated, people begin to smoke uncontrollably, cigarette after cigarette. As a result, nicotine poisoning is also connected to alcohol poisoning.
When drinking alcohol, try to pay less attention to sweets; they significantly speed up the process of alcohol absorption, aggravating the hangover. There should be a break of at least half an hour between drinking strong alcoholic drinks. During this period, it’s better to chat with friends and dance. Any physical activity will be beneficial and will ease future hangovers.
Dairy products
It is useful to drink fermented milk products when you have a hangover. They provide the body with the necessary substances that take part in metabolic processes, improve the functioning of the gastrointestinal tract and the condition of the intestinal microflora.
These drinks have a mild laxative effect, help eliminate toxins, normalize liver function, and fill the body with much-needed energy. The acids contained in dairy products activate the fermentation process, which speeds up the processing and removal of toxic substances.
The most effective drink for a hangover is kumiss. It contains organic acids and B vitamins, which is necessary for the brain and other organs suffering from hypoxia. This is the most carbonated of all fermented milk drinks, and carbon dioxide promotes the rapid onset of the therapeutic effect.
Ayran or Tan
Ayran and tan are considered a good remedy for the unpleasant symptoms of a hangover after drinking alcohol. They contain a large amount of substances needed to restore electrolyte balance. These fermented milk products activate metabolic processes, increase tone, normalize the functioning of the digestive tract, and support liver function.
To quickly relieve symptoms, it is useful to drink kefir. Thanks to its composition, this drink helps accelerate the elimination of toxic ethanol breakdown products from the body, normalizes digestion, and supplies the body with necessary substances and energy.
Another fermented milk product that is useful for hangovers is matsoni. It has a pronounced sorbing effect, promotes rapid cleansing of tissues from toxic substances. Matsoni normalizes blood pressure and eliminates headaches. It has high nutritional value and rich composition. After drinking matsoni in the morning, you don’t even have to have breakfast: it provides the body with all the necessary vitamins, minerals and organic acids.
Contraindications
There are contraindications for the recommendations described. If you have problems with blood vessels, you should not go to the bathhouse with a hangover and you should carefully take a contrast shower. You need to start with warm water, after a few minutes reduce the temperature, take a cold shower for a few seconds, and end with warm water again.
Physical activity and sports while hungover are also prohibited in case of heart disease. Energy drinks are contraindicated for hypertension and high blood pressure.
Aspirin, which helps thin the blood and relieve headaches, is prohibited in combination with alcohol. You can take it only 8 hours after the end of the feast.
Pickles
Alcohol intoxication is accompanied by dehydration of the body. Ethanol washes away electrolyte salts, which disrupts water balance and impairs the functioning of the brain, heart, and kidneys. A deficiency of potassium, sodium, and magnesium salts leads to improper distribution and loss of fluid, which is why severe thirst is felt during a hangover.
A glass of cucumber or cabbage brine saturates the body with ascorbic and succinic acid, sodium, chlorine, and potassium salts. Since ancient times, people in Rus' have used this drink to cure hangovers. You need to use brine, not marinade, preferably from homemade preparations. You should not drink more than a glass.
You should not take more than one glass of cucumber pickle if you have a hangover.
What is
To restore vitality, drink chicken or beef broth.
Oats will help the liver fight poisons. It is prepared as follows: a glass of cereal is poured with one and a half liters of water and boiled for an hour. Then filter and add a little salt.
It is better to avoid unhealthy foods (spicy and too fatty), as well as smoked and canned foods for a while. Give preference, for example, to dried apricots.
Other dishes that have proven their beneficial properties for a severe hangover are cabbage soup, vegetable soup, cottage cheese, and raw eggs.
The morning after the party, treat yourself to a nice breakfast.
Some people develop a huge appetite. But even if you feel nauseous, you need to eat. You can make scrambled eggs, seasoning them with herbs and tomatoes and bacon. As a last resort, when looking at food is disgusting, you need to eat sauerkraut. Thanks to it, digestion will return to normal, and toxins will be eliminated more quickly.
If you have a hangover and want to get rid of it as quickly as possible, you can chew cumin or cardamom seeds.
Honey drinks
Honey is a valuable product containing a huge number of vitamins and elements necessary to normalize metabolic processes and fermentation. It contains fructose, which saturates the body with sugars. This promotes the production of elements necessary for the body and the removal of toxic substances. Sugar is needed by the brain, which suffers from a lack of vitamins, energy and oxygen.
You can choose any type of honey, as long as it is natural and of high quality. To get rid of a hangover, it is recommended to drink honey water (a teaspoon of the sweet product is dissolved in a glass of water at room temperature). You can drink honey with milk or add it to green tea.
How to relieve a hangover quickly at home?
How to get rid of a hangover? To get a person out of this state, it is first necessary to eliminate all toxic substances from his body, and to improve liver function, it is recommended to drink drugs called No-Shpa or other sorbents. Excellent sorbents are activated carbon or Polyphepan.
To prevent a hangover, you need to take one Aspirin tablet, several No-Shpa tablets and the required amount of activated charcoal before going to bed after a feast. Thanks to the above manipulations, you will be able to prevent the manifestation of a morning hangover.
If you prefer the white corner, then drinking one or two tablets will be enough; as for the activated carbon we are used to, you will need to take one tablet for every 10 kilograms of body weight.
Garlic drink
Garlic contains compounds that, when entering the body, are converted into substances similar to the breakdown products of ethanol and the oxidation of its metabolites. Drinking a garlic drink helps neutralize alcohol breakdown products. You need to drink it in small quantities, as large doses can only aggravate the severity of the hangover.
To prepare, you will need a glass of brine. The garlic needs to be chopped, ground with a little salt and added to the brine. Infuse a little, add chopped herbs, consume three or four times a day.
Kvass
In addition to pickles, Russian people dealt with hangover symptoms with kvass. The drinks sold in stores under this name today can hardly be called real kvass. They contain synthetic dyes, flavors, preservatives and are not always prepared using the correct technology. These substances put more strain on the liver and do not help with a hangover at all.
Natural kvass should be drunk with caution when you have a hangover.
Real kvass contains vitamin B1, the deficiency of which is experienced by the brain during alcohol intoxication. Kvass also contains the necessary organic acids, vitamins, and acids that help to utilize toxic compounds. The natural drink contains microorganisms that restore the functioning of the gastrointestinal tract. After a glass of healthy bread drink, your health improves and the functioning of all organs is normalized.
Natural kvass is a fermentation product, so it contains a small amount of alcohol. For this reason, you should drink it with a hangover carefully, little by little.
What can't you do?
Some methods of dealing with this nuisance are not only ineffective, but can also be harmful:
- It has long been believed that cucumber pickle miraculously relieves hangovers. But doctors advise against this remedy - a large amount of salt puts a huge strain on the kidneys, which are already having a hard time coping with the consequences of yesterday's party;
- Avoid coffee and strong tea. These drinks will not give vigor to the body, but will give the heart an additional jolt, which it does not need at such moments. An exception may be weak sweet tea with lemon;
- Avoid going to the sauna or taking a hot bath. This is also a way to protect the heart and blood vessels, so as not to worsen your own condition;
- You can’t tolerate feeling unwell and wait for it to go away. With painful symptoms, the body makes it clear that it feels bad, it is struggling with a serious condition, which means it needs help to cope with it. Don’t be afraid to take medications that improve your well-being, and if you are afraid of harming your liver with them, then reassure yourself that alcohol and the consequences of taking them do much more harm to it.
Lemon drinks
Citrus fruits are useful for hangovers, as they contain citric and ascorbic acid.
For a mild hangover, lemon juice will help cope with unpleasant symptoms without additional measures. To prepare an anti-hangover drink, you will need two or three medium-sized citrus fruits. You need to squeeze out the juice from them and dilute them with water in a ratio of 1:2. Pure juice harms the mucous membranes of the intestinal tract and can burn the esophagus.
Citric acid provokes the production of enzymes to break down the metabolites of ethyl alcohol, and ascorbic acid saturates cells with energy, activates cellular respiration and metabolic processes.
Lemon can help prevent severe hangovers when added to a glass of alcohol at a party. Acids partially neutralize the harmful effects of ethanol.
Improved mood and performance
The following methods will help improve your mood and improve your performance:
- Glycine – 2 tablets every hour, but no more than 5 times a day;
- Picamilon – 150-200 mg per day;
- Pantogam – 2 g per day;
- Mexidol – 1-2 tablets three times a day;
- nonalcoholic beer;
- Novo-passit – 1 pc. every 6-7 hours;
- Negrustin – 6 tablets per day;
- Persen, Panangin – 1-2 tablets before meals;
- Magnesol – dissolve 2-3 tablets in water;
- magnesium solution - take every 50 minutes, 3 times in total.
Most of the drugs presented are nootropics that improve brain function. Phenazepam is contraindicated - it helps you sleep, but can cause vomiting and hallucinations. Known tonics and stimulants of the central nervous system include coffee, tea, cocoa, taurine, guarana, ginseng, and you can take energy drinks.
To replenish your strength, you need to take a walk in the fresh air, drink an infusion of St. John's wort, rose hips, remedies with valerian, motherwort, and soothing herbal infusions. It is forbidden to take Corvalol, Valocordin, Valoserdin if you have a hangover - they contain phenobarbital, which is incompatible with ethanol.
Anti-hangover drinks of different nations
One of the most popular folk recipes for the anti-hangover cocktail “Oyster on the Prairie” was invented in America, in Texas. From there he "immigrated" to France and England, undergoing minor changes along the way. It is prepared like this:
If you add lemon to a glass of alcohol, you can prevent a severe hangover.
- 25 ml cognac;
- 6-8 ml white wine vinegar;
- 5 drops Tabasco sauce;
- 6-8 ml Worcestershire sauce;
- a small pinch of red and black pepper;
- egg yolk.
The ingredients are mixed, the yolk is placed last on the surface. You need to drink the mixture in one sip.
A famous European and American anti-hangover drink is Bloody Mary. It is based on tomato juice and vodka, and includes Worcestershire sauce, salt, black pepper and lemon juice. Add chicken yolk if desired. Tomato juice contains a lot of potassium and lycopene, which helps normalize blood circulation and restore water-salt balance. This drink helps improve well-being, relieves nausea and headaches.
On the Balkan Peninsula and in Turkey, they prefer to treat a hangover with kefir or yogurt. These healthy drinks eliminate nausea, support the functioning of the gastrointestinal tract, and saturate the body with vitamins and microelements.
In China, after drinking too much in the evening, they brew spinach tea the next morning. This green vegetable is rich in magnesium, iron, and vitamins. Green tea is also popular among the Chinese and Japanese. This drink contains antioxidants, which improves brain and cardiovascular function.
What happens to the body during a hangover
In large portions, even beer and low-alcohol cocktails can cause a hangover the day after drinking the drink, but many do not understand why this happens.
Experienced doctors explain it this way: there are several aspects of the effects of alcohol on the human body - intoxication (poisoning), dehydration, metabolic disorders and acidosis (acid-base balance disorder).
Doctors also note other unpleasant consequences that will have to be experienced - the destruction of brain cells and the disorder that causes withdrawal syndrome.
In addition to bad breath, a person who drank a large amount of alcohol in the evening will experience the following symptoms of a hangover in the morning:
- Nausea and vomiting, which worsens when smelling strong aromas.
- Headache of a pulsating nature, concentrated in the temporal and parietal region.
- Intense thirst.
- Sudden jumps in blood pressure.
- Reduced stomach acidity (manifested by a metallic taste in the mouth, fumes and belching with the aroma of rotten eggs) or heartburn.
- Increased body temperature, chills.
In complex cases of intoxication, the patient complains of bloody diarrhea and severe weakness, the inability to move normally. Often after a person drinks some water, he may experience dizziness or darkening of the eyes, pain in the stomach or intestines.
Other recipes
If a person needs to go to work with a hangover, then an anti-hangover cocktail will help to urgently charge the body with energy and reduce the intensity of unpleasant symptoms. To prepare it you will need:
- 0.5 cups fresh orange juice;
- juice of half a lemon;
- 0.5 cups of natural yogurt or kefir;
- two tablespoons of freshly squeezed ginger root juice.
Citric acid will speed up the production of enzymes and the elimination of toxins. Orange will saturate the body with vitamins and fructose. Kefir or yogurt will help the digestive tract, and ginger will eliminate symptoms of intoxication. A glass of this cocktail will have a quick effect; you should drink it after a light breakfast.
To relieve the unpleasant symptoms of a hangover, a mixture of pickled cucumber and kefir or tan will help. You need to chop a medium-sized cucumber, mix it with 0.5 liters of fermented milk drink, add a little ground black pepper. Drink in small portions over an hour.
A decoction of mint and hop cones helps eliminate the psychological manifestations of hangover syndrome. Quite often, after a party, a person suffers from feelings of guilt and experiences symptoms of depression. These plants are natural antidepressants; they normalize the psycho-emotional background and calm. To prepare the drink, pour a tablespoon of ingredients taken in equal parts into a glass of boiling water. Cover with a lid and leave to brew for an hour, then drink.
The best way to avoid a hangover is to control the amount you drink. However, every adult has at least once fallen victim to the green serpent; no one is immune from this. When experiencing the consequences of excessive alcohol consumption, it is important to take the right measures to quickly restore the body's functioning.
Myths about what can quickly get rid of a hangover
— The order of drinking alcoholic beverages is not related to the level of hangover. Rather, the level of hangover depends on the type of drink.
“Hangover pills made from natural ingredients don’t really help much.”
- Nausea during a hangover is not related to alcohol, but rather to low sugar levels and high levels of stomach acid production (especially if you drank red wine).
- Anti-nausea medications that contain phosphorus and fructose can help regulate blood sugar levels and reduce irritation associated with stomach acid.
