How Alcohol affects? | Preventing a hangover | Hangover Remedies

What alcohol does to you and What causes a hangover …

It is perhaps a very stupid thing to ask anybody how it feels when you have a hangover but the fact is that many of us don’t really know what exactly a hangover is.
A hangover is before anything else the aftermath of consuming alcohol.



After you ingest alcohol, your body breaks it down into (among other things) acetaldehyde, before converting it into less harmful substances. At the same time a host of depleted minerals are short-circuiting your nervous system, and that's in addition to the classic headache-and-dry-mouth symptoms caused by dehydration. The result: nausea, twitchy nerves, unpleasantness, pessimism, terrible brain pain, and a temporary suspension of the laws of gravity (also incapability of sustaining erections.) This is caused due to the acetaldehyde’s reaction with the nerve cells of the brain which then send confused signals to the rest of the body doubled with a lazy, more laid back attitude of the person. This is how we get the relaxing feeling once we have alcohol.

However , all alcoholic beverages which have fermented spirits in them ,contain congeners, which are small particles which emanate when grapes, apples, wheat or malt is fermented. While other products of the spirit are filtered out in the process of it becoming the wine or spirit it now is, the congeners remain due to their ability to survive and also because of their miniscule size. These congeners then cause a hangover which is nothing but a headache (sometimes even a body ache). This is because the body, built the way it is, cannot destroy these small particles. These congeners then intervene with the normal functioning of the body and hence the hangover.

How do I know if I have a hangover ? (stupid question)

A hangover is the kind of feeling one would get when he has done about 20 laps of a field in Siberia with only his boxers on . A feverish feeling along with acute backache, headache and ache in the thighs/legs are the most common symptoms of a hangover. Besides these, a person would find himself groggy and wanting to go back to sleep even after what would normally be a good night’s rest. Occasionally a feeling of vomitting is also likely.

Also you would know if you have a hangover if the sight of the leftover bottle of whisky from the night before makes you feel sick.

The severity of a hangover varies according to . . .

a) The amount you've guzzled in a relative period of time. The more you drink in a short amount of time, the more you'll feel the alcohol.
b) Your own innate capacity to deal with the poisons (if we choose to call them that) eg. the less you weigh, the more you'll feel it.
c) Your age .The older you get, the more you'll feel the alcohol the next morning.

Now that we know what exactly the alcohol does to your body we might as well settle down and see what we, as mere mortals can do about it (believe us there is a lot).

Preventing Hangovers

What to do before you go for the night out, the actual act, and the morning after..

1) Stuff yourself a bit before you take the drinks heavy. Launch your night at the pub with a double order of French fries or a Hamburger. The moderating effect this will have on the absorption of alcohol into your bloodstream in the short term may be more important than the clogged arteries in the long term. The reason that food is so important is because it'll soak up the alcohol so that it doesn't all go directly into the bloodstream.

2) Hydrate your body. Prevention is always better that the cure. Sure, you'll probably still wake up at 4 a.m. with a dry tongue and a desperate compulsion to hang your head from the side of the bed , but every glass of juice or water you force yourself to swallow now is worth two in the morning. Everyone knows that alcohol acts as a diuretic. In case that frequent hob-nobbing with the urinal didn't tip you off, more is going out than coming in and that is not a good thing at all. You need to replace that liquid. Also avoid consuming synthetic beverages like colas and other aerated drinks at this time.

3) Choose your poison carefully. There are nasty heady chemicals known to mankind called congeners, (as we talked about earlier) occurring naturally in all fermented drinks. Generally the rule is the darker the drink the more these troublemakers. So you are the least likely to get a hangover with white spirits and the most with dark rum and brandy. On a scale of least (the less likely to result in a hangover) to most (to give that head kicked in by an elephant feeling) these are:

- Vodka
- Gin
- Scotch
- Single Malts
- Brandy
- Rum

For non-spirits, the list is:

- White wine
- Beer
- Lager
- Cider
- Red wine
- Port

Also cheaper brands have more congeners. Avoid if you hate the hung-over feeling.

4) Re-hydrate your body. Once you are back home, take a leak (saves at least one nocturnal trip to the loo. ) Drink what you feel would be twice the amount of liquid you just parted with .This would be unpleasant but really necessary for you to be able to go to work the next morning.

5) Extremely important is to avoid painkillers or analgesics at this moment. Many people devour them as a preventive measure but the actual effect of these is exactly the opposite. All recipes and cures mentioned henceforth are strictly for the morning after.

6) The morning after. Eat your rice, grains, cereals, peas & nuts. Okay not your nuts, but the real nuts. Avoid excessive amounts of caffeine and nicotine. Also try and drink as much fresh juice as you can.

REMEDIES

THE CHEMICAL CURE
There are several things that you can put into your body to ease the pain and assist rapid recovery, including a little-known substance called cysteine. Cysteine directly counteracts the poisonous effects of acetaldehyde. However the availability of the substance in India is not something you could boast about. However if you are able to lay your hands on it take the following recipe for a sure shot cure to the worst of hangovers

1. Take 2 aspirins
2. Take 200mg cysteine (available at select drug stores)
3. Take 600mg vitamin C
4. Take 1 tablet vitamin B-complex
Sit back and watch the science of medicine at its best.

THE HOMEMADE CURE

1 banana
6 large strawberries
2 tablespoons honey
1 cup orange juice
1-2 cups milk
¼ tsp. salt
dash of nutmeg powder
Mix in a blender and Drink it all up.

The "FOR EXTERNAL USE ONLY" CURE

A drop of rose oil on the temples dilates your capillaries and boosts the blood flow to your brain. Could there be a sweeter way to ease a headache?

THE "FREAKY AS HELL" CURE
Tulleeho's Hangover Cocktail.
(We take no responsibility if this makes you feel worse than you already do).

1 large can of tomato juice.
3 Tbs Vinegar.
1/2 teaspoon ajeenomoto
1 lemon.
2 pickled olives (subject to availability)
1 small portion anardana churan
4 slices of onion.
1 finely chopped garlic
3 Tbs sugar.
some chopped mint
3 Tsp capsico Sauce.
Salt and Pepper.
(makes it a helluva weird descendant of a virgin mary)

Mix ingredients in a container, allow to stand for as long as possible, preferably overnight although that means actually predicting a hangover. Which of course is impossible. Strain and Serve.

THE “CONVENIENT FOR ALL” CURE

The best way however to avoid a hangover remains to stay drunk! After all that’s what we are all about. (hic..)

Tulleeho!!!

by Varun Cheemra

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