Why Hangovers Hurt

Posted: September 10th, 2010 | Author: Dr. Bill Stillwell | No Comments »

A young man, who follows my daily scribblings, wants to know why
“hangovers” hurt so badly, so I’ll try to explain. The Germans, who
know a bunch about hangovers, call hangovers “the wailing of the
cats.” The Norwegians, no strangers to alcohol themselves, call it
“carpenters in the head.”

I have a few other descriptions of hangovers that I can’t print.

The two most common effects of a hangover are nausea and a skull
splitting headache. What it really is…is your body’s way of
reacting to low blood sugar, dehydration and inflammation,

Poof juice hampers the production of glucose, the sugar that fuels
every cell in your body, and in particular, your brain. A glucose
deprived brain can cause irritability, weakness and dizziness.

Firewater also acts as a diuretic, so the kidneys are continually
flushing out vital nutrients, such as magnesium and potassium. If
your consumption level caused you to puke, your hydration level is
taxed at a very high level. The elixir of choice also causes
inflammation of the stomach lining and the blood vessels in the
brain.

That’s the basic science and it probably has never deterred anyone
from drinking.

There are some simple defenses against a hangover, the most obvious
being…don’t drink. Since no one pays any attention to that, I’ll
move on.

1) Drink a lot of water, while you’re dinking alcohol. The water
will help fill you up, hydrate you and lessen the amount of brewski
you can take in.

2) If you are going to be drinking quite a bit, stay away from
brown liquor and red wine. These beverages can turn a mild headache
into a severe one.

3) Eat some food, prior to drinking. This slows the absorption of
alcohol and helps your body to metabolize it.

One old wives’ tale to be avoided, upon waking, is: Taking a jolt of
whatever caused the hangover in the first place. This can only make
the situation worse and will actually prolong the agony.

Here are some foods that will help alleviate the hangover.

Cinnamon. Cinnamon has several stomach settling compounds and over
one dozen pain relievers.

Wintergreen tea. It contains a dozen or so anti inflammatories.

Hot peppers. This is why southern boys often carry a bottle of hot
sauce with them, everywhere they go. Hot peppers contain
antioxidants that repair cell damage and capsaicin, a chemical that
causes the body to release natural opiates, called endorphins.

Bananas. They replace important vitamins and minerals being flushed
out by alcohol, such as potassium.

Fruit juice. This will help you replace glucose and help eliminate
headaches and dizziness. It may also help burn up residual alcohol,
faster.

An extra fish oil dose. You can do this the night of, or the
following morning, or both (which is what I would recommend). It
helps keep your system in balance:

https://www.favoriteformulas.com?awt_l=GnZNU&awt_m=1fk.NFSFRYz2rW

The Chinese also have an herbal cure, where they use kudzu extract,
before drinking. I don’t know where you could get this, except at a
Chinese herbal store. The way it works, as I understand it, is that
it cuts the desire for alcohol and makes the drinker much more
satisfied with a lot less.

I’ll be back tomorrow with more.

With my best wishes for your optimum health,

Dr. Bill

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