By VANESSA RAYMOND
HowToDoThings.com
There’s a freight train running through the middle of your head and you’re not listening to Bruce Springsteen … sounds like a hangover.
Symptoms of a hangover include a throbbing head, queasy stomach, dry mouth, sensitivity to light and sound, inability to concentrate and, often, a bit of existential angst thrown in for good measure. Before you run out and buy sauerkraut juice, persimmons or another home remedy, first discern fact from fiction.
First, fluids
Alcohol is a diuretic, which means that it increases urine production, thus decreasing the amount of water available to your body. Sip water or sports drinks, suck on ice cubes and eat food with high water content (i.e. watermelon) to replace the water you eliminated.
Sports drinks provide the added benefit of replacing electrolytes. Along with the electrolytes excreted by your kidneys when you drink too much, you eliminate B vitamins, too. Replenish them with a B-complex vitamin that contains vitamin B1 (thiamin), vitamin B2 (riboflavin), vitamin B3 (niacin), vitamin B5 (pantothenic acid), vitamin B6 (pyridoxine) and vitamin B12.
Do eat
In addition to dehydration, alcohol causes your blood sugar to dip. Stick with bland foods such as toast, crackers, broth or chicken soup (which replaces salt and potassium), but put at least a little something in your stomach.
Bananas replenish magnesium and potassium levels. Eggs contain cysteine, an amino acid that counteracts the effects of acetaldehyde (which is what ethanol is converted to in your body).
About caffeine
If a cup of coffee sounds good with breakfast, remember that caffeine is a diuretic, and you’re already dehydrated. But if you drink coffee regularly, the morning of a hangover is not the time to swear off it (or you’ll have a throbbing caffeine headache on top of your throbbing hangover headache).
Just drink in moderation (like you should have last night!) so that you won’t further dehydrate your already-depleted body. If your stomach is so queasy that your usual cup of joe won’t go down, try caffeine gum instead. If you’re not already a coffee drinker, now is not the time to start.
Turn to nature
Hangover morning is a good time to give herbal remedies a try. Milk thistle extract helps to protect the liver and flush out toxins. Ginger relieves nausea. And feverfew extract can substitute for aspirin.
Your hurtin’ body
If you can maintain your balance, light exercise will bring more oxygen to your blood and eliminate alcohol through your sweat. But if you’re more intent on pain relief, remember that aspirin and ibuprofen can irritate your stomach and even promote gastrointestinal bleeding.
And acetaminophen taxes your kidneys and liver, which are already in overdrive. (If you’re planning to drink again anytime soon, stay away from acetaminophen, as it can cause liver damage.)
Day-after blues
Some of the most disconcerting aspects of a hangover are the mood disturbances that can accompany the physical symptoms. Remember that alcohol is a depressant. Along with the other unpleasant symptoms, this, too, shall pass.
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