10 Ways To Avoid a Hangover Analyzed
After a long, hard night of drinking
Credit: cutglassdecanter
I love these sorts of lists: 10 ways to avoid a hangover. They’re invariably interesting and often filled with dumb things to try to get a nice round ten items. Let’s go through them one by one.
- Eat before you drink: definitely smart. In fact, liquor licenses are often not handed out to places unless they also serve food. (I say “often” instead of “never”, because I’m sure there must be exceptions out there.) The one interesting thing is that fatty foods do not absorb alcohol as they claim, but they instead slow down your body’s absorption of alcohol, as the food (and alcohol) are kept in your stomach longer for digestion. I remember something from ServSafe!
- Drink milk: I don’t know anything about this, but the reasons sound like bunk to me. I’d like to see a source. Milk does contain protein and fat, though, which both help slow down digestion and, hence, alcohol absorption.
- Drink plenty of water: yes!
- Avoid salt: IIRC, the real reason to avoid salt is it makes you feel thirstier. Thirstier people tend to drink more, and drinking more tends to result in hangovers. Therefore, avoid bar nuts. Eat fatty, high-protein, or fried foods instead.
- Avoid dark drinks and wine: this sounds like a reference to congeners, so this piece of advice is fine. I’d prefer a source with this, though, rather than just a rather nebulous reference to “impurities”. Avoid all wine, though? I don’t think so, though some people report worse hangovers with red than white.
- Drink the same type of alcohol: this is BS. Alcohol is alcohol is alcohol. The only difference is you’re probably losing track of how much alcohol you’ve already had. When you lose track, then be prepared for a hangover if you keep on drinking. Remember that saying, “Beer before liquor. Never been sicker. Liquor before beer. In the clear.” (or whatever variant you heard as a freshman in college)? That’s also BS.
- Replace lost nutrients: fine. I won’t argue with this.
- Take an aspirin: perhaps I’m nitpicking here, but this isn’t exactly hangover prevention so much as hangover alleviation.
- Avoid sugary and fatty food the day after: no comment, as I don’t know. However, I would again like to see a source for this.
- Don’t drink alcohol when you wake up: agreed. This seems like a pretty dumb hangover remedy to me. However, this kind of falls in line with #8 and #9, as you’re not really avoiding a hangover so much as treating one.
The best way to avoid a hangover? Don’t drink, and if you do, don’t binge drink. Like Darcy says at The Art of Drink, “Drink Better, Not More”.
Alternatively, impress that cutie at the bar with your incredible vocabulary and call it an early night when you go home—with the cutie.
April 24th, 2007 at 12:29 pm
Aspirin thins your blood out and keeps it that way, so your body doesn’t take quite the hit it normally would as it bounces back from the alcohol. So, it’s not a bad idea before you go on a bender. However, it can really mess with your stomach, so if you’re the type to binge and purge, probably not a good idea.
January 11th, 2008 at 6:26 am
As long as the nuts aren’t peanuts, because they will trigger the idea of an alcoholic drink.I add some water to my wine like they used to in Biblical times and like the Romans did.I rarely notice my body telling me I’m thirsty, but when I do I usually want a gin and tonic if it’s in the evening. Of course tonic water is very refreshing and I don’t put much gin in - just enough to take the edge off the tonic water. It’s
somehow the whole experience that matters to me more than the alcohol content. It’s the idea and the chink of ice on the glass - but then I’m very theatrical - lol.
Milk Thistle is the stuff for hangovers. It detoxifies the liver and is very good for curing constipation too.
February 21st, 2008 at 11:02 pm
Aspirin is a blood thinner. So is alcohol. It is a bad idea to ingest aspirin when you expect to get really, really drunk, because your chances of injury are significantly higher, and if you get a bleeder, you are likely to lose blood rather more rapidly than had you not taken the aspirin. Advice? Take it after your binge. The best hangover cure in the world, however, is prevention. The best way I’ve found to NEVER get a hangover is to drink copious amounts of water just before you (quite literally) “fall” asleep, or pass out, or whatever your choice of phrase. If there is a drinking fountain available, drink until you’re full. If you have cups or glasses, try and get through about 2 glasses (without ice) before you saunter off to slumberland. Your body will thank you in the morning.