SWISS MEDICAL EXPERTISE: ZURICH, MALLORCA, LONDON, NEW YORK

7 Minutes

Edited & clinically reviewed by THE BALANCE Team
Fact checked

A hangover is a group of physical symptoms a person may experience after drinking an intolerable or excess amount of alcohol. The actual medical term for a hangover is veisalgia. In the case of alcohol, it’s simply the rule of positive correlation. The more alcohol you drink the more likely you are to get hungover the next day. However, there is no hard and fast rule that will tell you how much one should drink to avoid hangovers, As the level of tolerance and other factors may vary from individual to individual. Keep reading to know about symptoms of hangovers and 9 incredible ways to cure them.

When your blood alcohol content drops to zero or close to zero, hangover symptoms usually begin. The morning following a night of excessive drinking, they’re usually in full force. You may experience the following effects depending on what you drank and how much you drank:

  • Weakness and exhaustion
  • Drunkenness with a dry tongue
  • Muscle pains and headaches
  • Nausea, vomiting, or stomach pain 
  • Increased sensitivity to light and sound as a result of poor or insufficient sleep
  • Feeling dizzy or as if the room is whirling
  • Shakiness
  • The capacity to concentrate has deteriorated.
  • Depression, anxiety, and irritability
  • Fast heartbeat

The main cause for a hangover is alcohol itself. But not everyone experiences a hangover after drinking. There are several other contributing factors that hangover has. 

  • Your immune system responds to alcohol by becoming inflamed. Certain substances that typically cause physical symptoms, such as inability to focus, memory issues, decreased appetite, and loss of interest in usual activities, may be triggered by your immune system causing symptoms of a hangover.
  • Your body produces more urination when you drink alcohol. As a result, urinating more frequently than usual might cause dehydration, which is characterized by thirst, dizziness, and lightheadedness.
  • Alcohol can cause a drop in blood sugar. You may experience weariness, weakness, shakiness, mood swings, and even seizures if your blood sugar drops too low.
  • The stomach lining is irritated by alcohol. Alcohol raises stomach acid production and slows stomach emptying. Abdominal pain, nausea, and vomiting can be caused by any of these conditions.
  • Alcohol causes the blood arteries in your body to dilate, which can induce headaches.
  • While alcohol can make you sleepy, it inhibits you from sleeping deeper and frequently wakes you up in the middle of the night. You may feel drowsy and weary as a result of this.

The following factors may increase your likelihood of getting a hangover.

  • On an empty stomach, drinking. The absorption of alcohol is accelerated when there is no food in the stomach.
  • Other medications, such as nicotine, are used in conjunction with alcohol. Smoking and drinking appear to raise the risk of a bad day the next day.
  • After drinking, you don’t sleep properly or for long enough. Some studies believe that some hangover symptoms are caused, at least in part, by the poor-quality, short sleep cycle that occurs after a night of drinking.
  • Having a history of drinking in one’s family. If you have close relatives who have struggled with alcoholism, it’s possible that you have a hereditary problem with how your body processes alcohol.
  • Drinking alcoholic beverages with a deeper color. Darker-colored drinks have a higher concentration of congeners and are therefore more prone to cause a hangover.

There is no shortage of remedies and cures for treating a hangover but not all can work for you. Below you’ll get to know our 9 pick-ups for treating hangovers that are easy and workable. 

1. Drink Water

Alcohol use can cause dehydration in a variety of ways. For starters, alcohol is a diuretic. This means that it causes an increase in urine production, resulting in a loss of fluids and electrolytes required for normal functioning.

What are alcohol-induced panic attacks?

Second, drinking too much alcohol can trigger vomiting, which can result in even more fluid and electrolyte loss. Although dehydration is not the sole cause of a hangover, it does play a role in several of the symptoms, including increased thirst, exhaustion, headaches, and dizziness.

Increasing your water consumption can help you avoid getting a hangover by alleviating some of the symptoms. A decent rule of thumb when drinking alcohol is to alternate between a glass of water and a drink. Although this will not definitely prevent dehydration, it will assist you in limiting your alcohol consumption. To avoid hangover symptoms, stay hydrated throughout the day by drinking water anytime you feel thirsty.

2. Caffeine Intake

The effects of alcohol on our sleep are one of the reasons we feel so bad after drinking. The sleepiness you experience can be reversed by the nation’s favorite stimulant—caffeine. Alcohol-induced sleep can be shorter and of lower quality. 

However, a cup of tea or coffee during a hangover may not be enough to compensate for the impairments in brain processes and reaction times experienced by these individuals. Still, it will help you to feel a little more active and charged. There’s also evidence that persons who don’t consume caffeine on a daily basis don’t get the same benefits of better performance and alertness as frequent users.

3. Get a Good Amount of Sleep

For certain people, alcohol can cause sleep disruptions and be linked to lower sleep quality and duration. While low to moderate amounts of alcohol may promote sleep at first, research shows that higher doses and long-term consumption might impair sleep patterns.

A lack of sleep does not create a hangover, but it can exacerbate one. Hangover symptoms such as fatigue, headaches, and irritability can all be increased by a lack of sleep. Allowing your body to recover and get a full night’s sleep will help relieve symptoms and make a hangover more manageable.

4. Take Lemon

For hangovers, lemon juice or lemon tea is a common home treatment. It aids in the assimilation of alcohol and provides immediate comfort. Lemon’s best quality is that it is a soothing treatment that can be used to treat an upset stomach.

Make lemon tea but leave out the sugar. Tea with lemon helps to cleanse the stomach of undesirable substances. Fresh lemon juice mixed in cold water with a pinch of sugar, on the other hand, provides immediate relief. This drink helps to keep blood sugar levels in check after a night of drinking too much.

5. Hair of The Dog

This is a well-known hangover cure. Though it’s mostly based on legend and anecdotal data, there is some evidence that drinking the next morning can help with hangover symptoms. This is because alcohol alters the way the body processes methanol, a molecule found in minute levels in alcoholic beverages.

Methanol is turned to formaldehyde after you drink alcohol, which is a harmful chemical that can produce hangover symptoms. When you have a hangover, however, ingesting ethanol (alcohol) can block this conversion and prevent the creation of formaldehyde entirely. Methanol, rather than generating formaldehyde, is safely eliminated from the body. However, as this strategy can lead to the formation of dangerous behaviors and alcohol dependence, it is not suggested as a hangover therapy.

6. Take Peppermint

Peppermint is a wonderful herb to have on hand. Chew it or drink it with your tea to relax your intestines. Peppermint is a carminative, which means it helps to get rid of gas in the stomach and intestines.

Patients with a hangover should be given 3-5 leaves of peppermint, which may also be made into a tea by pouring one cup of boiling water over 1-2 teaspoons of the dried herb or 5-10 leaves of peppermint, and one or two cups of this preparation will do the thing.

7. Incorporate some carbohydrates into your diet

 Because drinking lowers blood sugar levels, some of the exhaustion and headaches associated with a hangover could be the result of the brain operating without enough of its primary fuel. Furthermore, many people forget to eat while they drink, causing their blood sugar to drop even more. To gently bring levels back to normal, toast and juice are good options.

8. Take Ginger To Ease Nausea

Ginger is one of the greatest natural cures for easing an upset stomach, which is a frequent symptom of a hangover, according to doctors and nutritionists alike.

Ginger helps promote digestion, which can help with stomach distress, citing the irritation of the stomach lining as one of the causes of hangover nausea.

Ginger’s chemical components are thought to help with stomach pain and digestion. 

9. Vitamin B and C

According to a study published in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, many hangover symptoms are caused by nutrient deficiencies, with vitamin B being particularly affected by alcohol consumption.

Vitamin B is necessary for energy, cognitive function, and the proper functioning of the immune and neural systems. Vitamin B deficiency is linked to weariness and poor energy levels. Another vitamin to consider when recuperating from a hangover, according to experts, is vitamin C. Alcohol usage was linked to a reduced immune system, reducing the body’s ability to protect itself, according to research published in 2015 in Alcohol Research Current Reviews. Load up on vitamin C with fruits and vegetables like broccoli, which has 135 percent of the daily value per cup, according to the USDA, to avoid colds, viruses, and potential alcohol-related illness. Oranges, red bell peppers, kiwis, and strawberries are other good choices.

Most people who have drunk alcohol probably have experienced a hangover. It’s perhaps a bit surprising that’s scientists still haven’t fully understood the cause of a hangover. However, this is because the phenomenon of treating a hangover is of more concern than finding the cause. Whatever the cause is hangover symptoms are really unpleasant and disturbing. So, at first, start limiting and reducing your alcohol intake. Still, if you drink occasionally and experience hangover symptoms our above-mentioned tips will surely help you. 

HOW THE BALANCE CAN HELP WITH Alcohol

The Balance RehabClinic is a leading provider of luxury addiction and mental health treatment for affluent individuals and their families, offering a blend of innovative science and holistic methods with unparalleled individualised care.

A UNIQUE METHOD TREATING Alcohol

a successful and proven concept focusing on underlying causes
ONE CLIENT AT A TIME
TAILORED LASTING APPROACH
BIOCHEMICAL RESTORATION
MULTI-DISCIPLINARY & HOLISTIC
TECHNOLOGY BASED TREATMENT
TRAUMA INFORMED THERAPY

Alcohol TREATMENT LASTING APPROACH

0 Before

Send Admission Request

0 Before

Define Treatment Goals

1 week

Assessments & Detox

1-4 week

Psychological & Holistic Therapy

4 week

Family Therapy

5-8 week

Aftercare

12+ week

Refresher Visit

Alcohol Insights

latest news & research on Alcohol
Alcohol Withdrawal Treatment
Alcohol Withdrawal Treatment

Based on the intensity of the withdrawal, individuals with AWS can be managed in an outpatient or inpatient setting

read more
Alcoholism Treatment
Alcoholism Treatment

It is not easy to give up that easily but it’s not impossible either!  The treatment of alcoholism begins with detoxification and ends till you recover fully

read more
Woman sitting at the table with green plants in the foreground.
Alcohol Detox

read more
Cross Faded
Cross Faded

Crossfaded refers to the state of being simultaneously intoxicated by both alcohol and marijuana.

read more

Accreditations

 
AMF
British Psychology Society
COMIB
COPAO
EMDR
EPA
FMH
ifaf
Institute de terapia neural
MEG
NeuroCademy
Neurocare
OGVT
pro mesotherapie
Red GPS
WPA
SFGU
SEMES
SMPG
Somatic Experience
ssaamp
TAA
 

Media

 
Live Science
Mallorca Magazin
Woman & Home
National World
American Banker
Marie Claire
BBC
La Nacion
Metro UK
General Anzeiger
Business Leader
Dazed
Apartment Therapy
Express UK
Bloomberg
Cosmopolitan
Morgenpost
Manager Magazin
Entrepreneur ME
The Guardian
Daily Mail
Mallorca Zeitung
Mirror Uk
The Times
The Standard
The Stylist
PsychologyToday
Psychreg
DeluxeMallorca
Businessinsider
ProSieben
Sat1
Focus
Taff
Techtimes
Highlife
abcMallorca