Did you know that alcohol is toxic to the body and a hangover is basically the side effects of alcohol poisoning your body system? Find more about hangover and its possible remedies.
How to Get Rid of Hangover Fast
How to relieve hangover
What is hangover? A hangover is a feeling of various unpleasant psychological and physiological effects following a heavy drinking of alcohol in the form of beer, wine, or distilled spirits. Hangovers last for several hours and can be up to 24 hours or even more.
After a heavy night of drinking, different people experience different side effects. But common symptoms include; dizziness, bad breath, photophobia, fatigue, headache, body pain, anxiety, accelerated heartbeat, irritability, fatigue, stomach ache, vomiting and of course erratic motor functions.
In addition to causing hangover, excessive alcohol drinking causes dehydration and when consumed in excess, its toxic effects can harm your liver, brain, gastrointestinal system, central nervous system and sensory perception.
However, there are simple ways that can help relieve some of the symptoms and promote faster body recovery. Here are few ways on how to get rid of hangover fast.
- Green tea
Green tea has a high content of catechins , which is a type of antioxidant that increases detoxification of enzymes in the body. This helps to boost the capacity of liver of burning up fat into energy. The energy from these fat components helps the body immune system to speed up recovery.
- Sports drink
Sports drink has fluid balancing electrolytes and high amounts of sodium. The electrolytes help to detoxify the excess alcohol in the body, hence speeding up quick recovery from hangover.
- Peppermint leaves
Peppermint leaves is a very helpful herb to treat hangover symptoms. It aids digestion and helps to relieve dizziness, nausea and bloating which are most common symptoms of an acute hangover.
Peppermint seeds or leaves speeds up the detoxification of excess alcohol. Simply chew some fresh peppermint leaves or seeds throughout the day. It will help your body to relax and this will speed up quick recovery.
Alternatively, make a cup of peppermint solution, by pouring one cup of boiling water over a few fresh leaves of peppermint. Cover it, then let it steep for twenty minutes and then strain it. Drink the whole cup of this herbal tea after you woke up.
- Tomato Juice
Drinking Tomato juice is another simple way to control hangover symptoms. This Tomato juices contain fructose, a type of sugar that help your body metabolize alcohol more quickly. Plus, it is rich in the vitamins, minerals and enzymes that help quickly to overcome the after-effects of drinking.
- Banana
After excessive drinking, a lot of potassium gets drained from your body. To help replenish potassium as well as lost electrolytes, one simple solution is to eat bananas. They are a very good source of potassium. Also potassium helps to calm the stomach and boost your energy level.
To arrest hangover symptoms, just eat two or three bananas with your breakfast after a heavy drinking. You can also opt to prepare a banana milkshake sweetened with honey.
- Ginger
Ginger is the best home remedy that is used to cure hangover symptoms like nausea and vomiting. Ginger helps to a great extend in the digestion of alcohol; this soothes the stomach and provides fast relief.
To arrest hangover symptoms just chew small pieces of ginger throughout t the day to get a relief from a hangover. You can also have ginger tea.
Alternatively, add ten slices of fresh ginger root to about four cups of water and boil for ten minutes, strain and then add half cup of lemon juice. Drink this while it is still warm, many times throughout the day.
Hangover Cure Food
There are certain foods that naturally combat some of the ill effects of a hangover. Spicy or fried foods are generally not recommended. During this hangover period, keeping the body well nourished is generally a good idea. Some of the foods that can help to cure the symptoms of a hangover are as discussed below:
BRAT
BRAT diet consists of banana, rice, applesauce and toast. A combination of these foods is the best hangover cure. Bananas are loaded with potassium and other minerals that are very useful to the body. After excess drinking, your body loses very vital minerals resulting to nausea and dizziness. Taking a BRAT diet will help to raise your blood sugar level hence facilitating quick recovery.
Biscuits or crackers
It is always easy to eat Biscuits even on a full alcohol soaked stomach, biscuits help to raise your blood sugar level, and this makes your body to have energy to deal with nausea and dizziness, which are symptoms of a hangover.
Eggs and Bacon
Eggs and bacon are very delicious fatty-foods which mean that almost everyone can eat them almost at every time. The fats will help your body with some calories while the eggs will infuse your body with amino acids which have alcohol anti-toxins. This is the fastest way to recover from your hangover.
Soups and bouillon
Soup and bouillon will help to restore some of the nutrients i.e. potassium and sodium to your body. You need to drink the soup slowly without any other ingredient.
Fresh fruits and vegetables
These types of food are always a good idea, especially during this time of purifying and healing. Alcohol Takes away from the body much of its nutrients, so fresh fruits and vegetables can help restore its natural balance.
Beans
After a night of heavy drinking your body loses a lot of magnesium you start to feel muscle spasms, cramps, anxiety, and irregular heartbeats. Beans have 32% of daily value of mineral requirement in the body, they help to activate Energy metabolism in the body. Take a cup of cooked beans and this will helps to drive away hangovers.
Broccoli
Broccoli is rich in folic acid and vitamin B that are usually depleted by excess alcohol intake. Broccoli anti-inflammatory benefits also help to combat oxidative stress, which is as a result of excessive alcohol intake.
Sweet potatoes
After a heavy night of drinking, it’s important to consume unrefined carbohydrate like tuberous roots, this is because alcohol is known to deplete blood sugar metabolism in the body. Unrefined carbohydrates contain a long chain of sugar molecules that the liver gradually breaks down to provide energy to the body.
Hangover Cure Drinks
The following are simple natural ways to avoid the pain, or to tackle headaches, nausea and other general after-effect of excessive drinking, these include:
Vegetable juice
Symptoms of hangover such as nausea, irritability, headaches or vomiting are due to loss of electrolyte and sodium in the body. A vegetable cocktail will be the most powerful drink to replenish the lost electrolytes and other useful minerals and hence drive away the hangover.
Water
Alcohol is diuretic, this means that it pushes liquids out of the body and when nothing is left, the body draws water from the major organs such as the brain , this results to headache and nausea; so after waking up with a headache and nausea your priority number one should be to drink a lot of water.
Coconut water
Coconut water is known to have all the five electrolytes found in the body; so drinking a lot of coconut water helps to drive away the hangover by replacing the electrolytes depleted by alcohol.
Ginger tea
Ginger tea is an effective soothing brew that helps to reduce nausea and motion sickness. It can also ease stomach pain and dizziness, hence taking ginger tea after a night out of heavy drinking, helps to drive away the symptoms of hangover.
Coffee
Coffee is known to contain caffeine which is a mild stimulant, caffeine helps to counter act on fatigue, dizziness, other symptoms related to hangover.
Lemon juice
Lemon can help to get rid of after- effects of excessive drinking like dizziness, headache, muscle pain and queasiness. Lemon helps in maintaining metabolic balance in the body i.e. by controlling the blood sugar level and altering the Ph Level.
After you have woken up with a hangover simply take a full glass of lemon juice. You can add two teaspoon of honey if need be. After two hours you can also take another glass of lemon juice.
Honey
Honey being rich in potassium is a very excellent cure of hangover symptoms. In addition honey contains fructose, a type of sugar that helps to metabolize the extra alcohol in the body system hence reducing hangover symptoms.
- Take three to four teaspoons of honey at one-hour interval until the hangover symptoms reduce.
- You can also add two teaspoons of honey to one cup of warm water and drink it slowly
Tomato juice
Drinking tomato juice is another simple way to control hangover symptoms. This vegetable juice contains fructose, a type of sugar that helps your body to metabolize alcohol more quickly. Also it is rich in vitamins, minerals and enzymes that help quickly to overcome the after-effects of drinking.
Pour fresh tomato juice into a glass, mix in one tablespoon each of fresh lemon juice and honey, along with little cayenne pepper then drink this juice in the morning and again in the afternoon.
Yogurt
Though alcohol causes dehydration, it also makes it hard for the body to maintain blood sugar balance, why some time you experience seemingly contradictory symptoms. To arrest the bad feeling take a yogurt with two bananas .this help to stabilize blood sugar and fight the associated mix of nausea and hunger.
Pickle juice
This is a powerful drink that drives away the hangover. The sour liquid contains vinegar, salt and water, which help to rehydrate and replenish electrolyte and sodium levels. To make the most out of it, sip two ounces (measure it out in a standard shot glass) in the morning and afternoon.
How Long do Hangover Last
This has been a common question asked by many people, though there seem to be no fixed know time that a hangover last but in most cases it can’t last more than 24 hours. The most determinant factor of how long the hangover will last is what caused the very hangover or internal rate of body metabolism. The common known causes of hangover in the body include:
- Methanol
- Psychological traits
- Sleep disturbance
- Alcohol withdrawal
- Dehydration and imbalance of electrolytes
- Drug use
- Gastrointestinal problems
- Acetaldehyde
- Low blood sugar
- Genetic
The most effective cure that works in less than 24 hours is rest, rehydration and sleep.
Typically, a hangover will end within 24 hours. Hangovers will end several hours after you stop drinking, this is the time your blood alcohol concentration (BAC) has fallen. Symptoms of alcohol hangover begin when the blood alcohol concentration is zero and may continue up to the next 24 hours. This is what happens in most cases of excessive or typically average drinking. But in more severe cases, sometime a hangover can continue for over 72 hours.
Hangover Home Remedies
Dealing with the day after symptoms of drinking too much is a bit like having a sickness, you feel awful, from having a headache, to having body ache and sometime you don’t feel like getting out of bed and not interested in doing anything.
While there may be no any quick remedy for a hangover, there are a few suggestions that might help you feel better once the hangover has begun. For the most part of theses remedies is all about treating the symptoms because that is what matters most as far as a hangover is concerned. Below are some of the remedies:
Oatmeal
Oatmeal is a starch carbohydrate hence eating Oatmeal helps to re-energize the body and drive away the hangover. Various studies have showed that oatmeal helps to boost production of serotonin-feel good hormone-which may help you feel a bit better.
Watermelon
Watermelon is loaded with potassium, magnesium and L-citrulline, an amino acid which has been shown through various studies to boost blood circulation, this factor help your body to process and do away with toxins. Also through blood circulation the liver is detoxified and puts some rebound in fatigued muscles.
Turmeric
Turmeric contain a compound called curcumin; which is a detoxifying agent , curcumin helps the liver to speeds up the detoxification of alcohol in the body hence driving away the hangover symptoms.
Red ginseng tea
This was established by a Korean study which found out that consuming a little less than half a cup of red ginseng beverages like tea, can help to fight alcohol induced fatigue, stomach pain and thirst more effective than equal amounts of water.
Honey
Honey is made up of mostly fructose; this component helps the body to get rid of alcohol faster. Also it helps the body to cope up with hypoglycemia caused by excessive drinking.
Asparagus
Asparagus through a Korean study was found to boost levels of enzymes that break down alcohol. Although the research mainly focused on eating it asparagus before a hangover sets in, it’s believed by researchers to remove alcoholic toxins from the body system.
Eggs
Eggs have high content of cysteine an amino acids that can break down toxins down your body. Also eggs have heavy loads of vitamin B which helps in a great way to fight hangover related symptoms.
Sleep
A hangover is not caused by lack of sleep, but lack of sleep makes it worse. Therefore sleeping the whole day gives the body enough opportunity to heal itself.
Walk
Fresh air, sunshine and a little light cardiovascular exercise increase oxygenation and metabolism rate.
Over-the-counter Antacids
Take antacids medications that treat stomach upsets will decrease your vomiting and diarrhea symptoms, which are as a result of excessive drinking.
How to Get Rid of a Hangover Nausea
OTC pain Relievers
The most effective pain reliever for hangovers is ibuprofen; but you can only use it as recommended, ibuprofen helps to fight nausea and headache pains.
Sports Drinks
Sports drinks such as Lucozade sport and Powerade are good for you during hangover for the same reason they are good during heavy exercises. They restore electrolytes that your body lost. Also most sports drinks on the market are surprisingly gentle to the stomach. Just make sure to avoid intense flavors.
Eat simple carbohydrates
Bland foods containing complex carbohydrates, such as toast or crackers, can counter low blood sugar levels in people subject to hypoglycemia and can possibly relieve nausea.
Aspirin
Over the counter headache remedies like aspirin can be used to forestall headache and consequently getting rid of nausea and other related hangover symptoms.
Take a cold shower
A shower makes most people to feel much better. The warm water feels good on your aching joints. Muscles and head. Let the water massage your body for as long as possible.
Drink a lot of water
Alcohol causes dehydration and increases the body’s urinary output because it is a diuretic substance. Drinking a lot of water will rehydrate your body and accelerate the detoxification process.
Further references:
- Hangovers: Treatment and causes-medical news today https://www.medicalnewstoday.com
- Hangover cures- live well nhs.uk
- The best hangover Cures (backed by Science)- Healthline https://www.healthline.com
- How to cure hangovers symptoms and treatments https://www.drinkaware.co.uk
- Hangover clinic hangover.clinic
