Busting 6 widespread myths about hangovers and hangxiety : NPR

Hangover cures are a dime a dozen. Guzzle just a few uncooked eggs. Take an aspirin earlier than mattress. Chug a beer within the morning.

These cures promise to banish a number of the nasty signs that may include ingesting method an excessive amount of alcohol: headache, nausea, vertigo, nervousness — or all the above.

However is there fact to any of those claims? Sadly, no, says Dr. Ryan Marino, a medical toxicologist and an emergency doctor at College Hospitals Cleveland Medical Middle. “I want there was some magic drink everybody might have, however there is not.”

The one surefire option to forestall a hangover is to abstain from ingesting, he says. And upon getting a hangover, the one factor that may get you over it’s time.

In the event you plan to drink alcohol and need to scale back potential signs, follow moderation, he says. Meaning limiting your alcohol consumption to 1 drink a day or much less for girls, and two drinks a day or much less for males, in keeping with the Division of Well being and Human Companies.

Consultants break down the science behind six widespread hangover myths — and clarify how alcohol impacts your physique.

Fantasy: All hangovers are the identical.

The signs and severity of your hangover — like your alcohol tolerance — relies on many components, says Marino. That features age, weight, gender, ethnicity, household historical past, dietary standing, smoker standing, temper, well being situations or whether or not you take any drugs.

“Your hangover goes to be completely different from everybody else you realize,” he says. For instance, whereas one individual may expertise complications and vomiting after only one drink, one other may throw again whiskey gingers all night time and get up feeling drained however in any other case unscathed.

In reality, some folks might not expertise any signs. In accordance to 1 examine, about 25% of people that drink to intoxication haven’t got hangovers in any respect.

The size of hangovers can even range. They will final 24 hours or longer relying on how a lot you drank, in keeping with the Nationwide Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.

Fantasy: You possibly can forestall a hangover by ingesting water or utilizing hydration dietary supplements.

Alcohol will increase urine manufacturing, so it is true that dehydration can typically contribute to the harm of a hangover.

However that is just one symptom of over-imbibing, says Marino. Consuming could cause irritation, gastrointestinal irritation, disrupted sleep and low blood sugar. It additionally exposes you to acetaldehyde, a poisonous byproduct produced when your physique metabolizes alcohol, that may harm your cells and tissues.

Do not count on merchandise like sports activities drinks, vitamin-infused patches or hydration packets to work any miracles earlier than or after an evening in town, says Marino. Whereas they could preserve you hydrated, they probably will not deal with every other hangover signs.

However ingesting water or different hydrating drinks throughout an evening out remains to be a good suggestion, he says. It could actually provide help to follow moderation and remind you to area out your drinks.

Fantasy: A “hair of the canine” can cease a hangover in its tracks.

Some folks assume {that a} “hair of the canine,” an alcoholic beverage consumed the morning after an evening of heavy ingesting, may help treatment a hangover.

It could provide some short-term reduction by elevating your alcohol ranges and masking signs like jitteriness or nervousness, says Marino. “However your hangover is simply going to be pushed down the street.”

A hangover is usually a delicate type of alcohol withdrawal, in keeping with the NIAAA. Hangover signs peak — and sure, really feel their worst — when the physique’s blood alcohol focus returns to zero.

Ultimately, that bloody mary you had at brunch will go away your system, and you will have to take care of the aftermath. You are not doing your self any favors by piling on, says Marino.

Fantasy: Beer earlier than liquor, by no means been sicker. Liquor earlier than beer, within the clear.

Some folks swear by this adage. However on the whole, it isn’t the order of alcohol that determines the severity of your hangover, says Marino. It is how a lot you devour.

You are more likely to drink extra alcohol in a shorter period of time should you kick off your night time with laborious liquor, he says. It makes you inebriated quicker — and chances are you’ll really feel inclined to drink greater than you’d slowly sipping a beer.

Some sorts of liquors might make hangovers extra disagreeable. In keeping with analysis, darkish liquors like bourbon and brandy include increased ranges of congeners, or the chemical compounds produced throughout the fermentation course of that give an alcohol its distinctive style, odor and shade. Typically talking, the extra congeners an alcohol has, the more severe the hangover is more likely to be.

Fantasy: Taking painkillers earlier than mattress may help you get forward of hangover signs.

Whereas it is a widespread follow to achieve for over-the-counter ache relievers to try to decrease your headache within the morning, Marino says you might probably do much more hurt than good.

Consuming only one alcoholic drink a day with non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medication like Advil, Aleve or aspirin can improve your threat of gastrointestinal bleeding by 37%, in keeping with the NIAAA.

If you mix alcohol with medication containing acetaminophen, like Tylenol, you run the chance of liver harm, in keeping with the NIAAA. Ingesting an excessive amount of of 1 or each substances will be poisonous to the liver. For that cause, the Meals and Drug Administration advises in opposition to ingesting when taking any medication that features acetaminophen.

In the event you’re taking any kind of medicine, proceed with warning, says Marino. “Even when your medicine does not have a label that claims ‘Don’t take with alcohol’, that does not imply you may’t be affected.”

Fantasy: Hangover signs are bodily.

It could actually additionally have an effect on your psychological well being. Consuming an excessive amount of could make you’re feeling overwhelmed, irritated or on edge. And there is a time period for it that is been trending on social media: “hangxiety.”

Whereas alcohol can initially have a relaxing impact, your physique can rebound because it leaves your system, inflicting a surge in adrenaline, a racing heartbeat or emotions of fear or stress, says Dr. Nzinga Harrison, a doctor specializing in psychiatry and habit medication.

It is a tough symptom to determine. You possibly can expertise hangxiety after even only one drink, says Harrison. And “it could come earlier than bodily signs or with out bodily signs in any respect.”

To fight hangxiety, Harrison suggests doing actions to convey down your adrenaline ranges, like mindfulness and meditation, and convey up your dopamine — like spending time with associates and getting plenty of sunshine.

And whereas the one option to absolutely forestall hangxiety and hangovers is to abstain from alcohol, she says it helps to enter social conditions in the very best headspace. Earlier than you go to that occasion, drink water, eat effectively and be sure you’re surrounded by individuals who make you’re feeling constructive and related.

“All of that biologically and psychologically might not forestall the hangxiety solely, however will lower the severity of the hangxiety,” says Harrison.

A fast observe: If alcohol is inflicting you stress or hurt, search medical recommendation. There are a selection of therapies, together with counseling, drugs and help teams, to assist individuals who need to finish that dependency. This contains Alcoholics Nameless, which has helped numerous folks. This NIAAA information may help you discover a program that is best for you.

The digital story was edited by Malaka Gharib. The visible producer is Beck Harlan.

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