Hangovers usually occur after alcohol consumption, when your body has nearly finished metabolizing all that alcohol.
When there is almost zero alcohol left in your bloodstream, you’re likely to start feeling the hangover settle. Symptoms include nausea, headaches, fatigue, and irritability.
If you’re reading this, you’ve probably experienced your share of horrible hangovers.
The morning after a night of drinking can be unbearable, riddled with nausea, a dry throat, and a raging headache to say the least.
This discomfort can even get to a point that hinders you from functioning normally. That’s what you get for engaging in excessive alcohol consumption!
The best way to prevent a hangover is to stay hydrated and drink a moderate amount.
However, if you find yourself knocking back more glasses than you should, here are a few tips to prevent a raging hangover.
It’s not guaranteed that you’ll have a hangover-free morning, but it would at least be a little more manageable!
Related article: How Different Alcohols Can Make You Different Kinds of Drunk
Common symptoms of a hangover
Before we learn how to prevent a hangover, let’s have a look at some of the most common hangover symptoms.
These symptoms usually occur after alcohol consumption, when your body has nearly finished metabolizing all that alcohol.
When there is almost zero alcohol left in your bloodstream, you’re likely to start feeling the hangover settle.
Symptoms of a hangover include the following, with the possibility of you experiencing a combination of any of these at the same time depending on what and how much you’ve been drinking:
- Headaches
- Dizziness
- Muscle aches
- Shakiness
- Dry mouth
- Nausea and other stomach pains
- Increased heartbeat
- Fatigue
- Disrupted sleep
- Inability to concentrate
- Hyper-sensitivity to sound and light
So, how do I prevent a hangover?
Doesn’t sound like something that would be pleasant to experience, right? Well, in order to prevent another one of those haggard mornings, follow these steps below!
1. Be picky with your drink of choice
Yes, we understand everyone has their poisons. But what you drink has an effect on the intensity of your hangover symptoms!
If you know that you can’t afford to be hungover the next morning, stick to lighter drinks.
According to a study published in Alcohol: Clinical and Experimental Research, dark liquors can cause worse hangovers than other alcoholic drinks.
This includes spirits like bourbon and rum.
These drinks contain a high amount of cogeners, a byproduct of fermentation that causes an exacerbation of hangover symptoms.
In light of this, it would probably be best to just have vodka or gin throughout the night to prevent a hangover.
Related Article: Dos & Don'ts of Dealing With Hangover
2. Stay hydrated
Dehydration is one of the main effects of alcohol, and it’s also the cause of every other hangover symptom.
Because of this, the best advice anyone can give you to prevent a hangover is to not forget to drink water.
When you drink water throughout the night also matters.
It would be ineffective to chug water at the end of the night because by then, your body has already been losing electrolytes through urine, sweat, and sometimes vomiting.
The best way to stay hydrated is to alternate between a glass of alcohol and a glass of water.
3. Moderate your consumption throughout the night
When thinking of the word “moderation,” it may seem like there’s no way to quantify it.
However, science has proven that it takes the human body a little over an hour to metabolize one drink.
Pacing yourself to one drink an hour may give your body time to process each drink fully, rather than build up a large amount of alcohol in one go.
4. Sleep well
Sleep deprivation and hangovers don’t go well together.
You need good sleep in order to recover from a night out, and having to wake up early the next day won’t help you function well throughout the day.
While lacking sleep itself won’t cause a hangover, it will intensify your other symptoms.
Without proper sleep, you’re more likely to experience worse fatigue, headache, and irritability.
This is why sleep is also crucial to prevent a hangover!
5. Up your vitamin B intake
You may not be thinking about vitamins before a night out, but having some vitamin B before going drinking may prevent a bad hangover the next morning.
Vitamin B plays a role in converting carbs into energy and breaking down whatever you consume.
You can find it in food like fruits, meat, eggs, and fish, so eating these food items before drinking may help alleviate your hangover symptoms.
You can also take supplements, but if you’re only taking them the morning after, chances are it won’t make much of a difference.
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