Sooo you drank too much last night and now your despretely searching for a remedy to stop that hangover! First some general facts about alcohol and hangovers because you can only beat the enemy if you know his weapons!

General Facts

An average adults can process one unit of alcohol an hour which is about 10ml or 8g of pure alcohol. When someone is intoxicated, their bodies can not process alcohol quick enough and too much alcohol circulates the body and affects the brain. Men and women are advised not to drink more than 14 units of alcohol a week.

A pint of beer of 5% can have 215 calories, the same as a small chip packet. 

Approximately 40% of student binge drink at least once within a period of two weeks. 

Student who binge drink multiple times a week perform worse in school than those who do not binge. 

Alcohol makes you urinate more which can leave you dehydrated.
Alcohol can trigger an inflammatory  immune response in the body.
Alcohol can upset the acidity of one’s stomach causing discomfort or constipation.
Alcohol can lower people’s blood sugar which can leave them shaky and tired.
Alcohol can cause blood vessels to dilate, leading to headaches. Hot tubs can also dilate blood vessels, never drink and tub! It’s dangerous! Excessive dancing when drunk can be dangerous, because you are dehydrated, or can pull a muscle.
When drunk, people tend to sleep loads, but the quality of sleep is not good. That’s why we wake up feeling exhausted despite sufficient sleep.

Now that you know more about what happened, here are some cure myths you may have heard, we are here to debunk the myths and give you the truth!

Hair of the dog

An expression referring to drinking (again) the morning after, when you are already hungover. The expression varies in multiple languages, usually translating to “counter beer”.  This has not been proven to help with hangovers. 

Sleep

If you are suffering from a bad hangover on a Saturday morning and you don’t actually have big plans, It would actually be a good Idea to sleep in, your body and your brain will thank you for every hour they will get. Your body is in recovery mode! 

Supplements 

Rolling out of bed after a tough night almost everyone wishes for the one magic potion that would relieve themselves from the headache and nausea. And after the old known rule- Where a need there is also a product! – Many Scientist tried to develop Supplements in order to find a quick cure to a hangover. But studies showed that most of them are not really making a difference… Sorry 

Exercise
Exercising after a night of heavy drinking can clear one’s guilt. A hard workout with a hangover may prove to be dangerous, you are clumsy and risk injury. Working out when you are already dehydrated can lead to more loss of fluid, which can increase negative feelings. However, gentle hangover workouts can help feel more awake and boost energy. 

You can sweat out some of the toxins, around 10% of alcohol that isn’t metabolised gets out via urine, breath and sweat. 

Though there are all these “cure” nothing will be as effective as prevention…

Because : “Prevention is the key!” – All EPH profs, always. 

There are a couple of things which could be done in order to prevent a huge handover the next day… and who doesn’t want a fun night out and being a well-prepared UM student the next day… 

   Pump your stomach full of carbs before starting drinking. Pasta or a big portion of beans on a toast will do its wonders because it will slow down the alcohol absorption. If you are not a big eater, no worries, a glass of milk or a shot of olive oil will show the same effects.

   Always drink water in between and before you go to bed. As you know drinking alcohol will dehydrate you, therefore keep yourself fresh with a lot of water during your night out. Also, after a fun night out, drinking water should be on your checklist of your bed preparation list. On the other hand, the salt intake has to be taken into account as well, therefore, sports drinks are recommended, they can work as wonders on hangovers, because they will replace your sugars and salts very quick.

Another important thingy… stick to drinks which have a light color. The darker a drink is, the more likely is it that you will suffer the next day. Avoid red wine, dark rum or whiskey and go for vodka, gin and white wine.

… besides that, keep your hand off the nasty fizzy mixers, so a vodka coke would not be the best choice

If you are an academia of the FHML you probably think about some other prevention measurements, such as painkillers. Be careful, here the right choice has to be taken. The most effective one is Ibuprofen, but, of course, in a recommended dosage.

If you only suffer from a headache, aspirin will do the job as well…