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The Doctors Book of Home Remedies II: Hangover

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Hangover

Maybe you didn't go so far as to wear the proverbial lamp shade last night. But this morning your head feels as though you wore a streetlight--pole and all. So what do you do now? You can't just lie there all day, as lifeless as the worm at the bottom of a tequila bottle. You've got to quiet down those goldfish so that your headache clears (ever notice how their swimming makes the most terrible racket the morning after?) and settle that roller coaster in your stomach ... and then there's that hairy tongue to shave. So here's how to get over that hangover the moaning ... er, morning after.

Run for some Gatorade. Even though now is not the time to run a marathon, you can get relief the same way runners do--with Gatorade and other sports drinks that help replace electrolytes (potassium and sodium) and water, says John Brick, Ph.D., biological psychologist and chief of research in the Division of Education and Training at the Center of Alcohol Studies at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey. "Part of the problem of being hung over is that you're dehydrated, and beverages like Gatorade replace the essential fluids you lost from drinking." He suggests consuming sports drinks "the morning, afternoon and evening after."

Hit the honey. "You can help a hangover by eating a slice of bread or some crackers spread with honey--or any other food that's high in fructose," says Seymour Diamond, M.D., director of the Diamond Headache Clinic in Chicago and executive director of the National Headache Foundation. "That's because fructose (a natural sugar) helps the body burn off alcohol faster, and honey is the sweetener with the highest concentration of fructose." Other good sources of fructose are apples, cherries and grapes.

Get fruit "juiced." A drink may be the last thing you want to reach for now, but relief will come faster if this time you get juiced on tomato, orange or grapefruit juice. "A large glass of any of these helps in two ways: It's high in fructose, and it's also high in vitamin C, which helps minimize the effects of alcohol," says Dr. Diamond.

Be bullish on bouillon. A bowl or cup of bouillon is the perfect morning after meal. It's light enough for the way you're feeling, and it can help replenish the salt, potassium and other vitamins and minerals you lose from drinking, says Dr. Diamond.

Avoid coffee. That's right! That jolt of caffeine may be just what you think you need, but Dr. Brick says there is no scientific evidence that caffeine helps a hangover in any way. "And since coffee is a diuretic, it may worsen your already dehydrated state," he adds.

Have a water nightcap. "The biggest mistake most people make in treating hangovers is not drinking enough water," says Dr. Brick. "Since alcohol is a diuretic that dehydrates the body, I recommend drinking as much as you can before going to bed and then as much as you can the next morning."

Drink it with or without a twist. "Mineral water also works well," according to James Chin, former head bartender at Trader Vic's in San Francisco. "So does soda water with a squeezed lime and a dash of bitters to settle your stomach."

How to Take the Drunk Out of Drink

If you have to be a party animal, here are some tips on how to avoid feeling like road kill once the festivities end.

Nurse your drink. "It sounds obvious, but the slower you drink, the less you drink," says Seymour Diamond, M.D., director of the Diamond Headache Clinic in Chicago and executive director of the National Headache Foundation. "And the less you drink, the less severe your hangover." His advice? Consume no more than one beverage--beer, wine or cocktail--per hour of indulgence.

Skip the pretzels and nuts. "Salty foods (like those served in most bars) make you thirsty, which makes you drink more," says John Brick, Ph.D., biological psychologist and chief of research in the Division of Education and Training at the Center of Alcohol Studies at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey. "The combination of alcohol and salty foods also speeds the dehydrating process, a big factor in hangover."

Go for protein-rich or high-fat foods. "Cheese and other foods high in protein stay in your digestive system longer, so there's something in your stomach to soak up the alcohol," says Dr. Diamond. The result is a less severe state of intoxication--and thus less of a hangover the next morning.

Drink "light." Sometimes it's not the alcohol per se that gets you but rather the additives and impurities--called congeners--formed during the making of the beverage. Generally, for people sensitive to congeners, a good rule of thumb (or of three fingers, as the case may be) is the darker the drink, the cloudier your head will feel the next morning, says Dr. Diamond. Vodka doesn't have that many congeners, but bourbon, scotch, whiskey, red wine and anything aged is loaded with them.

Heel the "hair of the dog." It's demon rum (or gin, bourbon or whatever) that got you this sick, so imbibing more of it the morning after certainly won't help. A morning-after Bloody Mary will only mask the symptoms of your hangover--and will make you feel worse when the masking effect wears off.

Don't take aspirin before you imbibe. Despite popular opinion that taking aspirin before you drink will help minimize or avoid a hangover, just the opposite is true. Scientists at the Alcohol Research and Treatment Center at the Veterans Administration Hospital in New York City found that taking aspirin before or during drinking increases blood alcohol concentrations to induce a quicker and more severe state of intoxication.

But do take it after. If you have a headache or a hangover, you can take aspirin or Alka-Seltzer, but be sure to wait at least four hours after you've finished drinking. "Aspirin is probably still the best way to treat a hangover," says Dr. Brick--but you need to wait a while. Aspirin or similar compounds on a booze-bothered belly can be irritating.

Look for no-smoking zones. Research shows that smoking, or being in a smoke-filled room, while you drink gives you a double whammy of a hangover. Both alcohol and tobacco contain a hangover-causing substance called acetaldehyde, which stresses the liver.

Load up on vitamin C. Taking vitamin C before drinking has been shown to counteract some of the effects of alcohol in some people. "In our tests, people who took vitamin C beforehand weren't as severely affected by alcohol as those who didn't take it," says Vincent Zannoni, Ph.D., a professor of pharmacology at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor who directed the research. "Vitamin C helps by speeding up alcohol clearance from the body."

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