How to Avoid a Hangover

In a post a little while back, I wrote about What Causes a Hangover. Today’s post is the second in my hangover series. Not to be confused with the movies. This post will go into some things you can do to prevent getting hung over. That’s right! Get wasted with no hangover- all of the fun and none of the consequences. Unless you wake up next to someone gross. At least you won’t feel like shit for the walk of shame.  I digress… lets get into it.

Tip #1 – Eat a Meal with a lot of Carbohydrates Before Drinking

This helps in several ways.  The first is that drinking when you have food in your belly slows and limits the amount of alcohol that enters your blood stream.  As we learned before, the more alcohol that enters your blood, the worse the hangover. The other reason to eat a lot of carbs before drinking is because it provides your body with the needed energy to process the booze.

Tip #2 – Drink Water

Duh.  Something even better is Gatorade.  Again, no shit.  But the best thing is to drink coconut water. It’s not only delicious, but super hydrating.  It also has fat and nutrients that help your body fight the alcohol.  I keep some in my fridge for times that I know I may be hurt the next day.

Tip #3 – Eat

There’s a reason that there are so many late night food spots serving awful but delicious food.  We have a lot of choices in DC- pizza, falafel, empanadas, sandwiches and McDonalds.  These foods all give your body nutrients, fat and energy that it needs to process the alcohol. They also have sodium which helps your body absorb the water you’re (hopefully) drinking. Last, food slows the speed in which alcohol enters your blood. 

Tip #4 – Avoid Lots of Sweet Drinks

Are you throwing back girly shots or Jager bombs all night?  This will most likely make you feel like shit the next day.  Sugar helps to dehydrate you.  Also, a lot of the flavoring in these drinks will help to hang you over because they consist of impurities.  

Tip #5 – Drink Nice Booze

As I already mentioned, cheep alcohol has impurities that enter your blood and make you feel like shit.  These are also one of the main reasons that you throw up that night or in the morning. Spend an extra $10 on good alcohol over the course of the night and get your day back tomorrow. Plus, I can only imagine how awful it would be to puke up Ben’s Chili Bowl…

Now you know some easy things to help you avoid a hangover when you get wasted.  If you’ve got other good ideas that I haven’t mentioned, let me know!

Party on!

David

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