Drinking alcoholic beverage is already a part of our routine. We may not drink every day but if there is an occasion like birthdays, anniversaries, job promotions, reunions or if you are heart-broken, alcoholic drinks are always present. Not all people drink beverage because they are happy, sometimes, they drink because they are sad for losing their family or they are in pain after a recent break up. Whatever it is, one is sure to those aftereffects of consuming excess alcohol, which is quite popularly known as “hangover”. This can be both psychological & physiological, usually experienced the next morning after heavy drinking. This is when people want to know how to get rid of a hangover headache. If you are one among them too or probably want o help your friend, read the tips listed here.
How To Get Rid Of A Hangover Headache Fast?
Alcoholic beverages are widely used all over the world and it plays a significant role in the social scene of many cultures. To be more knowledgeable of what we drink, let us check first what an alcoholic beverage is and what it’s content is.
Alcoholic beverage is a drink that has a considerable amount of psychoactive drug ethanol, which is commonly known as alcohol. It is also one of the most often-used leisure drugs in the world. Alcoholic drinks or beverage may be in a form of wine, beer and spirits that contain approximately between 3% and 40% of alcohol by volume.
True & Best Ways To Get Rid Of Hangover Headache Faster
One of the most common effects of too much alcohol intake is hangover which includes nausea and headache. After waking up from a wild night with too much alcohol intake, severe headache is anticipated. Below are the following measures on how to get rid of hangover headache:
1. Medicate Your Hangover
- Take an over-the-counter painkillers such as ibuprofen, however, this may aggravate your stomach and will cause nausea.
- Take an antacid pill for your stomach – taking an antacid can neutralize the acidity level in your stomach since alcohol intake causes high acidity level.
- Take a multivitamin pill – when drinking alcoholic beverages, you tend to lose important nutrients such as Vitamin B2 and folate that should be replaced. Taking soluble pill will get into your system faster.
2.Hydrate Yourself
Hydrating yourself will help you relieve your hangover headache more quickly.
Lemon Juice/ Lemon cocktail with Ginger & Mint
When you are hung over, you will most likely experience dizziness, sluggishness and soreness. The alcohol content can also cause you stomach burn or stomach ache. Lemon juice is a right choice to solve this. Don’t worry because lemon is acidic, once it mixes with your saliva, it becomes alkaline. Vitamin C rich lemon will help you with relieving your hangover headache and refreshes your senses. Prepare lemon water and have it. You can also add good honey in it. Prepare a lemon cocktail. Grind ginger, lemon and mint together, then add water (can add a tsp. of Honey) and make it a juice and drink it.
Coconut Water
Tender Coconut water is good to relieve your hangover headache. Thedehydration due to more alcohol content in your system will cause you dizziness and the usual ‘hangover headache’. Coconut water is a very good remedy. It gives instant hydration and gives your system a good boost. You can either take your coconut water directly from the coconut or you can pour it in a glass, mix a little organic honey with it, stir it and drink it. Coconut water in a bottle is unhealthy as you cannot preserve the water fresh for even a day. Try to take it directly from the coconut.
Tomato Juice
The antioxidants and nutrients in the tomato is yet another easy way to reduce the alcohol from your body. Tomatoes are good for relieving hangover by flushing the alcohol toxins more quickly from your system. Lycopene, Glutathione in the tomatoes will help your body to thwart hangover induced headaches, soreness and heavy feeling in the head.
3. Rehydrate Yourself
- Drink plenty of water – drinking alcohol causes dehydration. The most effective way to get rid of a hangover headache is to drink more water after waking up to replace the lost liquid without upsetting your stomach.
- Drink isotonic sports drink – these drinks contain electrolytes that release energy slowly which makes you become hydrated.
- Drink fruit juices – it is high in Vitamin C which is often lost during urination when you drink too much alcohol.
4. Eat To Fight Your Hangover
- Eat some eggs – cysteine which is found in eggs helps you to combat hangover. It helps by cleansing out toxins in your body that will help you feel energized and recharged.
- Eat a bowl of cereals – cereals contain more vitamins and nutrients that are good for the body after drinking.
- Eat foods rich in potassium
- Eat plain foods like crackers and toast
5. Rest And Recover
- Sleep – is the best way to fight your hangover. Sleep deprivation will just make your hangover worse because the real medicine for your hangover is just time.
- Go for a light walk – when your oxygen intake increases, alcohol toxins in your body decreases.
- Try not to live on it – if you try to dwell on your hangover, you will just feel more tired. Denial is the best way to convince your brain that everything will be okay.
Drinking alcoholic beverage is good for the health if taken into moderation. However, if it is too much, it may lead to various problems and diseases that can often lead to death. So, please take care of your health because it is our treasure here on earth.
Some Facts About Alcohol
As early as Neolithic Period, around cir. 10,000 BC, it was discovered unintentionally how to ferment beverage. With the same effect on humans, many animals also drank alcohol if there is an opportunity to do so. Alcoholic beverage may be in a fermented form or distilled form. Below are the different classes of fermented beverage.
- Wine is a fermented drink that is produced from a wine. It has a much longer fermentation and aging process when compared to beers that result to 9%- 16% ABV of alcohol content.
- Sparkling wine is a result of the secondary fermentation.
- ice wine is made from rice such as sake.
- Beer is a beverage, which is obtained from grains puree. It is either made from barley or blend of several grains. Spirit is also a kind of beer, but it is a fermented mash that is distilled. Beer is the most commonly used alcoholic drink in the world.
- Fruit wine comes from fruits which include cherries, apples or plum.
- Cider (cyder) is a fermented beverage that is prepared from fruit juice such as apple juice, peaches, pears and other fruits. In other countries, cider is also called as apple wine which contains 1.2% to 8.5% ABV of alcohol content.
- Mead is an alcoholic drink that is made by fermenting honey and water, at times with other fruits, spices or hops. Its alcohol content is between 8% and 20% ABV. Mead’s important characteristic is that its fermentable sugar comes from honey.
Distilled Beverage
Distilled beverage is an alcoholic drink that is made by distilling ethanol, processed by fermenting grains, vegetables or fruits. Spirits are unsweetened and distilled alcoholic beverage that contains at least 20% ABV. The most common distilled alcoholic beverages are vodka and whisky, which contains 40% alcohol content. Hard Liquor is a word used in North America to differentiate distilled beverages from undistilled drinks which are weaker. The following examples of distilled beverages are: baijiu, gin, whiskey, vodka, soju and brandy.
Freeze distillation concentrates ethanol together with fuse alcohols and methanol in applejack. Paracelsus who was born as Philippus Aureolus Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim gave alcohol its current name, which comes from the Arabic term that means “finely divided” which refers to distillation.
Fortified wine such as sherry or port is wine to which a brandy or distilled beverage was added. Fortified wine is different from spirits because spirits is a wine that is made by distilling, while fortified wine is purely a wine that has a spirit added to it. There are already many fortified wines that has been developed such as commandaria, sherry, port, marsala, madeira and vermouth, which is the aromatized wine.
Health Effects Of Drinking Alcoholic Beverage
Drinking alcoholic beverages is classified by IARC as the cause of breast cancer in female, laryx, liver, colorectum, oral cavity, esophagus, pharynx and pancreas. Also, carbonated beverage with alcohol can be absorbed faster than non-carbonated alcohol. Drinking too much alcoholic beverage in a single day or everyday can put your health at risk which can affect your body in the following ways:
1. Brain
Alcohol interferes with brain’s connection pathway which can affect the brain’s works and looks. These interruptions can cause in the person’s change of mood and behavior. The presence of alcohol may trigger the person from doing things that he/she doesn’t normally do, and may also alter a person’s sense of equilibrium.
2. Heart
Drinking too much alcohol over a single specific time cause damage to the heart which includes:
- High blood pressure
- Stroke
- Arrhythmias – uneven heart beat
- Cardiomyopathy – enlarging and sagging of heart muscle
However, research shows that drinking alcoholic beverage in moderation is good for the health as it prevents the risk of coronary heart disease.
3. Liver
Heavy drinking of alcoholic beverage can greatly affect the liver and can cause variety of liver problems which includes:
- Alcoholic hepatitis
- Fibrosis
- Fatty liver
- Cirrhosis
4.Pancreas
Drinking an alcoholic beverage will cause the pancreas to produce more toxic substances, which can lead to pancreatitis. It is the dangerous enlargement and swelling of the blood vessels that are located in the pancreas that prevents us from having good digestion.
5.Cancer
Drinking too much alcohol will increase your risk having cancer which includes:
- Breast
- Throat
- Esophagus
- Mouth
- Liver
5. Immune System
Drinking too much alcohol will weaken your immune system that makes you vulnerable to diseases and ailments. Heavy drinkers are often more vulnerable to diseases like pneumonia and tuberculosis compared to people who does not drink much. It also decelerates your body’s ability to fight off infections.
Celebrating or enjoying a night with friends, cheering for your favorite football team, having a night out with your officemates from work or drinking to forget the pain caused by a heartbreak are just few reasons that most of us have to enjoy drinking alcoholic beverages. There are many people who enjoy drinking in moderation. However, there are just people who enjoy drinking too much alcoholic drinks to the point that they eventually passed out because of it.
Moderate drinking is defined as 1 drink a day for women and 2 drinks a day for men, too much of this alcoholic drink will lead to overdose. Overdose caused by alcohol occurs when a person has a blood alcohol content (BAC) enough to produce deficiencies that surge the threat of harm. Problems with stable and incoherent speech, coma or even death are just few of the severe results of alcohol overdose. How much is too much is often influenced by gender, age, drinking experience, ethnicity and the amount of food eaten.
If the BAC level increases, alcohol’s effect also increases, and it also increases the risk of danger. A small increase in BAC can lessen coordination, makes a person feel sick, and clouds decision-making abilities. This will eventually lead to headache, wound from falls or car accidents, leave one prone to sexual attacks or other form of violence, increases the risk of unprotected and unwanted sex. Amnesia or blackouts can also happen if the BAC goes higher.
We know it is easy to drink too much alcohol beverage without thinking twice. We enjoyed drinking alcohol together with our friends, or maybe we are too deep with our thoughts that we hardly noticed that we drank too much. Sometimes, our body shows signs that we have already drank too much alcohol, however, we just tend to ignore it.
Here are some visible effects of drinking too much alcohol:
- Hangover is one of the signs that you have consumed too much alcohol. Most of the symptoms are caused by dehydration that includes nausea, pounding headache, feeling exhausted and inactive.
- Weight – alcohol contains no nutrition, however, it is full of calories. That makes you gain weight faster.
- Mood – when we drink alcohol into moderation, it tends to intensify our feelings. However, drinking alcohol may sometimes lead to poor mental health such as depression and anxiety.
- Skin – alcohol makes our skin become dehydrated that it appears dull and lifeless. Drinking alcoholic beverage also stretches our blood vessels that can be found in the face which makes you more prone to spidery red thread veins.
- Nails – strong and healthy nails depends on the balanced intake of the nutrients and the amount of water you drink. However, if you have brittle nails, this could be a sign that you are drinking too much alcoholic beverage.
- Hair – drinking alcoholic beverage everyday will make your hair brittle and dry which may also lead to hair loss.
- Anxiety – others tend to drink for them to feel better or forget the problems. They didn’t know that it makes the problem worse because alcohol traps the natural chemicals in our brain that reduces anxiety and lifting our mood.
- Sleep – drinking excess alcoholic drinks can prevent you from having the first stage of rapid eye movement or REM that will make you feel tired after waking up.
- Up in the night – when you have been drinking, it is most likely that you will have a disturbed sleep just by going to the bathroom.
- Feeling stressed – alcohol helps us to unwind from a hard day’s work but it is not a good thing to make it a habit. It prevents us from having a good night sleep and gives us a hangover, which can make your life more difficult. All that difficulties can sum up and eventually leads to stress.
- Memory – drinking too much alcohol can lead to memory loss because of Vitamin B1 deficiency that causes Wernicke-Korsakoff’s Syndrome – an illness like dementia.
