How to avoid a hangover

I can’t think of many things worse than waking up with a bad hangover. A hangover is excruciating, and the bane of all party going fun. Here are some great tips to avoid the dreaded hangover…

Go one for one!

Your on-board computer, called your brain, is surrounded by water-laden tissue.  If dehydrated, water is taken from these tissues. Alcohol dehydrates you rapidly, so the best thing you can do is drink equal parts water to alcohol, a shot for shot per se. For every cocktail or drink, have a glass of water.
 

Chow down

You need much more than a liquid diet of mixed drinks or beer. Although you will get calories, they are not going to replace those calories you need from a healthy meal.  Experts say to eat before and during your drinking. Your blood alcohol level will stay lower, too, it is believed.  So, enjoy a savory meal before you begin your drinking, and munch on nuts, veggies, or some other snack while drinking alcohol, too.

Keep it light.

In three words, drink only light. That is, drink white wine or vodka rather than the red wine or rum. The darker colored drinks have congeners. These are ingredients that contribute to the splitting headache from a hangover.  Also, drink the more expensive liquor. It has fewer congeners than the cheap stuff.  That means fewer headaches the next morning. Get classy with your liquor, and avoid the hangover.

 

Take a Multi-vitamin…

Even if you have a good diet, take a multivitamin. Consuming alcohol saps the nutrients in your body.  Along with taking multivitamins, eating potassium-rich foods helps prevent dehydration the morning after drinking. Foods rich in potassium are: tomatoes, spinach, beans, beets, peas, dates, milk, raisins, potatoes and of course bananas.

 

Say no to the bubbly

Avoid champagne, as well as any liquor that you mix with carbonated drinks. Believe it or not, those bubbles trigger alcohol to be absorbed by your body faster than any non-bubbly drink.

 

 

 

Breakfast is the most important meal…

Eat a nutritious breakfast of scrambled eggs, which are high in taurine. Taurine helps prevent damage to your liver from the drinking.  Add veggies to your scrambled eggs to provide lots of flavonoids and vitamins.  Alcohol will also lower your blood sugar the next morning, so drink a small glass of orange juice to go with the scrambled egg breakfast.  To ward off nausea, drink some ginger tea, too.

 

Take a deep breath

Breathing exercises or meditation, such as yoga, increases your oxygen supply throughout your body, and will help avoid a hangover. Take in some fresh air, and get some type of light exercise.  It will get the blood pumping, and may release those good-feeling hormones called endorphin’s.

 

 

 

Play DD for the night

For a sure-fire way to avoid that cursed hangover, tell your companions that you will be the designated driver.  Even if you don’t really intend to be the designated driver, it will take pressure off by others for you to drink right along with all their shots of tequila.  All these ways hopefully will end those morning-after hangovers forever.