Hangovers: Symptoms and Recovery

29 Mar Hangovers: Symptoms and Recovery

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When you’re dehydrated, your blood pressure drops, which limits blood flow to your brain and causes dizziness. Hangover symptoms range from a mild headache to nausea and vomiting. These stem from physiological responses to the presence of alcohol in your digestive and urinary systems, like your stomach, kidneys, and bloodstream. These are a few specific ways in which alcohol can impact different parts of your body.

Scientists have found that a few supplements — red ginseng, Siberian ginseng, and Korean pear juice — can ease some symptoms. Extract of the fruit from Hovenia dulcis, a tree native to East Asia, also showed promise in a small study. And other research suggested that people who took extract of prickly pear cactus before drinking had less severe hangovers. Alcohol causes you to make more urine, which removes fluids from your body.

1. But there’s no easy way to know how much you can safely drink and still avoid a hangover.
2. You’re also more likely to have memory, concentration and coordination issues when you have a hangover.
3. The more dehydrated you are, the worse you’ll feel, and longer.

Are There Any Treatments For Hangovers?

Your healthcare professional can help you understand possible risks and benefits before you try a treatment. Aspirin and ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin IB, others) can cause your stomach to make more acid, which can irritate your stomach. And acetaminophen (Tylenol, others) may cause serious liver damage if taken with too much alcohol. A person can avoid a hangover if they drink a very small amount or if what drug causes foaming at the mouth they abstain from alcohol use. There is no particular way to increase the speed at which a person detoxes from alcohol and recovers from a hangover. Always check with your healthcare provider or pharmacist before drinking if you take any medications.

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Believe it or not, how many drinks you have doesn’t appear have a significant impact on how long a hangover lasts, according to a 2017 study. Drinking alcohol, especially if you’re already dehydrated or becoming dehydrated, can make it harder to focus on certain tasks, react during situations, and make decisions. This “rebound effect” interrupts deep, rapid-eye-movement (REM) sleep, which can make you feel much more tired the next day. Your body’s already under a little bit of strain during your period, and since alcohol can dehydrate you, it can deplete your energy even more on your period, says Dr. Cox. So why do some hangovers last an appropriate amount of time and others…don’t?

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Many of these disturbances of the body’s natural physiology persist the next day, long after the alcohol is gone. Dehydration plays a significant role, as does acetaldehyde. Effects on hormones, blood chemistry, the sleep-wake cycle and inflammatory chemicals are also important in the thoroughly lousy feeling we have come to know as a hangover.

Emily is a graduate of Northwestern University, where she majored in magazine journalism at the Medill School of Journalism and minored in musicology. Currently residing in Charleston, South Carolina, Emily enjoys instructing barre, surfing, and long walks on the beach with her miniature Dachshund, Gertrude. She is a mom to three daughters and lives in the Boston suburbs. By Rod Brouhard, EMT-PRod Brouhard is an emergency medical technician paramedic (EMT-P), journalist, educator, and advocate for emergency medical service providers and patients. Hangovers tend to go away on their own, usually within 24 hours. Limit how much you intend to drink and stick to it, no matter how much alcohol your friends consume.

A hangover begins when a person’s blood alcohol level begins to drop. Some experts state that the symptoms of a hangover peak when a person’s blood alcohol level reaches 0. Various factors influence the intensity of hangover symptoms. They include body weight, sex, alcohol type, and a person’s drinking speed. But they’re often not based in science, and some can be dangerous.